West Bengal Election Result 2021 | Nandigram Assembly Constituency: Suvendu Adhikari defeats Mamata Banerjee

West Bengal Election Result 2021 | Nandigram Assembly Constituency: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari

Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has been defeated by her former aide-turned rival Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram assembly constituency.

Adhikari, a former TMC stalwart, had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December - months before the assembly elections in the state. He has won against Banerjee by a slim margin of 1,736 votes.

The election result in Nandigram was declared after a confusion erupted over the outcome.

Earlier, news reports suggested that Banerjee had won the seat by a slim margin of 1,200 votes. Subsequently, reports suggested that Adhikari had won the seat.

The confusion settled after the Returning Officer declared the results following the final vote count.

Banerjee, while addressing the press following her party's three-fourth majority victory in Bengal , said she accepted the outcome but would move the court as there were "manipulations".

"I accept the verdict. But I will move the court because I have information that after the declaration of results there were some manipulations done and I will reveal those," news agency ANI quoted Banerjee as saying.

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Adhikari had won the Nandigram seat in 2016 on a Trinamool ticket. But the constituency has been held by Banerjee’s party since 2009.

Banerjee opted to take the fight to the Opposition camp by contesting from Nandigram, and not contesting from her ‘safe’ Bhabanipur seat. During the campaign, Adhikari had attacked the chief minister calling her an “outsider” to the area. The constituency was once a Left stronghold.

While the Trinamool Congress was set to win more than 200 seats, the BJP’s leads were hovering around 80.

Banerjee’s TMC has been fighting to keep the BJP’s surge at bay. The saffron party has shown a dramatic electoral rise in the state over the last few years.

Counting of votes for the assembly polls is also underway across Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry.

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