Suvendu Adhikari defeats Mamata Banerjee by over 15,000 votes in Bhabanipur

In a major setback to the Trinamool Congress (TMC), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has lost the 2026 Assembly elections from Bhabanipur to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.

“This was very important. Defeating Mamata Banerjee was crucial. This is Mamata Banerjee’s retirement from politics… This time, too, she lost by over 15,000 votes. Muslims voted for her openly. In Ward No 77, all the Muslims who came out to vote voted for Mamata, and Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists blessed me and made me win. This victory is a victory for Hindutva,” Adhikari said.

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“All the CPM’s strong supporters voted for me. The CPM had 13,000 votes in Bhawanipur, and at least 10,000 of them were transferred to me. I also express my gratitude to the CPM voters down there. All the Bengali Hindus voted openly for me. Along with them, Gujaratis, Jains, Marwaris, Purvanchalis, and the Sikh community all voted openly for me… Amit Shah called me two or three times. He also expressed some concern about Bhabanipur. I told him a while ago. I haven’t spoken with anyone else. I wasn’t allowed to use the phone, so I didn’t speak. I’m going to tell him now. He’s waiting. I also need to get the Nandigram certificate,” he added.

#WATCH | Kolkata | BJP's Suvendu Adhikari shows his winning certificate after clinching the Bhabanipur assembly seat with a landslide against the West Bengal CM and TMC candidate Mamata Banerjee.

He says, "This was very important. Defeating Mamata Banerjee was crucial. This is… pic.twitter.com/N1zY3EHW33

— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2026

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has registered a historic win in West Bengal as it appears all set to bag over 200 seats in the state. Notably, this is the second time when Adhikari has defeated Banerjee in Assembly polls.

During the 2021 polls, Banerjee suffered a humiliating defeat against Adhikari by close to 2,000 votes from Nandigram.

Voting for the 2026 Assembly elections in West Bengal was held across two phases on April 23 and April 29.