Counting of votes for the high-stakes bypolls in West Bengal’s Nandigram and Rejinagar assembly seats began at 8 AM on Friday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party surging into early leads in both constituencies, according to early trends emerging from the counting centres.
In Nandigram — the seat that has come to define Bengal’s fiercest political battles — BJP candidate Hasirani Rath established a commanding early advantage, leading by approximately 9,600 votes after the completion of the first round of counting. Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, who is reportedly being backed by Mamata Banerjee after her TMC candidate withdrew from the contest, was running second in the early trends, according to counting data reported this morning.
The BJP’s early momentum in the neighbouring Rejinagar seat was even more pronounced. According to early trends, BJP’s Sakharav Sarkar polled 11,614 votes after the second round of counting, opening up a sizeable gap over Congress candidate Mohammad Abdullahil Kafi, who was a distant second with roughly 581 votes.
Both bypolls carry political weight far beyond the two seats. Nandigram was vacated by Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who won from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur and chose to retain Bhabanipur. Rejinagar fell vacant after AJUP’s Humayun Kabir, who won from both Rejinagar and Naoda, decided to retain Naoda.
The contests are widely seen as the BJP’s first electoral test since the party came to power in West Bengal, making Friday’s verdict — whenever it is formally declared — a key indicator of the ruling party’s grip on the state and of the opposition’s capacity to regroup after the withdrawal of the TMC candidate in Nandigram.
Voter turnout was robust, with Nandigram recording a polling percentage of around 80.89%, reflecting the constituency’s history of keenly contested elections. Counting is being conducted under tight security at designated centres, with election officials working through multiple rounds of EVM tallies.
It is important to stress that these are early trends from the initial rounds of counting, and leads can shift as more rounds are completed. The Election Commission is expected to declare the final results through the course of the day. The FM News will continue to update this developing story as counting progresses and official results come in.
This is a developing story. Counting is underway, and final results will be updated here as they are declared.
