New Delhi: The BJP’s surge is becoming significantly clear as the counting of votes in the West Bengal Assembly Election 2026 as several of its candidates have developed significant leads in the early count. BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, leading in Bhawanipur against the state chief minister and is also leading from Nandigram seat.
Shockingly, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee who has been the Chief Minister of the state for three consecutive terms, has been trailing in her seat Bhawanipur constituency, with the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari leading with a significant margin.
“Out of the 14 Nandigram booths counted in the early hours, 7-8 were Muslim dominated areas and yet I have gained a lead, this means even the Muslim votes that Mamata was banking on have deserted her,” said Suvendu Adhikari.
In Murshidabad, where the TMC has been a strong force, the voters seem to have given a fragmented mandate as the BJP, the Congress Party and the Trinamool are almost evenly placed in a zone where Mamata Banerjee’s party has always held sway.
Once Allies, Now Arch Rivals:
Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari once worked together in the Trinamool Congress.
Adhikari was a key architect of the TMC’s rise, particularly in East Midnapore. With him spearheading mass agitation and public mobilisation stand-offs like Nandigram movement, which helped Mamata consolidate her anti-Left plank. The Left had ruled West Bengal for almost three and a half decades until Mamata displaced it in 2011.
However, in 2020, Adhikari defected to the Bharatiya Janata Party, citing sidelining within the TMC leadership. Since then, he has emerged as the BJP’s most prominent face in Bengal and Leader of Opposition.
Mamata-Suvendu political rivalry peaked during the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2021 when both leaders contested from Nandigram, a symbolic battleground of their shared political past.
Adhikari defeated Banerjee, dealing her a rare personal electoral loss but Banerjee, however, retained power statewide and later re-entered the state Assembly via Bhawanipore.
