West Bengal Election Result 2021 LIVE: Mamata Banerjee loses Nandigram seat to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari by 1736 votes

In a major development, West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee lost the Nandigram seat to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in a neck and neck fight. 

Banerjee lost to Adhikari by a narrow margin of 1736 votes.

"Don't worry about Nandigram, I struggled for Nandigram because I fought a movement. It's ok. Let the Nandigram people give whatever verdict they want, I accept that. I don't mind. We won more than 221 seats & BJP has lost the election," Banerjee said.

"We are grateful to the people for this landslide victory. I have to start working for COVID19 immediately. The swearing-in will be a low-key event because of the prevailing COVID19 situation," she added.

There was a tough fight between Mamata and Adhikari as a cliffhanger battle was expected in the high-profile constituency. When the counting of votes began at 8 am, Adhikari had taken a lead and after trailing for nearly six rounds, with the TMC chief Mamata Banerjee finally grabbing significant lead till the end of the 15th round. Tables turned in the 16th round and Mamta started trailing behind. 

Making the game of thrones in Bengal more interesting, Mamata chose Nandigram over her home turf Bhabanipur seat this time to test her fate in the 2021 elections. It was the agitation in Nandigram and Singur against the Left government's land acquisition policies that made Mamata Banerjee the Chief Minister of West Bengal.

Nandigram witnessed a high voltage "Khela" (game of power) on April 1 in the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls.

The constituency has seen a direct contest between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year.

It must be added here that Adhikari had pledged that he would quit politics if he did not defeat Mamata by 50,000 votes in Nandigram.

In 2016, Suvendu Adhikari had won from Nandigram after defeating Abdul Kabir Sekh of CPI. In 2011, Firoja Bibi of TMC had bagged the seat by defeating her nearest rival Paramananda Bharati of CPI.

In Singur too, the BJP is leading in early trends. It is to be noted that Singur is considered to be one of the strongholds of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. Singur was the second place where Mamata launched a successful movement against the Left government’s land acquisition for Tata Nano factory.