New Delhi: Among various factors that fuelled the BJP’s historic win in West Bengal is the massive support from Gen Z voters, according to Aroon Shah, vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. From Instagram reels to X tweets and street-level mobilisation, the BJP youth wing merged digital outreach with traditional grassroots politics.
“This mandate reflects the work done by the BJP’s youth wing over the last ten years. We have worked round the clock to mobilise young voters,” said Shah.
One such initiative was the ‘Digital Warrior’ campaign to connect with Bengalis across the country and abroad. Another campaign, Chakri Chai Bangla — ‘we want jobs in Bengal’ — targeted the issue of rising unemployment. BJP MP Raju Bista had said that many young people from Bengal were forced to migrate to other states in search of jobs, “turning them into a minority in their own land.”
Around 1.37 crore people aged 18-29 voted in the 2026 West Bengal assembly election. Among these, 5.23 lakh were first-time voters. The BJP organised 10,000 yuva addas across the state as part of its youth outreach programme.
“It was Gen Z whose inner conscience played a big role in electing BJP to power. Campaigns such as Chakri Chai Bangla saw participation from nearly 10 lakh youth, many of whom said they wanted to oust this government,” Shah said.
For the TMC youth wing, the election results came as a shock. A youth wing representative attributed the dismal performance to flawed counting and alleged irregularities during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, which had resulted in the deletion of more than 27 lakh voters, majority of them Muslims.
“The jobs issue did play a role. But if you look at my booth — Kalchini 83 — 164 votes were removed, of which 124 were Muslims. This itself explains the results,” said Javed, a Trinamool Youth Congress member.
For the TMC’s youth cadre, this election was a repeat of grassroots mobilisation. However, what stood out was the rollout of yet another welfare scheme, Bangla Yuba Sathi, on 1 April. The initiative aimed to support educated unemployed youth with a monthly stipend of Rs 1,500 through direct bank transfers until they secure employment.
However, they did acknowledge that the jobs issue, rising anti-incumbency, and the West Bengal School Service Commission recruitment scam influenced young voters, pushing some towards the BJP.
A TMC youth leader acknowledged that the party failed to address youth-centric issues, adding that the “Gen Z effect” eroded his party’s support base and became a key reason for the party’s poor performance in this election.
“The delays and alleged corruption in SSC and other recruitment exams; the dissatisfaction among teachers, especially the younger ones; and increasing migration of youth to other states for employment were some of the issues,” said the TMC youth leader. “We still can’t believe we’ve lost this election.”
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)