New Delhi, March 17 – Trinamool Congress Chairperson Mamata Banerjee refused to fall for the bait offered by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to avenge her 2021 defeat in Nandigram, which forced her to contest from the safer seat of Bhabanipur so that she could continue to be the Chief Minister of West Bengal for a third consecutive term.
Her once-trusted aide, Suvendu Adhikari, defeated her by less than 2,000 votes in what was termed a prestige battle. Although Adhikari's vote share was significantly lower compared to his performance as a Trinamool candidate in 2016, the victory was more important. He secured over 1.3 lakh votes, or 67 per cent, in 2016, representing more than 2 lakh voters, which was approximately 87 per cent of the total number of electors in Nandigram.
The then runner-up from the Communist Party of India (CPI) managed about 53,000 votes, or close to 27 per cent. As a BJP candidate, Adhikari collected about 1.1 lakh votes from the 2.3 lakh votes cast in 2021, which represented 48 per cent of the vote share, decisively defeating his former mentor in a close contest.
Interestingly, in 2011, when the Trinamool upset the communists in West Bengal, Mamata was the Minister of Railways in Manmohan Singh's government. She resigned to assume the office of Chief Minister, contesting a by-election from the Bhabanipur constituency, where she resides.
However, despite a turnout of close to 1.4 lakh, or about 64 per cent of the total electors who voted in the 2011 general election, the turnout dropped to 95,064 voters, or approximately 45 per cent. Nevertheless, she widened the winning margin by over 4,000 votes, with a massive vote share of over 77 per cent.
In the 2016 Assembly election, her vote share fell significantly to about 48 per cent, and she collected a little over 65,000 votes contesting against Congress candidate Deepa Dasmunshi and the BJP's Chandra Kumar Bose.
In the last by-election, Mamata again increased the winning margin by about 30,000 votes and more than 14 per cent vote share compared to the general state election.
In the 2026 election, it will be interesting to see how she fares against Adhikari, who has chosen to challenge her in her stronghold, Bhabanipur, while also contesting from the safer seat of Nandigram.
Mamata, however, threw the gauntlet at Adhikari's doorstep in 2021, without any other option. The Adhikari family has long been influential in West Bengal politics, with several members holding key positions. Suvendu's father, Sisir Kumar Adhikari, is a veteran politician who was with the Congress before joining the Trinamool and has been an MP. His brothers, Dibyendu and Soumendu Adhikari, are also active in politics.
The 56-year-old Suvendu is known for his organizational skills and influence in East Midnapore. He played a key role in organizing Mamata's fight against the then Left Front Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee's plan of setting up a chemical hub in Nandigram, which was subsequently scrapped.
Suvendu entered politics with the Congress, serving in the party from 1995 to 1998. He then switched allegiance to Mamata when she broke away from the Congress, rising through the ranks of the Trinamool, becoming a minister in the state and then an MP.
He quit the Trinamool in 2020 after falling out with its top leadership, and with the historic Nandigram win in 2021, he was elected Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly. Since then, his vitriolic comments and attacks on Mamata have turned him into a symbol of anti-Trinamool politics.