KOLKATA: Former West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief Mamata Banerjee filed a plea in the Calcutta high court on Tuesday, challenging the result of the assembly election in Bhabanipur, where she suffered a surprise defeat to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.Banerjee lost the Bhabanipur seat by 15,105 votes, marking one of the biggest setbacks of her political career. The defeat came as a major blow to the TMC, particularly because Bhabanipur had been considered her political stronghold for over a decade.The constituency has remained closely associated with Banerjee since 2011. That year, TMC leader Subrata Bakshi won the seat and later vacated it to allow Banerjee to enter the Assembly after becoming chief minister. She subsequently won from Bhabanipur in 2011 and 2016, and retained the seat in a 2021 bypoll with a massive margin of 58,835 votes — her largest victory in the constituency.In the 2021 Assembly elections, Banerjee had opted to contest from Nandigram but lost narrowly to Adhikari.Following that defeat, senior TMC leader Sovandeb Chattopadhyay resigned from the Bhabanipur seat, paving the way for Banerjee to return to the Assembly through the bypoll.However, political observers had noted signs of weakening support in Bhabanipur during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, when the TMC’s lead in the constituency narrowed to just over 8,000 votes.The outcome of the case could have significant implications for West Bengal’s political landscape in the coming months.
