Kolkata | The high-voltage Bhabanipur contest turned on its head on Monday, with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slipping behind BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari after sharp swings, capping a steady erosion of her early lead in one of the state’s most closely watched battles.
After 16 rounds of counting, Banerjee was trailing by 563 votes, polling 53,369 votes against Adhikari’s 53,932, according to Election Commission data.
Four more rounds will be counted in the 20-round process.
The reversal marks a dramatic shift in a contest where the TMC supremo had earlier built a commanding advantage, only to see it steadily chipped away as the day progressed.
Banerjee had surged ahead by over 17,000 votes by the end of the seventh round, polling 32,822 votes against Adhikari’s 15,451, before the gap began narrowing in subsequent rounds.
Her lead dropped to 15,494 votes after the eighth round, slipped to 12,131 by the 10th, and further narrowed to 7,184 after 12 rounds.
By the 14th round, the margin had come down sharply to 3,830 votes, setting the stage for a tight finish.
The early rounds had already hinted at a fluctuating battle.
Banerjee opened with a lead of 1,996 votes in the first round, but Adhikari briefly moved ahead in the second by 1,558 votes.
The chief minister regained the lead in the third round and expanded it sharply before the advantage began to erode steadily.
The Bhabanipur seat, which has emerged as a prestige battleground, witnessed intense political activity throughout the day, with both leaders present at the counting centre.
Banerjee reached the Sakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ High School on Lord Sinha Road in the afternoon amid allegations by the Trinamool Congress that one of its counting agents had been forced out of the venue.
Adhikari was already present inside the counting centre, adding to the charged atmosphere as the margin tightened.
Emerging from the centre, Banerjee launched a sharp attack, questioning the credibility of the process.
“Do you think this is a victory? It is an immoral victory. More than 100 seats have been looted. The Election Commission is the BJP’s commission,” she alleged.
Claiming irregularities, she said, “It is loot, loot, loot. We will bounce back,” and added that she had complained to officials, including the Chief Electoral Officer, but “they are not doing anything”.
Banerjee also alleged that she was “pushed and berated” inside the counting centre.
There was no immediate response from the Election Commission or the BJP to the allegations.
The Bhabanipur contest assumes added significance in the backdrop of a sweeping statewide trend favouring the BJP.
The chief minister’s trailing position in her own constituency has injected a dramatic twist into the electoral narrative.
With four rounds of counting still remaining, the result in Bhabanipur remains too close to call, even as the momentum appears to have shifted in favour of Adhikari in the later stages.
The outcome of this prestige battle is likely to carry significant political weight, both symbolically and strategically, in the evolving political landscape of West Bengal.
Kolkata | The CPI(M) emerged victorious in one seat in the West Bengal assembly this election, winning the Domkal constituency in Murshidabad district, after failing to open its account in the 2021 state polls.
Md Mostafijur Rahaman, the only Left Front candidate to win this election, defeated his nearest rival of the TMC by 16,296 votes, according to the Election Commission data.
The Left Front fielded candidates in 252 constituencies, with the CPI(M) contesting 195 seats, All India Forward Bloc in 23, CPI in 16, RSP in 16, RCPI in one and Marxist Forward Bloc in one.
The Left Front could not win a single seat in the 2021 assembly polls and also in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the 42 seats in West Bengal.
