2026 Election: Top winning margins show party strongholds remain intact
Analysis of the 2026 election results reveals a trend of parties retaining constituencies with the largest winning margins. West Bengal saw BJP and Trinamool Congress hold onto their strongholds. Kerala also followed this pattern, with IUML mainta...
A look at the 2026 election result data shows that bulk of the constituencies with the highest winning margins have been retained by the same party.
Take the case of West Bengal where all the ten assembly constituencies that posted the highest winning margin -- six of them by the BJP, which were also secured by the party in 2021. The three won by Trinamool Congress -- Canning Purba, Metiaburuz and Goalpokhar -- have also stayed with the same party despite the BJP onslaught in 2026.
Similarly, Matigara-Naxalbari seat in West Bengal saw Anandamay Barman of BJP win with a staggering 1.04 lakh vote margin -- this is his second consecutive term as MLA.
Next on the list of seats won with the highest margin in the state is Dabgram-Fulbari -- also won once again by BJP's Sikha Chatterjee with a 97,000-plus margin.
English Bazar in Malda is no different. It was retained again by the BJP with Amlan Bhaduri winning by over 93,000 votes. The seat was with BJP in 2021 as well.
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In Kerala, the pattern is repeated except in Nilambur which is among the top ten constituencies that posted the highest winning margins. So, IUML has retained its strongholds from Malappuram to Kottakkal to Manjeri to Tirurangadi to Vallikunnu. In fact, in Muslim dominated Malappuram, Congress' Christian candidate VS Joy won by over 83,000 votes -- the highest winning margin in the state against sitting legislator and former minister KT Jaleel who was seeking a fourth term. This is largely due to alliance partner IUML's backing.
The true wave was felt more strongly in Tamil Nadu than in West Bengal -- shaking up the matrix in top margin winning seats. Six of the ten seats with the highest winning margins in 2026 have come at the cost of DMK -- won handsomely by the Vijay-led Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).Take the case of Sholinganallur where TVK's ECR P Saravanan posted a 96,780 strong victory against DMK's S Aravind Ramesh, who was seeking a third consecutive term. In fact, AIADMK-ADMK has managed to retain their 2021 seats among this set. The seat won with the highest margin in Tamil Nadu is Edapaddi -- the AIADMK stronghold won once again by party general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami by over 98,000 votes even amid the TVK wave.
