Sahalam Ali

BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, the safe seat that sent the Trinamool Congress chief to the Assembly as the chief minister. The loss adds insult to injury even as the BJP decimated the TMC in the West Bengal Assembly election. These are the factors behind Mamata's loss in Bhabanipur.

Nandigram Assembly Election Results 2026 Highlights: West Bengal’s Nandigram saw a razor-close contest between Suvendu Adhikari and TMC challenger Pabitra Kar. The BJP candidate won around 10,000 votes after 19 rounds of counting.

The BJP surged past the majority mark in West Bengal as counting showed the TMC collapsing across the state. Celebrations by party workers and Suvendu Adhikari's remarks underlined the scale of the political reversal.

Early counting trends in West Bengal show the BJP leading, with Suvendu Adhikari claiming signs of Hindu consolidation and a “crack” in Muslim voting patterns, including in Nandigram and Bhabanipur.

The BJP has crafted a strategy to corner Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her Bhabanipur stronghold by fielding West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari from the high-profile south Kolkata seat. The move has turned Bhabanipur into a Chakravyuh for Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress.

The BJP has transformed Mamata Banerjee's safest constituency into West Bengal's most-watched contest in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election. With Suvendu Adhikari as the challenger, caste surveys and door-to-door campaign, the Trinamool Congress chief faces the most serious test on her turf yet.

The Trinamool Congress alleged a police observer assigned to West Bengal’s Diamond Harbour held a private meeting with a BJP candidate in a hotel room, terming it a breach of protocol. The charge surfaced a day before the first phase of Assembly polling.

Hitesh Choudhury, who previously served as the police observer for Nandigram, has been replaced by Akhilesh Singh, a former CBI official based in Kolkata and currently the Inspector General in Assam. This change follows allegations of bias levelled against the Officer-in-Charge of the Nandigram Police Station by the Trinamool Congress.