Kolkata, May 4: With just four rounds of counting remaining, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is trailing in the high-profile Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in south Kolkata by 563 votes against BJP leader and Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.
Out of the total 20 rounds of counting, 16 had been completed at the time of reporting. According to official figures from the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Banerjee had secured 53,369 votes, while Adhikari was ahead with 53,932 votes.
Bhabanipur remains a crucial battleground, especially given its political significance for the Chief Minister. After the 16th round, Banerjee left the counting centre at Shakhawat Memorial Government Girls’ School and returned to her residence in Kalighat. Before leaving, she remarked that the emerging verdict did not reflect the true mandate of the people.
Suvendu Adhikari, meanwhile, has already been declared elected from his traditional stronghold of Nandigram in East Midnapore district, where he also contested in this election. In the 2021 Assembly polls, Adhikari had defeated Banerjee in Nandigram by a narrow margin of less than 2,000 votes. Subsequently, Banerjee won the Bhabanipur by-election with a massive margin of nearly 59,000 votes to retain the Chief Minister’s post.
Statewide trends indicate a strong performance by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is either leading or has won in 207 out of 293 Assembly constituencies. The ruling Trinamool Congress is trailing with leads in around 80 seats, while the Left Front–All India Secular Front (AISF), Congress, and others are marginally present.
Several senior ministers in the Banerjee cabinet, including Chandrima Bhattacharya, Dr Shashi Panja, Sujit Bose, and Bratya Basu, have reportedly lost their seats, signaling a significant shift in the state’s political landscape.
