KOLKATA: Bhowanipore eventually turned its back Monday on Mamata Banerjee after three terms as the Bengal CM was sliced out of her Kolkata home turf in a knife-edge contest that saw her protege-turned-foe Suvendu Adhikari vanquish her by 15,105 votes.Mamata struggled to accept the outcome, claiming she and her TMC had been defeated “by force”, the election process manipulated and votes “looted” by Adhikari’s BJP. Worse, she alleged she had been assaulted by BJP activists and central forces as she made her way out of Sakhawat Memorial High School counting centre after nearly five hours there.Also Read |Lotus blooms in West Bengal: 10 moves that helped BJP breach Mamata Banerjee’s fortressMamata stayed put since trends showed her trailing by over 10,994 votes after 18th round of counting in the afternoon. In the end, EC pegged the tally at 73,917 votes for Adhikari and 58,812 for Mamata.Bhowanipore, centrestage of WB’s political battlefield, was a cauldron Monday, with the atmosphere surcharged by allegations, counter-allegations and street showdo-wns as tallies swung wildly through the day.Early trends favoured Adhikari, who surged ahead in the opening rounds. But after the third round, Mamata bounced back. She established her dominance by the seventh round, at one point leading by more than 19,000 votes – triggering murmurs that the contest might tilt decisively in her favour.
That perception, however, proved short-lived. Adhikari, claiming Mamata’s surge was driven by votes from a minority-dominated pocket, mounted a rapid comeback. By the 12th round, the gap shrunk to just over 7,000 votes and later tightened further to 5,300, setting the stage for a nail-biting finish that echoed the intensity of their 2021 face-off, where Mamata lost to Adhikari in Nandigram. She’d won Bhowanipore in a bypoll later that year.Tensions peaked further Monday when TMC alleged that its Bhowanipore counting agents had been attacked by BJP and pushed out. The chief minister, who earlier appealed to her workers to “fight like a tiger cub” and not to leave the counting tables till sunset, rushed to the venue.As her convoy reached the centre around 3.30pm, BJP supporters erupted in chants of “thief, thief” and “go back,” turning the stretch into a cauldron of hostility. Adhikari arrived around the same time. TMC general secretary and Mamata’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, too, reached the site amid allegations that some BJP supporters spat in his direction and hurled abuses before he was forced to move out.Also Read |‘Immoral, illegal’: Mamata Banerjee alleges BJP ‘looted’ more than 100 seats; vows to ‘bounce back’Mamata stayed at the centre till 8pm before she was escorted out by central forces. As she came out, she repeated allegations about being “assaulted” and claimed BJP “looted over 100 seats”. Putting up a brave face, however, she vowed that TMC would come back to office.TMC offices fell silent. “We have nothing to say,” said aworker, slowly unpinning the party symbol from his shirt.
