Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has achieved a major victory in the West Bengal Assembly by-elections, winning both the Nandigram and Rejinagar constituencies by massive vote margins.
In the Nandigram Assembly constituency, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath defeated her nearest rival, Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, by a record-breaking margin of over 122,000 votes. Rath polled 1,64,227 votes, while Pradhan received 41,674 votes.
This outcome marks the largest victory margin in Nandigram since 1967, breaking the previous record of 81,230 votes set in 2016 by Suvendu Adhikari, who had then contested as a Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate.
Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, a close associate of Suvendu Adhikari who was shot dead in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas, last May.
In Murshidabad’s Rejinagar Assembly constituency, BJP candidate Shankarabhar Sarkar registered another major win, defeating his nearest rival by a margin of more than 75,000 votes.
The Rejinagar seat was vacated earlier this year by Humayun Kabir, Chairman of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party, who gave up one seat after winning two in the assembly elections. His son, Ghulam Nabi Azad, was fielded as the candidate for the seat and conceded defeat prior to the formal declaration of results.
Reacting to the dual success, Suvendu Adhikari stated that Hasi Rani Rath had surpassed his own previous victory record in Nandigram and highlighted positive support from minority voters.
He noted that in Rejinagar, which has a population of nearly 70 per cent minorities, the decisive mandate proved that minority communities voted for development and change.
Adhikari expressed special gratitude to women benefiting from the state’s “Annapurna Yojana” scheme and congratulated residents across all sections of Rejinagar. Notably, BJP candidates secured a substantial share of votes from minority Muslim voters in both Nandigram and Rejinagar.
On the other hand, the Congress and Left parties alleged vote-looting in both by-elections. Furthermore, both the Aam Janata Unnayan Party and the Congress claimed that a farce was conducted in the name of voting.
