The Bharatiya Janata Party won both of West Bengal’s assembly by-elections this month, taking Nandigram by a margin of 122,753 votes and Rejinagar by 75,816 votes. Counting results reported on 10 October 2026 gave the party a decisive start in the first electoral test since it ended the Trinamool Congress’s 15-year rule in the state earlier this year, as described by Bombay Samachar.
In Nandigram, BJP candidate Hasirani Rath received 164,427 votes, a share of 75.94 percent. Congress candidate Milan Pradhan came second with 41,674 votes, or 19.25 percent of the vote. The seat fell vacant because Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who had won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the assembly elections, vacated Nandigram to retain Bhabanipur. Nandigram has a long political history in the state, and the margin of 122,753 votes is large even by the standards of safe seats. LatestLY described Rath’s win as coming “by a record margin”.
The result also carries a personal story. According to Bombay Samachar, Rath is the mother of Chandranath Rath, who was killed in May, days after the assembly election results. Her candidature gave the party a figure with a direct link to the violence of the post-poll period, although none of the reports reviewed here describe how the campaign used that background.
In Rejinagar, BJP’s Shankharavh Sarkar won with 129,914 votes against 54,098 for Golam Nabi Azad, known as Robin, of the Aam Janata Unnayan Party, a margin of 75,816 votes. That seat was vacated by the AJUP chief, Humayun Kabir, who had won both Rejinagar and Naoda in the assembly elections. Reports describe Rejinagar as a Muslim-majority constituency, and one outlet put the Muslim share of the electorate at nearly 70 percent, which makes the BJP win there notable. Caution is needed on that figure, however, because it comes from a single commentary site and not from the Election Commission.
Several points follow from the numbers. The BJP held its own in two very different seats, one with a strong tradition of political mobilisation and one with a large Muslim electorate where the opposition vote was split between the AJUP and others. Turnout figures were not given in the reports reviewed, so it is not possible to say whether the margins reflect higher participation or a weaker challenge. The Trinamool Congress, which ruled the state for 15 years, was not named as a runner-up in either seat, and the reports do not say whether it contested them.
The by-elections were an early test for a government that took office in May. Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as chief minister on 9 May 2026, according to the date attached to official photographs of the ceremony. Since then the government has taken decisions on municipal salaries, hospital inquiries and the Kolkata Metro, and it now faces a divided opposition in which Mamata Banerjee’s faction and a rival faction of the Trinamool are recognised separately by the Election Commission. IndiaX24 will report on the next electoral milestone, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation election, which Wikipedia lists for December 2026.
Featured image: A village in Nandigram, East Midnapore district, West Bengal (file photo). Photo by মঞ্জুর আলম খান, licensed under CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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