Mamata vs Adhikari: Margin shrinks to 7,184 after 12 rounds

In Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, Mamata Banerjee’s lead over Suvendu Adhikari narrowed to 7,184 votes after 12 rounds, reflecting sharp swings in a high-stakes contest with eight rounds of counting still remaining

Kolkata: The contest at high-profile Bhabanipur Assembly constituency has intensified even further as TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee’s lead margin over BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari dipped yet again to 7,184 votes after 12 of the 20 rounds of counting.

According to Election Commission data, Banerjee secured 44,729 votes against Adhikari’s 37,545, with just eight more rounds of counting remaining. The TMC supremo had overcome the setback in the second round when her bete noire Adhikari secured a margin of 1,558 votes and surged ahead in the subsequent rounds of counting.

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The TMC supremo had built a commanding lead of 17,371 votes by the end of the seventh round, polling 32,822 votes against Adhikari’s 15,451, before the margin narrowed in the later rounds.
In the eighth round, her lead margin was 15,494 votes, which further dipped to 12,131 by the 10th.
The contest also witnessed sharp swings in the initial rounds.

Banerjee had opened with a lead of 1,996 votes in the first round, polling 3,666 votes against Adhikari’s 1,670. However, the leader of the opposition in the outgoing Assembly overturned the advantage in the second round, moving ahead by 1,558 votes. She bounced back in the third round, regaining the lead by 898 votes, before surging ahead by 8,482 votes at the end of the fourth round.

The Bhabanipur seat will witness a total of 20 rounds of counting before results are declared.
Counting of votes for 293 assembly constituencies in West Bengal was underway amid tight security arrangements. The Bhabanipur contest has emerged as one of the most keenly watched battles in the state, with Adhikari positioning himself as the BJP’s principal challenger to Banerjee in a prestige fight.