Trinamool Congress party supporters celebrate with gulal in front of the residence of Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata on May 16, 2009. (AP)
It's the moment Mamata Banerjee had been waiting for her entire political career.
"We really fought with our blood sweat and tears...we are in favour of both industry and agriculture," says the Trinamool chief.
From 1 MP in 2004, Mamata's tally has shot up to 19. This is Left Front's worst showing in 32 years, losing 20 seats.
Says CPM general secretary Prakash Karat: "We can't blame it on individual leaders. We will analyse the results and come up with a comprehensive picture."
At Alimuddin Street, headquarters of the CPM in West Bengal, there is now a desperate hunt for an answer to the question that has slammed into them today. Why this historic debacle.
Biman Bose, chairman of Left Front in the state, talks about Trinamool riding the Congress wave. That may be a little simplistic. The CPM will certainly be introspecting on its policy on industry -- a policy that led it to try and acquire land at Singur and Nandigram with devastating consequences.
The first sign was losing the Ppanchayat elections last year in those hotspots. And its not just West Bengal, the party has been left out in its other stronghold, Kerala as well.
The infighting between the CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan and the chief minister lead to a huge loss of credibility.
Says Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan: "Though we knew we could not register the record win we had in the last general elections, we expected a not-so-bad verdict. We will be able to say what went wrong only after a detailed analysis."
Huge losses in both their bastions will mean a significantly reduced role for the Left on the national stage.