Delivering another massive victory for the BJP in West Bengal, Hasi Rani Rath, the party’s candidate for the Nandigram bypoll, has defeated her nearest rival by over 1.2 lakh votes.
“BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath has won from Nandigram and has also crossed my record margin. Chief Minister Adhikari had vacated the Nandigram seat after winning from there as well as Bhabanipur, the constituency held by Mamata All India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Live updates Rath polled 1,64,227 votes against Congress candidate Milan Pradhan’s 41,674 and the victory margin of over 1.22 lakh votes is the highest since 1967. The previous record was set by Adhikari himself in 2016, when he had won the seat for the Trinamool Congress by a margin of 81,230 votes. Shankharavh Sarkar, the BJP candidate in Rejinagar – the other constituency in the state where a bypoll was held – also won by over 75,000 votes and Adhikari said this was proof of the minorities voting for the BJP. the figure is 27% for Nandigram While 70% of voters in Rejinagar are from the minority community.
Minorities in Nandigram have supported us and have positively accepted my request to join our movement,” Adhikari said.
She had announced the decision a day after meeting Adhikari and Banerjee, left without a candidate, decided to throw her party’s weight behind the Congress pick, Milan Pradhan. Adhikari had won both constituencies. Of particular interest was also how the Opposition performed following the Trinamool Congress split into multiple factions, contesting the bypolls as the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee’s Democratic Trinamool Congress. In Nandigram, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate of the Mamata Banerjee faction of the Trinamool, had withdrawn her nomination at the last moment. Pradhan was later arrested in connection with an old murder case and was granted interim bail.
The bypolls were being keenly watched to assess whether the BJP’s performance has been accepted months after it ended the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule in Bengal and secured a thumping majority in the Assembly elections, forming a government in the state for the first time. He emerged second with 41,674 votes, while Ehteshmul Haque of the Democratic Trinamool Congress polled only 843 votes and placed fifth. Earlier reporting noted: BJP wins Nandigram bypoll as Hasirani Rath secures landslide victory The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has registered a decisive victory in the Nandigram Assembly bypoll in West Bengal, with party candidate Hasi Rani Rath defeating her nearest rival, Milan Pradhan of the Indian National Congress, by a margin of 1,22,753 votes. Earlier reporting noted: According to the ECI, Rath secured 1,64,427 votes, including 1,63,630 votes from the EVM count and 797 postal votes, accounting for 75.94 per cent of the total votes polled. Earlier reporting noted: The by-election was necessitated after West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram to retain Bhabanipur, where he defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2026 Assembly elections.
