BJP Sweeps Bengal Bypolls: Hasi Rani Rath Wins Nandigram
The BJP candidate sets a record victory margin in Nandigram by Over 1.22 Lakh Votes
GG News Bureau
Nandigram, 9th Oct: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a major victory in West Bengal’s Nandigram bypoll, with candidate Hasi Rani Rath defeating Congress nominee Milan Pradhan by more than 1.22 lakh votes, according to the results cited in the report.
Rath secured 1,64,227 votes against Pradhan’s 41,674, taking her victory margin to approximately 1,22,553 votes. The margin was described as the highest in Nandigram since 1967, surpassing the previous record set by Suvendu Adhikari in 2016, when he won the seat for the Trinamool Congress by 81,230 votes.
Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, an aide to Adhikari who was shot dead in Madhyamgram, North 24 Parganas district, on May 6.
BJP Also Wins Rejinagar
The BJP’s Shankharavh Sarkar also secured a decisive victory in Rejinagar, defeating Aam Janata Unnayan Party candidate Golam Nabi Azad. Sarkar received 1,29,914 votes, while Azad polled 54,098, giving the BJP candidate a margin of 75,816 votes.
The Rejinagar result drew particular attention because nearly 70% of the constituency’s voters belong to minority communities, compared with around 27% in Nandigram.
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said the results reflected minority voters’ support for the BJP. He also thanked voters who, he said, had benefited from the Annapurna Yojana, under which eligible women receive ₹3,000 a month. These remarks represented Adhikari’s interpretation of the results; the vote totals alone do not establish how individual communities voted.
Opposition Faces a Fragmented Contest
The Nandigram bypoll followed Adhikari’s decision to vacate the seat after winning both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, the latter associated with Mamata Banerjee.
The contest was complicated by divisions within the Trinamool camp. Sanchita Pradhan Dey, the candidate of the Mamata Banerjee faction, withdrew her nomination shortly before the election. The faction subsequently backed Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.
Pradhan, who was arrested in connection with an older murder case and later granted interim bail, finished second with 41,674 votes. Ehteshmul Haque of the Democratic Trinamool Congress polled 843 votes and finished fifth.
In Rejinagar, the bypoll became necessary after Aam Janata Unnayan Party chief Humayun Kabir vacated the seat after also winning Nowda. His son, Golam Nabi Azad, contested in his place but finished behind the BJP candidate.
