Nandigram: BJP’s record-breaking victory in the Nandigram assembly bypoll prompted CM Suvendu Adhikari to claim on Friday that the minority community “has found a friend in BJP and they voted for us”.Two weeks ago, Adhikari called for friendship with the minorities of Nandigram, altering his long-standing electoral formula built on the premise that minorities do not vote for BJP. As EVMs were opened on Friday, his all-inclusive strategy yielded major returns in this agrarian constituency.The winning margin of 1,22,753 votes relied on support from the 72,000-strong minority electorate, which makes up 23% of voters. BJP’s Hasirani Rath secured 1,64,427 of the 2,14,983 votes cast — 76% of the total polled.Adhikari switched from Trinamool to BJP six years ago. In 2016, under TMC, he won by over 81,000 votes. In 2021, on a BJP ticket, he defeated former CM Mamata Banerjee by 1,956 votes, expanding that margin to 9,665 votes in May 2026 against TMC’s Pabitra Kar.Between 2021 and May 2026, Adhikari used a “70:30” formula, urging non-minority voters to unite against TMC’s consolidated Muslim vote share. Following the May elections, Adhikari pivoted to project himself as “sabka CM”.Campaigning in minority areas like Birulia, he said while his party chants “Jai Shri Ram”, voters were not required to join in and could say “Bharat Mata ki Jai” instead, framing the bypolls as an “opportunity to build a lasting friendship with BJP”.Adhikari ran a personal campaign too: Hasirani Rath is the mother of his aide Chandranath, who was murdered shortly after the May election results. He sought justice for the murder and asked for a mandate exceeding a 1-lakh margin to top his 2016 record. He promised new road and rail linkages connecting Haldia and Tamluk, alongside fresh drinking water infrastructure.The opposition faced internal disruption. Following a rift within TMC and the freezing of its symbol, original candidate Sanchita Pradhan Dey withdrew her nomination after meeting Adhikari.After Mamata Banerjee backed Congress nominee Milan Pradhan, he was arrested in connection with a 19-year-old case linked to the 2007 land movement. Pradhan alleged police blindfolded him and took him to a hotel in Mandarmani to pressure his withdrawal. He secured interim bail to campaign for a few days after the state challenged his release up to Supreme Court, where relief was upheld less than 24 hours before polling.Key TMC netas Sk Sufian, Abu Taher and Pabitra Kar did not campaign. Without an official TMC candidate on the ballot, traditional TMC votes split among rivals. Congress polled 41,674 votes, while CPI candidate Santi Gopal Giri finished with 5,779 votes.“There cannot be any doubt that along with minority votes, we got the king’s share of the opposition vote too,” said Meghnad Pal, a BJP functionary in Nandigram. This opposition breakdown allowed BJP’s organisational network to absorb swing votes across the constituency, turning a historically tight contest into a landslide victory.
