The high-voltage contest in Bhabanipur resulted in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's defeat as Suvendu Adhikari repeated history again. He had defeated Mamata in Nandigram in 2021 too but Mamata had saved her face last time by winning in Bhabanipur.
Adhikari won by a margin of around 15,105 votes after all 20 rounds of counting were completed. Adhikari received 73,917 votes, while Banerjee bagged 58,812 votes.
This comes as BJP is set to win around 200 seats in the 293-member assembly. BJP has won 152 seats while it is leading in 52 other constituencies, when this article was published.
After expecting a BJP victory, Mamata slammed the poll panel outside the counting centre. "Do you think this is a victory? It is an immoral victory. More than 100 seats have been looted. The Election Commission is the BJP's commission," said Mamata, alleging irregularities. "It is loot, loot, loot. We will bounce back."
She said she had complained to officials, including the Chief Electoral Officer, but "they are not doing anything". She also claimed that she was "pushed and berated" inside the counting centre.
Among TMC ministers who managed to win were Sovandeb Chattopadhyay, Firhad Hakim and Javed Khan.
However, others were not as forturnate. BJP's Purnima Chakraborty trounced minister Shashi Panja by 14,6333 votes in Shyampukur. Minister Udayan Guha lost the Dinhata seat to BJP's Ajay Ray by more than 17,000 votes.
Another minister, Moloy Ghatak, lost to BJP's Krishnendu Mukherjee by 11,615 votes. ED summons linked to an alleged coal pilferage scam in the state is said to have been a key factor for Ghatak.
