Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee took the lead in Nandigram, with around 2,700 votes, over BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, according to CNN-News 18. The West Bengal CM had been trailing behind her BJP opponent after four rounds of counting. Nandigram has 17 rounds of counting.
While the BJP hoped Adhikari, a one-time aide of the chief minister, would hold onto the lead, the Trinamool Congress claimed the scenario would change after the seventh round.
The early trends in Nandigram were in contrast to the rest of the state, where Mamata’s Trinamool Congress had a lead over the BJP in at least 50 constituencies.
As of 2:30pm, the Trinamool party was leading in 207 constituencies while the BJP was ahead in 81.
For the first time in 12 years, since 2009, Mamata Banerjee chose a rural seat.
Banerjee left her Bhawanipore seat in south Kolkata, her home turf that she won for two terms, to contest from Nandigram.
Nandigram in East Midnapore is the cradle of land agitation movement that brought the curtains down on 34 years of Left rule in the state.
A career-defining battle
For Mamata Banerjee, winning Nandigram is as crucial as winning the state. A loss is Nandigram would be a major setback to her political career.
Campaigning was intense ahead of the elections.
Adhikari, who defected to the BJP from the Trinamool in December, carried out a highly polarised campaign in the area against Mamata Banerjee. The chief minister depended on the leaders of her land movement, while she took four houses across the constituency to supervise the poll preparedness.
On 10 March, the chief minister, while campaigning in a local market, injured herself. After a brief hospitalisation, she started campaigning in a wheelchair with the injured leg and remained like that until the campaign ended on 26 April.
(Edited by Arun Prashanth)
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