WB polls: Party wins, Mamata loses. Accepts mandate in state, contests verdict on seat

In a shock reversal of fortunes, incumbent chief minister of West Bengal, Mamata Bannerjee lost the polls to BJP candidate, Suvendu Adhikari. Trashing the previous reports of her winning the seat by 1200 votes the Election Commission of India declared Adhikari the official winner by 1956 votes from Nandigram constituency.

Bannerjee accepted the people’s verdict but at the same time declared she would challenge the ECI in court to expose their “mischief” in counting. The apex poll body had refused a recount demand by her late on Sunday night. Adhikari, a former aide of Bannerjee, jumped ship to join BJP ahead of the polls and become the party’s chief ministerial candidate.

If the verdict stays, Mamata Bannerjee can still go on to become the chief minister but will have to contest and win a seat within six months. This loss is a major embarrassment for her party Trinamool Congress which is on its way to secure a sweeping mandate in the polls for a third consecutive terms.

Bannerjee held her fort together against the Modi-Shah juggernaut to win a third consecutive term in the state, where the elections had gone to the wire with both sides fighting for survival and prestige.

The photo finish on this seat with high stakes pretty much sums up the story of battlefield Bengal in which prime minister @narendramodi had taken the rein of campaigning in his own hands with his trusted sarthi And home minister, Amit Shah by his side. At the end of the day, it was the David who’s battle cry “Khela Hobe” withstood the Goliath’s onslaught and lifted the prized crown of West Bengal, where BJP will now bounce up as a formidable opposition to the Trinamool Congress government.

Incumbent chief minister of West Bengal, @mamataofficial , held her fort together against the Modi and Shah juggernaut to win a third consecutive term in the state, where the elections had gone to the wire with both sides fighting for survival and prestige.