Kolkata, October 9, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Hasirani Rath has won the Nandigram Assembly bypoll in West Bengal’s East Midnapore district by a record margin of 1,22,753 votes, registering the biggest victory margin in the constituency since 1967.
Rath secured 1,64,427 votes, while Congress candidate Milan Pradhan finished second with 41,674 votes. CPI candidate Santi Gopal Giri received 5,779 votes to finish third, followed by All India Secular Front (AISF) candidate Ali Md Sabe Miraj Khan, who polled 1,607 votes. The Democratic Trinamool Congress, led by Ritabrata Banerjee, finished fifth with 853 votes.
The Mamata Banerjee-led All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) did not contest the bypoll. Its candidate, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew her nomination at the last moment, following which former West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced her support for the Congress candidate.
Rath breaks Suvendu Adhikari’s record
The result surpassed the previous record victory margin in Nandigram, set by current Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in 2016. Adhikari, then a Trinamool Congress candidate, had won the seat by 81,230 votes.
Reacting to the result, Adhikari said he had predicted before the bypoll that the BJP candidate would exceed his 2016 victory margin.
“This is what exactly happened. This would not have been possible unless our candidate had secured the majority of the minority votes in Nandigram,” Adhikari said.
The scale of Rath’s victory marks a significant shift from the previous Assembly election earlier this year, when Adhikari won Nandigram by just 9,665 votes, accounting for 50.37 per cent of the votes polled at the time.
In the bypoll, Rath secured 75.94 per cent of the total votes polled. According to the figures provided, the BJP recorded a positive vote swing of 25.79 percentage points.
Bypoll necessitated by Adhikari’s decision
Adhikari had also contested the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in South Kolkata earlier this year, defeating Mamata Banerjee by a margin of slightly more than 15,000 votes. He subsequently chose to retain Bhabanipur, necessitating the bypoll in Nandigram.
Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, Adhikari’s former personal assistant, who was assassinated in Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district on May 6.
Meanwhile, the final result of the bypoll in Rejinagar Assembly constituency in Murshidabad district was still awaited.
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