6 Reasons Why Mamata Banerjee Lost Bhabanipur To BJP's Suvendu Adhikari

The BJP framed the election as an election against fear (of Trinamool Congress) and that messaging seems to have worked.

05 May 2026, 08:38 · www.ndtv.com

Kolkata:

Bhabanipur is synonymous with Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata and beyond. But this seat is deeply rooted in Bengal politics.

In 1970s, Bhabanipur gave Bengal its first Congress Chief Minister - Sidhartha Shankar Roy. Trinamool Congress heavyweights like Subrata Mukherjee and Shobhondeb Chattopadhyay have also held this seat of power. But it delivered the biggest upset for the Trinamool chief after her former prodigy Suvendu Adhikari defeated her with a margin of 15,105 votes on May 4.

Here are 6 reasons why Mamata Banerjee lost Bhabanipur:

1. Anti-incumbency: When the government faces high anti-incumbency, even the safe seats stop being safe. Known as a "safe seat" for Trinamool Congress in 2021, Mamata Banerjee fought a bypoll from here shifting her close aide Shobhondeb Chattopadhyay to make space for "Didi".

2. Suvendu Adhikari Factor: The Bengal BJP might not have announced a Chief Minister face against Mamata Banerjee, but Home Minister Amit Shah directed Suvendu Adhikari to take on Mamata Banerjee from her home turf. He had already defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram and this set the tone in favour of BJP- If anyone can defeat her, it can only be Suvendu.

3. Voteshare Drop And Organisational Hiccups: Mamata Banerjee's vote share in Bhabanipur dropped significantly over time from 72 per cent in 2021 to 42 per cent in 2026. This indicates her vote support shifted to the BJP. With high intensity faceoff at strongroom and street side campaigns in the assembly constituency, the BJP got a better control of the ground at Bhabanipur while Mamata Banerjee was campaigning for her party candidates across Bengal. Out of the total eight wards under Bhabanipur, the Lok Sabha results in 2024 gave a lead to BJP in five wards. It outperformed the Trinamool Congress and held onto it.

4. BJP's Focused Campaign: BJP framed the election as an election against fear (of Trinamool Congress) and that messaging seems to have worked. In a major course corrective method, the BJP didn't indulge in personal attacks against Mamata Banerjee, they gave alternative and their vision for Bengal. On the other hand, voters openly spoke about need for "Parivartan" (change), corruption and threat-culture by the Trinamool Congress. The public anger grew against the Trinamool Congress because lower rank of the party misused its name.

5. The SIR factor: Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was carried out across West Bengal to clean the voters list and remove "bogus voters". The rigging and voter manipulation was at abeyance that in the past has helped every incumbent government in Bengal, be the Left or Trinamool Congress. But the large-scale voter deletion from Bhabanipur that Trinamool Congress claimed, further tightened the contest.

6. The RG Kar Impact: This is the first election in Bengal since the RG Kar rape and murder case. BJP strategically fielded the victim's mother Ratna Debnath against Trinamool Congress. This brought back focus to the gruesome crime that occurred at a government hospital in Kolkata. This has perhaps also worked against the sitting chief minister who hadn't acted against her officials till doctors went on a strike in Kolkata to ensure their demands were met.

Show full article

Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world