Clash of titans in Bhabanipur: Will Suvendu repeat Nandigram amid Mamata's "Bangla Birodhi" pitch against BJP?

Bhabanipur constituency is witnessing a repeat clash between the sitting MLA and Trinamool Congress candidate Mamata Banerjee and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

Adhikari had also challenged Mamata from Nandigram in the 2021 West Bengal polls, from where he won by 1,956 votes. Following her defeat, the TMC supremo contested the bypoll from Bhabanipur, as MLA Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay resigned from the seat.

In the 2021 polls in Bhabanipur, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay won with a huge margin of 28,719 against the BJP candidate Rudranil Ghosh.

In the 2016 elections, Mamata Banerjee had defeated senior Congress leader Deepa Dasmunshi in Bhabanipur by a margin of 25,301 votes, while the BJP candidate Chandra Kumar Bose stood third with a just 19.5 per cent vote share.

With a difference of about 61 lakh votes and 27 lakh additional deletion of names from the electoral roll in West Bengal, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise has become the point most talked about in the state and certainly so in Bhabanipur.

After filing her nomination on April 8, Mamata Banerjee said that the party will move to the court if the names of valid voters are not restored in the electoral rolls following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.

She said, "I am deeply saddened that many names have been deleted. This was mentioned in the Supreme Court order. After we moved court, some names were restored, as per the order, those under adjudication were to be included... If their names are not restored, many people will not be able to vote. We will go to court again if needed," she said.

Expressing confidence in TMC's victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections and invoking her connection to Bhabanipur, she said, "I have lived here since my childhood, everything I have is here. I thank and salute the people of Bhabanipur. I have filed my nomination, and I wish victory to all Trinamool Congress candidates. We will form the government. I have many more programmes ahead. Please take care of yourselves in this heat, stay well, stay healthy."

Apart from an emotional rhetoric, Mamata Banerjee is showing the BJP as an outsider to Bengali culture with her "egg and fish" remarks. On several occasions, she has criticised the BJP over attacks against Bengali-speaking migrant workers in states across the country.

In the last elections, 1,09,024 male electors and 91,911 female electors cast their votes. With women voting in large numbers in the constituency, the TMC is backing the Lakshmir Bhandar scheme and Mamata Banerjee's '10 Pledges' mentioned in the manifesto, and Abhishek Banerjee had asked party workers in Bhabanipur to communicate the poll promises to the electors.

Under the Lakshmi Bhandar scheme, women in the general category will receive Rs 1,500 per month, SC/ST women Rs 1,700, and unemployed youth will get Rs 1,500 per month.

Meanwhile, Adhikari and the BJP are backing on the anti-illegal immigrant poll plank and repeating the result of Nandigram in Bhabanipur. Union Home Minister Amit Shah has held rallies to garner votes for Adhikari.

"We will not only seal Bengal's borders against infiltrators but also ensure that not a single cow is smuggled out of India through Bengal," Shah said as the BJP released its manifesto for the polls.

The BJP also has the Uniform Civil Code (UCC) on their agenda, as it brought in legislation in Uttarakhand and Gujarat.

In Bhabanipur, Amit Shah has also flagged the lack of women's safety, unemployment and corruption by the Mamata government to appeal to the voters.

Meanwhile, Suvendu Adhikari is contesting the two-phase West Bengal assembly polls on the BJP ticket from Nandigram as well.

Congress has fielded Pradip Prasad, while the Left has nominated youth leader Srijib Biswas, who had contested the bye-election against Mamata Banerjee. Congress and CPI(M) aim to turn 'clash of titans' into a multi-cornered fight.

Bhabanipur will hold polling in the second phase of West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections on April 29, while May 4 will decide the fate of the Mamata versus Suvendu contest. (ANI)