Suvendu Adhikari defeats Mamata in battle for Nandigram even as TMC marches towards win

After a neck-and-neck contest, TMC-turned-BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari defeated West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to gain control over her bastion Nandigram.

This came after Suvendu Adhikari in early trends, continued to lead by a margin of more than 8,000 votes till almost the 14th round of counting. 

The Nandigram battle

In the run-up to the vigorously contested West Bengal polls, Nandigram became the axis of BJP's campaigning. For CM Mamata, this became personal since it was not only her once protege facing her, but Nandigram was also the cradle of the anti-land acquisition movement that catapulted her to power in 2011. In a big decision, the TMC supremo also decided to forgo her Bhowanipore seat, announcing that she will contest only from Nandigram.

Mamata's history with Nandigram however, goes even further back to the 1980s. The TMC supremo had first etched her name in politics after defeating late Somnath Chatterjee from Congress’ ticket in Nandigram in the Lok Sabha elections. However, in the subsequent years to the land acquisition movement, which drove the Tata Nano factory out of the state, she eventually chose Bhowanipore as her fort and left Nandigram to the Adhikaris, only to meet him in the battleground in 2021. The gamble of contesting from only Nandigram however, turned out to play well for the CM who managed to retain the prestigious seat. 

West Bengal election result 2021

While exit polls predicted a neck-to-neck fight between TMC and BJP in the 294-seat West Bengal state assembly, current EC trends have given an edge to Mamata Banerjee. As per the latest EC trends, the TMC has taken a considerable lead over the BJP and is projected to be leading in 201 assembly constituencies as compared to the 78 that the BJP is leading on.

Counting in West Bengal is taking place under a three-tier security arrangement across 108 counting centres where at least 292 observers have been appointed and 256 companies of central forces have been deployed. West Bengal went to polls in 8 phases from March 27- April 29.