• CM accuses election commission of bias.
• Banerjee’s term as CM set to end on Thursday.
• Commission calls CM’s allegations ‘baseless’.
  

An Indian chief minister who was swept from power by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in state elections said on Tuesday that she had “not been defeated” and would not resign, in an unprecedented political twist.

Modi’s BJP defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC), which has been in power in West Bengal state since 2011, securing more than two-thirds of the 294 seats when votes were counted on Monday.

BJP has never ruled West Bengal, a populous eastern state that borders Bangladesh, and its victory is considered a political milestone as the party now controls almost all states in eastern India.

The TMC tally fell to 80 seats from its earlier 215, with Banerjee herself losing her seat.

Banerjee said about 100 seats were “forcibly taken” from her party, which also had to contend with a “biased” Election Commission. She did not back her accusation with evidence.

“I will not resign, I did not lose… officially, through the Election Commission, they (the BJP) can defeat us, but morally, we won the election,” she told a news briefing.

West Bengal’s Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Agarwal termed the allegations “baseless”. The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated Banerjee, said “everything is mentioned in the constitution”.

Banerjee can appeal result in court

According to the Indian constitution, the state’s governor can demand Banerjee’s resignation or wait for her term to expire, after which newly elected lawmakers would be sworn in and the process of forming a new government would begin.

Banerjee’s term is set to end on Thursday.

A defeated candidate in an Indian state election can challenge the result in court on grounds including corrupt practices, improper acceptance or rejection of nominations or votes, candidate disqualification, or non-compliance with election laws that affected the outcome.

Banerjee did not say if she would go to court.

Modi, his closest aide and Home Minister Amit Shah, and several senior BJP leaders campaigned for weeks in the state, focusing on what they called illegal immigration from Bangladesh and the weak local economy under Banerjee.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi will travel to Beijing on Tuesday for high-level talks with his Chinese counterpart on bilateral ties and regional developments.

The visit is part of Tehran’s broader diplomatic outreach to key partners. Araghchi’s agenda includes discussions on mutual cooperation as well as regional and international issues, according to a brief statement by the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

The visit to China comes as Araghchi traveled to Russia last Monday as part of a broader diplomatic tour that also included Pakistan and Oman.

During the Moscow visit, Araghchi held talks with President Vladimir Putin, alongside meetings with his Russian counterpart.

Iran closed the strategic Strait of Hormuz to adversary nations and their allies following the commencement of US-Israeli aggression against Iran on February 28, which resulted in the assassination of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and several senior military commanders.

On April 8, forty days into the war, a temporary Pakistan-brokered ceasefire came into effect. Negotiations subsequently took place in Islamabad but failed to produce an agreement amid maximalist demands and intransigent positions from the United States.

Meanwhile, the US has imposed a blockade on Iranian ports, which Tehran slams as illegal and in violation of the ceasefire terms. In response, Iran has asserted control over the Strait of Hormuz and is denying passage to vessels belonging to the US and its allies.

Tehran has submitted proposals to Washington aimed at permanently resolving the war, but these have reportedly been rejected by the White House, which has continued to issue military threats against Iran.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Monday night said talks with the United States were making progress with Pakistan’s “gracious effort,” while cautioning Washington against being drawn into further escalation amid a standoff over the Strait of Hormuz.

The statement comes after US and Iran launched new attacks in the Gulf on Monday as they wrestled for control over the Strait of Hormuz with duelling maritime blockades, shaking a fragile truce.

US President Donald Trump launched a new effort to get stranded tankers and other ships through the strait, the vital energy-trade chokepoint that has been virtually closed since the US and Israel began attacks on Iran in February, a war that has killed thousands of people across the region.

Trump gave scant details about his new effort, which he called “Project Freedom,” to help stuck ships travel through the strait when he announced it on social media, two days after a legal deadline under US law had passed for him to get authorisation from Congress for the war. Trump told Congress the war was “terminated” and the deadline was moot, a claim disputed by some lawmakers.

It was the first apparent attempt to use military force since last month’s ceasefire announcement to unblock the world’s most important energy shipping route, which Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps has said can only happen with its permission.

The cost of shipping insurance has also rocketed. For weeks, the US Navy has blockaded Iran’s trade by sea, which Iran says is itself an act of war.

But Trump’s latest move, at least initially, appeared to have backfired, bringing no surge of merchant ship traffic while provoking a promised show of force from Iran, which has threatened to respond to any escalation with new attacks on its neighbours hosting US soldiers. Major shipping companies said they were likely to wait for an agreed end to hostilities before trying to cross the strait.

Meanwhile, Iranian FM Araghchi said Monday’s events showed there was no military solution to the crisis. He said peace talks were progressing with Pakistan’s mediation while warning the US and the UAE against being drawn into a “quagmire by ill-wishers.”

Criticising the US initiative aimed at escorting vessels through the Strait of Hormuz, Araghchi said: “Project Freedom is Project Deadlock.”

Nonetheless, the US military said two US merchant ships made it through the strait, without saying when, with the support of Navy guided-missile destroyers. While Iran denied any crossings had taken place in recent hours, Maersk said the Alliance Fairfax, a US-flagged ship, exited the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz accompanied by the US military on Monday.

The commander of U.S. forces in the region said his fleet had destroyed six small Iranian boats, which Iran also denied. Admiral Brad Cooper said he “strongly advised” Iranian forces to keep clear of U.S. military assets carrying out the mission.

Iranian authorities released a map of what they said was an expanded sea area now under their control, extending far beyond the strait to include long stretches of the UAE’s coastline.

‘Dialogue and diplomacy’

A day earlier, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar held a telephonic conversation with his Iranian counterpart, during which both sides discussed the evolving regional situation and Pakistan’s ongoing diplomatic efforts.

According to the Foreign Office, Araghchi appreciated Pakistan’s constructive role and mediation efforts, while Dar reaffirmed Islamabad’s commitment to promoting dialogue and engagement.

He stressed that diplomacy remained the only viable path to achieving lasting peace and stability.

Negotiations between Washington and Tehran have remained stalled since a ceasefire took effect on April 8, with tensions centred on Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz following US-Israeli strikes. The move has disrupted global flows of oil, gas and fertiliser, while the United States has responded by imposing a counter-blockade on Iranian ports.

Pakistan has emerged as a key intermediary in efforts to revive dialogue, hosting high-level engagements between the two sides in Islamabad last month, though a second round of talks has yet to materialise.