The closely watched electoral battle between the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari and the Trinamool Congress president came to an end on Monday, ending with the former breaching the TMC’s stronghold.
Adhikari, in what appeared to be a repeat of the 2021 Nandigram election battle, defeated incumbent Bengal Chief Minister Mamata by a margin of over 15,000 votes.
The BJP candidate, who led after several rounds of vote counting, received more than 67,000 votes in the high-stakes contest. The dramatic turnaround in the constituency occurred even as Mamata’s early lead in the final rounds of vote counting declined.
Overall, the BJP swept the polls in West Bengal, winning over 200 seats in the state, while the TMC was decimated to around 80 seats.
What are the closing numbers in Bhabanipur?
Adhikari polled 73,917 votes in the constituency, winning by a margin of 15,105 votes. TMC chief Banerjee got 58,812 votes, followed by CPI’s Shrijib Biswas who got 3,556 votes.
BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari had earlier in the day predicted sharp swings in the latter half of the counting process in Bhabanipur, even as he told reporters that Mamata would take an early lead, but would “make up for it” in later rounds.
The contest in Bhabanipur has been closely watched, in the wake of the Nandigram electoral battle between Banerjee and Adhikari in the previous Assembly elections in 2021. In 2021, Adhikari significantly defeated Banerjee in Nandigram, securing 49% vote share at that time.
