BJP Sweeps Nandigram Bypoll With Record Margin, Also Wins Rejinagar

Delivering another massive victory for the BJP in West Bengal, Hasi Rani Rath, the party's candidate for the Nandigram bypoll, has defeated her nearest rival by over 1.2 lakh votes.  

Rath is the mother of Suvendu Adhikari's aide Chandranath Rath, who was shot dead in Madhyamgram in North 24 Parganas district on May 6.

Chief Minister Adhikari had vacated the Nandigram seat after winning from there as well as Bhabanipur, the constituency held by Mamata All India Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee. Live updates

Rath polled 1,64,227 votes against Congress candidate Milan Pradhan's 41,674 and the victory margin of over 1.22 lakh votes is the highest since 1967. The previous record was set by Adhikari himself in 2016, when he had won the seat for the Trinamool Congress by a margin of 81,230 votes.

Shankaravh Sarkar, the BJP candidate in Rejinagar - the other constituency in the state where a bypoll was held - also won by over 75,000 votes and Adhikari said this was proof of the minorities voting for the BJP. While 70% of voters in Rejinagar are from the minority community, the figure is 27% for Nandigram. 

"BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath has won from Nandigram and she has also crossed my record margin. Minorities in Nandigram have supported us and have positively accepted my request to join our movement," Adhikari said. 

"Our candidate is winning in Rejinagar as well and the majority of votes that we have received there are from the minority community. I pay my respects to the people of Rejinagar and especially want to thank those who benefited from the Annapurna Yojana (under which eligible women get Rs 3,000 every month)," he added. 

The bypolls were being keenly watched to assess whether the BJP's performance has been accepted months after it ended the Trinamool Congress' 15-year rule in Bengal and secured a thumping majority in the Assembly elections, forming a government in the state for the first time. Of particular interest was also how the Opposition performed after the Trinamool Congress split into multiple factions, contesting the bypolls as the Mamata All India Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee and Ritabrata Banerjee's Democratic Trinamool Congress.