West Bengal politics witnessed a stunning reversal in Bhabanipur as former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee suffered a major defeat in what was once considered her strongest political fortress. Detailed booth-wise data released by the Election Commission revealed that Mamata trailed in 207 out of 267 booths and, in several booths, failed to even cross the 50-vote mark.
The numbers have triggered intense political discussion because Bhabanipur was the very constituency that had revived Mamata’s political standing in 2021 after her defeat in Nandigram. Five years later, the same seat has handed her a crushing defeat by 15,105 votes against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.
According to the Election Commission’s detailed breakdown, there were multiple booths where Mamata Banerjee’s vote tally remained shockingly low despite her long-standing political connection with the constituency.
At Booth No. 227, Mamata secured just 12 votes. In Booth No. 14, she received 43 votes, while Booth No. 16 gave her 42 votes. She got 41 votes in Booth No. 20, 45 votes in Booth No. 24, and only 31 votes in Booth No. 105.
The pattern continued across several other booths. Mamata received 44 votes at Booth No. 149, 46 votes at Booth No. 158, 29 votes at Booth No. 176, 40 votes at Booth No. 242, 28 votes at Booth No. 249 and 30 votes at Booth No. 263.
Overall, the former Chief Minister secured 50 votes or fewer in 28 booths across the constituency. Interestingly, BJP candidate and current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also remained below the 50-vote mark in 39 booths, but he still maintained a dominant lead across the seat.
Election Commission data showed that Suvendu led in 207 booths, while Mamata managed to stay ahead in only 60 booths. The final margin of victory stood at 15,105 votes in favour of the BJP leader.
However, the booth-level picture was not entirely one-sided. At Booth No. 12, Mamata polled 570 votes while Suvendu received just 60. Similarly, Booth No. 11 saw Mamata getting 70 votes against Suvendu’s 106.
The contrast with the 2021 Bhabanipur by-election has become one of the biggest talking points in Bengal politics. Back then, Mamata Banerjee had won the seat by more than 58,000 votes against BJP candidate Priyanka Tibrewal and secured over 85,000 votes in total.
In fact, during that by-election, she had improved the TMC’s performance significantly compared to the previous Assembly election and even turned around wards where the party had earlier trailed. All seven wards in Bhabanipur had then voted in her favour.
This time, however, the political tide shifted dramatically. Mamata Banerjee received 58,812 votes, while Suvendu Adhikari secured 73,917 votes — turning Bhabanipur from a TMC stronghold into one of the BJP’s most symbolic victories in Bengal.
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