BJP wins Nandigram bypoll; Chandranath Rath's mother Hasirani secures landslide victory

BJP candidate Hasirani Rath, mother of slain Suvendu Adhikari aide Chandranath Rath, secured 1,64,427 votes in the Nandigram Assembly bypoll.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has won the Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly bypolls in West Bengal, with candidates Hasirani Rath and Shankharavh Sarkar defeating their respective rivals by significant margins.

In Nandigram, Rath defeated Congress candidate Milan Pradhan by 1,22,753 votes, securing 1,64,427 votes, or 75.94 per cent of the total. Pradhan received 41,674 votes, accounting for 19.25 per cent of the votes polled.

Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari who was killed in May, days after the BJP won the state Assembly elections.

In Rejinagar, BJP candidate Shankharavh Sarkar won with 1,29,914 votes, defeating Golam Nabi Azad (Robin) of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party, who received 54,098 votes. Sarkar won by a margin of 75,816 votes.

Why the bypolls were held

The Rejinagar Assembly bypoll was held because Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) chief Humayun Kabir vacated the seat after winning both Rejinagar and Naoda in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. He chose to retain Naoda, necessitating a by-election in Rejinagar.

The Nandigram by-election was necessitated after West Bengal CM Suvendu Adhikari vacated Nandigram to retain Bhabanipur, where he defeated former chief minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2026 Assembly elections. Adhikari had won both constituencies.

The contest was closely watched as an early electoral test for the BJP government, which ended the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule in West Bengal earlier this year.

Hasirani Rath’s candidature draws attention

Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, a close aide of Adhikari who was shot dead on May 6, two days after the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections were declared.

The BJP backed Rath in the bypoll as the constituency returned to the polls following Adhikari’s decision to retain Bhabanipur.

Congress gets TMC support after candidate withdraws

The contest also witnessed political realignments within the opposition. The candidate fielded by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress faction, Sanchita Pradhan Dey, withdrew from the race after meeting Adhikari. Banerjee subsequently extended support to Congress candidate Milan Pradhan.

Pradhan’s campaign was also disrupted by his arrest in September in connection with cases dating back to the 2007 Nandigram agitation. He later secured bail from the Calcutta High Court and returned to the constituency to campaign.

The Congress had alleged irregularities and intimidation during polling and demanded a repoll. The BJP rejected the allegations.

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