A majority of its own, this time
What happened
Communist Party of India (Marxist) won re-election comfortably, continuing its long run in power.
The CPM won 176 of the 294 seats on offer.
That made it 7 elections in a row for the party in government.
Its vote share — the slice of all ballots cast that went to one party or candidate — stood at 37.1%.
What changed
CPM's own seat count alone was enough this time to form a government, without needing help from allies.
The CPM crossed the 148-seat majority mark by 28 seats on its own.
Its wider group of allies added even more seats on top of that.
Notable numbers
A few numbers from that election stand out.
The closest race was at Hariharpara, West Bengal, decided by a margin — how far ahead the winner finished, in votes, over whoever came second — of just 97 votes.
At the other end, Kurseong, West Bengal was won by a wide margin of 80.8% of the vote.
Turnout — the share of registered voters who actually cast a ballot — ranged widely: Sabang, West Bengal recorded 94.2%, while Bara Bazar, West Bengal saw only 42.1%.
The most crowded contest was at Bara Bazar, West Bengal, where 13 candidates stood.
The backdrop
This win extended a government that had first come to power in 1977.
The Left Front, a coalition led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist), won the 1977 West Bengal assembly election with 231 of 294 seats. Jyoti Basu was sworn in as Chief Minister on 21 June 1977, beginning a Left Front government that continued through seven consecutive assembly elections until 2011.