Round 1 to 20: How Mamata Banerjee Went From Leading To Losing Her Bhabanipur Fortress

Suvendu Adhikari defeats Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, overturning her early huge lead to win by 15,114 votes

TMC’s Mamata Banerjee is facing off against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur. (Image: PTI)

What began as a comfortable early lead for Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in her political bastion Bhabanipur turned into one of the most dramatic reversals of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, as the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari surged ahead in later rounds to snatch victory.

Let’s take a look at how Mamata Banerjee went from leading to losing her Bhabanipur seat:

When counting began, Banerjee quickly established a strong lead, reflecting her traditional dominance in Bhabanipur—a seat long considered her fortress. Early trends showed her ahead by a significant margin, with initial leads crossing tens of thousands in some updates.

She began the Bhabanipur count on a strong note, taking an early lead in Round 1 with 3,666 votes against Suvendu Adhikari’s 1,670, a margin of 1,996 votes.

In Round 2, the momentum was briefly disrupted as Adhikari surged ahead with 6,380 votes to Mamata’s 4,822, putting him in front by 1,558 votes.

The contest quickly swung back in Round 3, where Mamata regained the lead with 9,359 votes versus 8,461, a margin of 898 votes. From there, she consolidated her position decisively through the early phase of counting.

Mamata had opened up a commanding lead—17,244 votes to Adhikari’s 8,762, a margin of 8,482. The advantage widened sharply in Round 5 (25,942 vs 9,236; lead 16,706) and peaked in Round 6, where Mamata stood at 30,548 votes against 11,155, enjoying her largest lead of 19,393 votes.

The tide began to turn gradually after this point. Although Mamata remained ahead through the middle rounds, her margin steadily eroded. In Round 7, she led 32,822 to 15,451 (margin 17,371), which shrank further in Round 8 (35,522 vs 20,028; margin 15,494) and Round 9 (38,328 vs 24,486; margin 13,842). By Round 10, the gap had narrowed to 12,131 votes (41,138 vs 29,007) and continued to tighten through Round 11 (42,796 vs 33,321; margin 9,475) and Round 12 (44,729 vs 37,545; margin 7,184).

The closing of the gap accelerated in the later middle rounds. Mamata’s lead reduced to 5,349 votes in Round 13 (46,726 vs 41,377) and further to 3,830 in Round 14 (48,671 vs 44,841). By Round 15, she was still ahead but only narrowly—51,343 votes to Adhikari’s 48,414, a margin of just 2,929 votes, signalling an imminent shift.

The decisive moment came in Round 16, when Suvendu Adhikari overtook Mamata Banerjee for the first time in the latter half of counting. He moved ahead with 53,932 votes against Mamata’s 53,369, taking a slim lead of 563 votes. From there, the BJP candidate consolidated rapidly. In Round 17, he expanded his lead to 6,235 votes (60,500 vs 54,265), which widened sharply in Round 18 to 11,003 votes (66,785 vs 55,782).

The final rounds turned the contest into a decisive victory for Adhikari. By Round 19, he was ahead by 15,010 votes (72,936 vs 57,926), and at the end of Round 20, the final tally stood at 73,463 votes for Suvendu Adhikari and 58,349 for Mamata Banerjee, giving him a winning margin of 15,114 votes.

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