Kolkata: Some had already declared Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee as a winner at the end of a humdinger of a battle with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram.
After 6 pm, though, ‘news’ came through that it was actually Suvendu who had scraped through in the most high-profile constituency in West Bengal’s assembly elections.
And two hours after that, the drama ended when it was made official by Election Commission on its website that Suvendu had won by 1453 votes. While Mamata polled 82,551 votes, Suvendu got 84,004.
So even though Trinamool Congress completed a hat-trick and won by a landslide margin (215 seats) over bitter rivals BJP (76) — as of reports at 8.30 pm — its commander and supremo Mamata may have lost her personal fight against one-time close aide Suvendu.
Mamata, though, is not too perturbed.
“It’s nothing… I accept what the people wanted… In a way I’m relieved that I don’t have to go all the way to Nandigram (from Kolkata),” Mamata said, addressing journalists and a group of supporters from a distance.
“They first said something, then we were told about this result.. I’ve heard there were some manipulations done. We’ll move the court if needed,” Mamata said.
“We are grateful to the people for this landslide victory. We are getting about 220 seats… one doesn’t matter… it’s a team game. I have to start working for COVID-19 immediately. The swearing-in will be a low-key event because of the prevailing pandemic situation,” she said.
Urging her supporters not to take out victory rallies, she said it’s important for all to look after those who are infected by coronavirus. “We’ll have a big victory rally at Shahid Minar… after COVID situation improves. We’ll announce the date later.”
