Mamata Banerjee, who has been in power for 10 years, won a third term in West Bengal on Sunday. Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is leading in 213 of Bengal's 294 seats and the BJP appears set to finish below the 100-mark. The Trinamool Congress had surged to power in 2011, toppling the 34-year Left citadel. It only improved its tally by 27 seats in 2016. For Mamata Banerjee, this was arguably the toughest poll of her political career, with the BJP -- which won just three seats the 2016 Assembly polls -- pulling out all stops in the state in a determined bid to oust Ms Banerjee, a vocal critic of Prime Minister Modi.
Mamata Banerjee started her political career with the Congress in the 1970s. She became one of India's youngest parliamentarians when she won her first Lok Sabha election in 1984 from Jadavpur parliamentary Constituency. After quitting the Congress, Mamata Banerjee -- who is popularly known as "Didi" to her supporters -- founded the All India Trinamool Congress in 1998.
She became the first woman chief minister of West Bengal in 2011. It was her campaign to protect farmers' land from a proposed economic zone project in Nandigram that powered her campaign for the 2011 assembly election, which she won by a landslide. This year, Mamata Banerjee contested from Nandigram again, but lost to her former aide-turned- arch rival Suvendu Adhikari.
Here is a look at five black and white pics that provide a glimpse into the political career and the day-to-day life of the Trinamool Congress leader:
The Election Commission has rejected the Trinamool Congress's appeal for a recount of votes at Nandigram, where Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had faced BJP's Suvendu Adhikari.
