In a political earthquake that has sent shockwaves across West Bengal, outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lost the high-stakes battle for the Bhabanipur constituency to BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari. After 20 rounds of counting, Banerjee trailed by 15,000 votes, ultimately losing the seat.

The defeat is seen as a re-run of the last election, when Adhikari defeated her by fewer than 2,000 votes to claim the iconic Nandigram seat. That defeat had forced the Trinamool chief to seek re-election from Bhabanipur to retain her Assembly seat.

The Bhabanipur constituency witnessed back-and-forth between Suvendu Adhikari and Mamata Banerjee on Monday as counting progressed for the 2026 Bengal Assembly election.

Located within the wider Kolkata district, the Bhabanipur seat has remained with Trinamool Congress since 2011, when it was won by Subrata Bakshi.

BJP set to form government in Bengal for first time

In a sweeping and potentially historic mandate, the BJP surged past the majority mark in West Bengal, winning 182 seats and leading in 25 others, to end the 15-year rule of the Trinamool Congress and redraw the state’s political map in saffron hues.

The verdict will mark the BJP’s first taste of power in the state.

The scale and spread of the BJP’s surge – cutting across regions and demographics – underlined a decisive mandate, with the party making deep inroads into areas that had long been considered TMC strongholds.

The TMC lagged far behind with victories in 63 seats and leading in 17 seats as counting progressed at 9:40 pm.

The scale of the surge, as the BJP breached the halfway mark of 148 in the 294-member Assembly well before counting reached its midpoint, hinted not just at a change of guard, but also to a structural shift in Bengal’s political landscape.

The BJP’s vote share rising to around 45 per cent from 38 per cent in 2021 marks both consolidation and expansion, while the TMC’s dip to nearly 40.94 per cent from 48 per cent in the last assembly polls reflects erosion across segments that anchored its sweep five years ago.

“As Bengal enters a new phase of change, I also want to make an earnest appeal to every political party in Bengal. Over the past decades in Bengal, countless lives have been ruined due to political violence. I firmly believe that this election culture of Bengal must change from today onwards,” PM Modi said in his nearly 50-minute speech at party headquarters in Delhi. The prime minister said the elections in West Bengal have been special this year, as earlier they were marred by violence, fear and the death of innocent people.

But this time the news was different as peaceful voting took place in West Bengal and for the first time, no one lost their life during voting, he said.

“As Bengal enters a new phase of change, I also want to make an earnest appeal to every political party in Bengal. Over the past decades in Bengal, countless lives have been ruined due to political violence. I firmly believe that this election culture of Bengal must change from today onwards.

“Aaj jab BJP jeeti hai, toh badla nahi, badlav ki baat honi chahiye; bhay nahi, ‘bhavishya’ ki baat honi chahiye (Today, when the BJP has won, the talk should not be of revenge, but of change; not of fear, but of the future),” he said and urged the parties to end the vicious circle of violence.
Modi said it was a special day in many ways as it heralds a bright future for the country.

“It is a day of trust in the great democracy of India, trust in the politics of performance, trust in the resolve of stability, trust in the spirit of Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat.

BJP looted over 100 seats, we will bounce back: Mamata

Mamata Banerjee has termed the BJP’s landslide victory in the state polls “immoral” and alleged that the mandate in more than 100 seats was “looted”.

“We will bounce back,” she said while walking out of the counting centre at her Bhabanipur Assembly constituency.

“They have looted more than 100 seats,” she alleged.

The TMC supremo alleged that the “EC’s activities with the help of central forces in connivance with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah were illegal”.