India election sees change

After ruling for three decades, the world’s longest-serving democratically elected communist party loses power in West Bengal.

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April 25, 2011

India's Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief, Mamata Banerjee, addresses supporters during a campaign rally for her party's candidates ahead of the third phase of elections in Kolkata. Banerjee will become the next leader of West Bengal, a state of 90 million, a population equivalent to Germany's.

Rupak de Chowdhuri / Reuters

May 13, 2011

Supporters of the Trinamool Congress party, covered in green powder, celebrate in a street near the house of the party's leader Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata. India's ruling Congress-led coalition was leading in the key state of West Bengal, ruled by communists for more than three decades, as votes from state elections were counted on Friday.

Danish Siddiqui / Reuters

May 7, 2011

Indian women stand in line to cast votes outside a polling booth at Keshpur in West Midnapore district of West Bengal.

/ AP

April 27, 2011

An Indian policeman checks the identity cards of voters standing in a queue to cast their votes at a polling station in Kolkata, India.

Bikas Das / AP

April 27, 2011

Indian policemen check vehicles as part of enhanced security during West Bengal state assembly elections in Kolkata.

Bikas Das / AP

April 27, 2011

A policeman beats a bogus voter attempting to cast a vote using the identity of another man, at a polling booth in North 24 Pargana district of West Bengal, India.

/ AP

West Bengal state Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee listens to a speech during an election rally of the Communist Party of India-Marxist ahead of the state elections in Kolkata. Now 56-year-old Mamta Banerjee has won a landslide vote to dislodge the incumbent communist-led Marxist Left Front government that ruled the state for 34 years.

Bikas Das / AP

Congress party President Sonia Gandhi, center, interacts with supporters during an election rally at Murshidabad, 188 miles from Kolkata. The most-watched race was in India's fourth most-populous state of West Bengal, where Congress and its ally Trinamool Congress unseated a Communist-led government that held power for 34 years.

Sucheta das / AP

April 24, 2011

India's ruling Congress party's youth wing activists wear masks of their leader Rahul Gandhi as they walk during a campaign in support of their candidate in West Bengal state assembly elections in Kolkata.

Bikas Das / AP

April 18, 2011

A man walks past a Communist Party of India (Marxist) party symbol in Kolkata. Voters streamed into polling stations in West Bengal in state elections that saw populist maverick Mamata Banerjee unseat the world's longest-serving, democratically elected communist government and emerge as a key power broker.

Rupak de Chowdhuri / Reuters

April 27, 2011

Nuns of the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, stand in a queue to cast their votes in Kolkata.

Bikas Das / AP

April 23, 2011

India's Railways Minister and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, right, laughs with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during an election campaign rally ahead of the third phase of elections on the outskirts of Kolkata.

Rupak de Chowdhuri / Reuters

May 13, 2011

Election officials count ballots at a stadium in Kolkata. India's ruling Congress-led coalition was leading in the key state of West Bengal, ruled by communists for more than three decades.

Rupak de Chowdhuri / Reuters

May 13, 2011

An election official shows security seals of an electronic voting machine to party agents at a counting station in Kolkata. Counting of votes began in India's fourth most-populous state of West Bengal, where India's ruling Congress and its ally Trinamool Congress unseated a communist-led government that has held power for 34 years.

Bikas Das / AP

May 13, 2011

Indian sand artist Swapan Das gives finishing touches to a portrait of Trinamool Congress party leader Mamata Banerjee near a party office in Kolkata. The state's poverty-weary population, hungry for change, was captivated by Banerjee and her Trinamool Congress Party, which unseated the communist party that had ruled for 34 years.

Bikas Das / AP

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