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Mamata vs Adhikari in Bhabanipur — on the ground, at booths
By 11 pm, Bhabanipur had recorded 86.74% polling.
(Right) BJP’s Bhabanipur candidate Suvendu Adhikari and CM Mamata Banerjee during polling. (Photo: Partha Paul)
It was an unusual polling day morning for Trinamool Congress chief and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is fighting to remain in power for the fourth consecutive term.
Banerjee was on the streets since morning Wednesday.
Shortly after voting commenced, she left her Kalighat residence in Kolkata to reach Chetla to meet her close aide and Mayor Firhad Hakim, who is also contesting the Assembly elections.
After meeting Hakim and visiting a booth in the Chetla area, she alleged that several police observers, who came from “outside Bengal”, were “acting at the BJP’s directions”.
“People are supposed to cast their votes, can voting take place like this? They (police observers) are dancing to the tunes of the BJP… The Election Commission is openly harassing and tormenting us. We have sent a contempt of court notice, still countless outside observers have been brought here,” Banerjee told reporters who had been following her from the time she left home.
From Chetla, she headed to Chakraberia in her Bhabanipur constituency, where she met TMC councillor Ashim Basu, who alleged that Central forces had barged into his home late Tuesday night.
Click here for West Bengal exit poll results
“I could not sleep last night… They are openly targeting our agents and party workers. Midnight raids are being conducted without any legal warrant… Our workers are being picked up and detained on fabricated grounds just to stop them from performing their polling duties,” the chief minister said after meeting Basu.
“The BJP’s politics of bhoy (fear), suppression, and brute force will not work in Bengal. The more you harass us, the stronger we become,” she said.
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While Banerjee was in Chakraberia with her supporters, Leader of Opposition and her rival Suvendu Adhikari also turned up at the same spot, with CRPF personnel in tow. This led to chaos on the streets with TMC and BJP supporters chanting slogans targeting each other.
“Why is Mamata roaming around with so many people?” asked Adhikari, citing prohibitory orders on account of the election.
“People are out to vote… Vote for change. I expect high voter turnout in Bhabanipur, maybe 90%. The tricks of TMC are not working. This time, BJP agents have been able to sit in all polling booths,” said Adhikari, who had defeated Mamata by a narrow margin in Nandigram five years ago. This time, he is contesting from two seats — Nandigram and Bhabanipur against Banerjee.
Voters show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections 2026, at a polling booth in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Credits: ANI Photo)
Tensions escalated by afternoon when a scuffle broke out at Jai Hind Bhawan polling station over heated sloganeering between TMC and BJP supporters. Around noon, as Adhikari’s vehicle reached the Muktadal More area, woman TMC workers began shouting “Joy Bangla” and “chor-chor”. Adhikari briefly got out of his car and tried to chase them away before heading towards Patuapara in the Kalighat area.
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A team of Central forces reached Jai Hind Bhawan to bring the situation under control. “I informed the Central forces, and made sure they are gone,” claimed Adhikari.
Adhikari also claimed that the BJP would win with a two-thirds majority. Claiming that 71-year-old Banerjee “could not compete” with him as she had “grown old”, Adhikari said the CM would “lose by over 200 votes” in her “own booth”.
It was not until 4.15 pm when Banerjee reached the Mitra Institution polling booth to cast her vote. Flashing the victory sign, she pointed towards her polling booth and commented on the heavy presence of Central forces and the absence of state police from the polling booth.
Voters show their ink-marked fingers after casting their votes in the second phase of West Bengal Assembly elections 2026, at a polling booth in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Credits: ANI Photo)
“The atrocities by the Central forces are unprecedented. What is happening is not at all free and fair polls… Central forces are supposed to guard the country’s borders, but instead they are working for a particular party,” she said, without naming the BJP.
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“We are going to get two-thirds majority,” she added as she left for her Kalighat residence.
By 11 pm, Bhabanipur had recorded 86.74% polling.
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