After trailing in Nandigram for four rounds of counting, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has now taken the lead over BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari.
After the fourth round of counting, Banerjee was trailing behind her one-time aide Adhikari in Nandigram in East Midnapore district by a margin of 3,710 votes.
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According to the latest round of counting, Mamata has secured a lead of 1500 votes over her rival and BJP leader.
Once a trusted aide of Mamata Banerjee, Adhikari joined the BJP last year along with other Trinamool Congress rebels in the presence of party leader and Union Minister Amit Shah at a rally in Midnapore. In the 2016 assembly elections in the state, Suvendu Adhikari won the prized Nandigram seat for the TMC. Mamata Banerjee vacated her existing seat of Bhowanipore to challenge her one-time “right-hand man”.
Interestingly, Adhikari played an influential role in the 2007 Nandigram movement that managed to deliver a definitive blow to the 34-year Left rule in Bengal and helped bring TMC to power in the state 10 years ago.
Nandigram falls in the Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal.
Exit polls have forecast a tight contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the eight-phase elections to the 294-member assembly.