Suvendu Adhikari, the leader of opposition in West Bengal assembly, has emerged as the front-runner for the chief ministerial post after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the assembly polls in the eastern state.
The BJP won 206 of the state's 293 seats for which counting took place, while Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) won 81 seats.
BJP leaders said the party has not ruled out names of state unit chief Samik Bhattacharya and vice-president Agnimitra Paul as other probable CM faces.
Adhikari, who defeated Mamata Banerjee in her home constituency Bhabanipur on Monday, could be rewarded for defeating Mamata Banerjee not once, but twice — this time by a margin of 15,105 votes.
The BJP is likely to call a meeting of all newly-elected legislators in Kolkata in the next few days to elect its leader, who would be the chief minister.
