Bhabanipur Election Result: The counting of votes often mirrors the high-stakes drama of an F1 race, where a driver on pole position can slip to third only to fight their way back to the front. On result
day, candidates hold their breath until the very last vote is counted, knowing all too well that the tables can turn in an instant.
The battle for Bhabanipur followed this exact heart-pounding script on May 4 when the counting of votes was underway for the West Bengal election. While a defeat for Mamata Banerjee in her own bastion once seemed impossible, there was a palpable surge of support for the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who aimed to repeat his historic Nandigram performance.
Also Read | Nandigram To Bhabanipur: How Suvendu Adhikari Took Down Mamata Banerjee Twice
The early rounds reflected a volatile seesaw battle. Mamata Banerjee took the initial lead in Round 1, but the momentum shifted violently in Round 2 as her protégé Suvendu Adhikari surged ahead with a massive lead. However, the contest took yet another turn by Round 3, when the Chief Minister fought back to reclaim the top spot. By the end of Round 7, her lead had stretched to a seemingly comfortable over 15,000 votes.
The final stretch, however, proved that no lead is safe. After Round 10, Adhikari began a steady and relentless pursuit, systematically closing the gap. Following Round 15, the BJP leader’s numbers spiked sharply, maintaining that upward trajectory through the final tallies. After 20 gruelling rounds and the counting of postal ballots, the “Nandigram miracle” was repeated: Suvendu Adhikari emerged victorious, defeating Mamata Banerjee by a final margin of 15,105 votes.
Also READ | Round 1 to 20: How Mamata Banerjee Went From Leading To Losing Her Bhabanipur Fortress
West Bengal Verdict
BJP’s rise in West Bengal is unprecedented. From a marginal vote share of around four per cent in 2011, the BJP surged to nearly 40 per cent in 2019 and then secured 77 seats in the 2021 Assembly elections, displacing the Left and Congress as the principal challenger to the TMC. Yet, converting that expansion into power had remained elusive until now.
But in this election, the BJP’s vote share climbed to around 45 per cent, and the tally crossed the 200-mark.
This is for the first time since 1972, West Bengal appears set to be governed by a party that is also in power at the Centre -a shift with deep administrative and political implications.
