Suvendu Adhikari Defeats Mamata Banerjee in her Stronghold Bhabanipur

Kolkata (IANS): In a major political upset, outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lost to the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency by a margin of 15,114 votes on Monday. This marks the second time Adhikari has defeated Banerjee, following his narrow victory over her in Nandigram during the 2021 elections.

Dual Victory for Adhikari

Suvendu Adhikari contested from two seats in this election—Bhabanipur and his stronghold, Nandigram—and secured victories in both.

• Bhabanipur Margin: Adhikari won by 15,114 votes.

• Nandigram Margin: He retained the seat with a margin of 9,000 votes, which he noted was lower than his Bhabanipur lead due to differing demographic compositions.

• Electoral History: Adhikari highlighted that he has now fulfilled his claim of defeating Banerjee in her own traditional territory, just as he did in 2021.

Historic Context of the Defeat

Mamata Banerjee is now the second sitting Chief Minister in West Bengal’s history to suffer a defeat.

• Predecessor: Late Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee was the first sitting CM to lose, falling to Trinamool’s Manish Gupta in Jadavpur in 2011.

• Successive Losses: While Bhattacharjee refrained from contesting after his 2011 loss, Banerjee has now faced two defeats while in office—first in 2021 and again in 2026—both at the hands of her former confidant.

Adhikari’s Reaction

Following the results, Adhikari stated that the voters in Bhabanipur ensured his victory despite not receiving support from the Muslim community in that constituency. He attributed the tighter margin in Nandigram to the higher percentage of Muslim voters in that region compared to Bhabanipur.