Daijiworld Media Network – Kolkata
Kolkata, May 21: West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari appears to have fulfilled Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s pre-poll call to “defeat Mamata in her own turf” in dramatic fashion by unseating former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency and securing victory even in the ward where she resides.
According to booth-wise data released by the Election Commission, Adhikari led in 207 out of the 267 booths in Bhabanipur and defeated Mamata Banerjee in Ward No. 73, which includes her Kalighat residence.
In the ward, Adhikari secured 8,932 votes against Mamata Banerjee’s 4,284.
Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections, Amit Shah had publicly stated that he had instructed Suvendu Adhikari to defeat Mamata Banerjee “in her own turf”.
“I told Suvendu Adhikari that Mamata ko unke ghar mein ja kar harana hai,” Shah had said during an election campaign.
A resident of Kanthi, located nearly 150 kilometres away from Kolkata, Adhikari had no previous political base in Bhabanipur, which has long been considered a stronghold of Mamata Banerjee.
Despite that, the BJP leader secured around 63 per cent vote share in the constituency, while Mamata Banerjee managed nearly 30 per cent.
The booth-wise figures further reflected the scale of the defeat faced by the Trinamool Congress leader. In several booths, Mamata Banerjee reportedly failed to secure even 50 votes.
At Booth No. 14, she received 43 votes, while Booth No. 16 recorded 42 votes in her favour. She secured 41 votes at Booth No. 20, 45 at Booth No. 24, 40 at Booth No. 77, 41 at Booth No. 89 and just 31 votes at Booth No. 105.
Similarly, she polled 44 votes at Booth No. 149, 46 at Booth No. 158, 29 at Booth No. 176, 40 at Booth No. 242, 28 at Booth No. 249 and 30 at Booth No. 263.
Overall, Adhikari secured 73,917 votes in Bhabanipur against Mamata Banerjee’s 58,812 votes.
The result marks a significant reversal from the 2021 Bhabanipur bypoll, when Mamata Banerjee had comfortably won all seven wards in the constituency after losing the Nandigram battle to Suvendu Adhikari.