Nandigram assembly election 2021: Mamata Banerjee or Suvendu Adhikari — Who will win the biggest prestige battle of Bengal?

Suvendu Adhikari vs Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram

Nandigram West Bengal Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Election Results 2021: In West Bengal, Nandigram was the biggest battleground where sitting chief minister Mamata Banerjee challenged her former cabinet colleague and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari. The Nandigram assembly constituency comes under Purba Medinipur district, which is considered as the bastion of the Adhikari family. Nandigram has a special place in West Bengal’s politics. It was the place where Mamata Banerjee launched her biggest political movement against the Left government in 2007. Suvendu Adhikari was her lieutenant in the movement. He himself has said that it was he who made that movement successful. The Nandigram movement was the beginning of the rise of Trinamool Congress in West Bengal. Mamata came to power in 2011.

While the Left too has fielded its candidate Minakshi Mukherjee in Nandigram, the fight is expected to be between Mamata and Suvendu. Suvendu Adhikari is a sitting MLA from Nandigram. He won this assembly seat in 2016 on TMC ticket. In that election, Ashikari defeated CPI’s Abdul Kabir Sekh by over 80,000 votes. Adhikari garnered 67.20 per cent votes while the Left leader had to settle with just 26.70 per cent votes. Before Adhikari, this seat was won by Firoja Bibi, who had also emerged victorious in 2009 byelection. In 2011, Bibi had trounced CPI’s Paramananda Bharati by over 40,000 votes.

The Nandigram assembly seat falls under the Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency, which is currently held by Dibyendu Adhikari — the younger brother of Suvendu Adhikari. Nandigram is the biggest prestige battle for Mamata and Suvendu. Both the leaders are confident of winning the seat but pollsters say the fight is very close and either side can win the battle. Suvendu was earlier with the TMC but he left the party just months before the election. He joined the BJP last December.

Counting of votes will begin from 8 am on Sunday (May 2).