In what was described as a "historic victory", the nine-party Left Front, which has ruled West Bengal since 1977, bagged a whopping 235 seats of the 293 for which results were declared, leaving just 29 to the main opposition Trinamool Congress-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) alliance.

The Congress got 21 while eight went to smaller parties and independents.

West Bengal's election results were never in doubt, but some had thought that the Election Commission's decision to order a five-phase balloting so as to cut any chances of vote rigging might bring down the Left's victory margin.

Such was the sweeping win that the Left Front bagged three-fourths of all seats in the 294-member assembly (polling was cancelled in one seat following the death of a candidate), with the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) itself securing a majority.

Left Front's poster boy and industry-friendly Chief Minister Bhattacharya, who won from Jadavpur seat in south Kolkata with a huge margin, said: "It is not my victory but our victory. It is the victory of the people. I thank them."

In New Delhi, CPI-M leader Nilotpal Basu said: "This is a very historic victory. Even internationally there are very few parallels. This itself is a very big thing."

Frenzied victory celebrations by the CPI-M and its allies swept the state, as thousands took to the streets waving red flags, beating drums and sprinkling red colour on friends and supporters.

A visibly dejected Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, whose singular mission in life is to unseat the Left from the Writers' Building, the government seat of power, extended her greetings to the Left Front.

"I congratulate both the CPI-M-led Left Front," Banerjee told a press conference here. "I thank both the state and union governments for the success."

The 2006 poll is widely seen as a mandate for the chief minister's image as an able administrator and his pro-reforms stand.

But it is also being credited to the CPI-M and other Left Front parties' extensive organisational network that extends to every nook and corner of West Bengal, one of India's most populous states.

The Left Front had 199 members in the outgoing assembly, followed by 60 of the Trinamool-BJP and 26 of the Congress.

Among the notable winners are Transport and Sports Minister Subhas Chakraborty, who won from the controversial Belgachia East seat in north Kolkata under North 24 Parganas district.

Trinamool Congress candidate and actor Tapas Pal retained Alipore seat in south Kolkata defeating his screen colleague Biplab Chatterjee of the CPI-M.

Ace swimmer Bula Chowdhury, a CPI-M candidate, won from Nandanpur in West Midnapore while Deepa Dasmunshi, Congress candidate from Goalpukhar constituency in Uttar Dinajpur district and wife of central minister Priya Ranjan Dasmunshi, defeated Left Front minister Hafiz Alam Sairani.

Congress MP and Berhampore strongman Adhir Chowdhury had the last laugh in Murshidabad district where two independent candidates backed by him defeated the party's official nominees.

Congress legislature party chief whip Atish Sinha and Mayarani Pal lost the battle to Apurba Sarkar and Manoj Chakraborty, the candidates propped up by Chowdhury, from Kandi and Berhampore respectively.

The CPI-M suffered a major setback in south Kolkata where its important leader Rabin Deb lost to Javed Khan of Trinamool in Ballygunge.

In another seat in Kolkata, former mayor Subrata Mukherjee (Congress) lost to Trinamool Congress candidate Subrata Bakshi in the Chowringhee seat.

The counting began under heavy security at 8 a.m. in 97 centres across the state, which witnessed an unprecedented three-week balloting between April 17 and May 8.