West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Friday resigned from the Nandigram Assembly constituency, choosing to retain the Bhabanipur seat where he defeated Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee in one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 Assembly elections.
Adhikari submitted his resignation to newly elected West Bengal Assembly Speaker Rathindra Bose within the mandatory 14-day deadline prescribed under Assembly rules. His decision now paves the way for a by-election in Nandigram, the constituency that had emerged as the symbolic centre of Bengal’s political battle over the past few years.
The BJP leader had contested from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur in the recently concluded Assembly polls. While he secured victory in Nandigram by defeating TMC candidate Pabitra Kar with a margin of 9,665 votes, his win against Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur by 15,105 votes became one of the defining moments of the election and strengthened his position as the BJP’s chief ministerial face in the state.
The BJP scripted a historic victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, winning 207 seats in the 294-member House. The result marked a sharp turnaround for the party, which had won 77 seats in the previous election. The Trinamool Congress, which had secured 212 seats last time, was reduced to 80 seats.
Political observers see Adhikari’s decision to retain Bhabanipur as both symbolic and strategic. The constituency had long been associated with Mamata Banerjee and her political dominance in Kolkata.
Soon after taking the oath as Chief Minister, Adhikari described the BJP’s victory as the beginning of a “Sonar Bangla” era and promised major policy shifts under the new government.
His government has already moved quickly on one of the BJP’s key election promises concerning border security and infiltration.
In his first Cabinet meeting after assuming office, Adhikari announced that the West Bengal government had initiated the process of transferring land to the Border Security Force (BSF) for fencing the India-Bangladesh border.
“In our very first Cabinet meeting today, we have taken the decision to transfer the land to the BSF. The process of transferring this land commences today. It will be transferred to the MHA within the next 45 days. Once this is accomplished, the BSF will complete the border fencing, and the ongoing issue of illegal infiltration will be resolved within a short period,” Adhikari said.
The move is being seen as an early signal of the BJP government’s priorities in Bengal following its sweeping electoral win.