Big SETBACK for Mamata Banerjee, BJP wins 11 out of 12 seats in Nandigram co-operative body election

Big win for BJP in West Bengal. The BJP won the election in a cooperative body in Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district of West Bengal, a constituency of the Leader of the Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday. Bhekutia Samabay Krishi Samity, which was held by Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) for a long time, took over by the Saffron camp. There has been tension in the area around this election since Sunday morning. After the announcement of the results in the afternoon, the BJP won 11 out of 12 seats. On the other hand, the Trinamool somehow managed to win only one seat. However, Trinamool won that seat by just one vote. The ruling camp claims that the opposition leader won by bringing in outsiders and terrorizing them. However, BJP's counter claim is that they have won the election with a clean mandate.  

The entire area had been buzzing with excitement since the morning around the election of the Bhekutia Samabay Krishi Samity. A large police force arrived in the area to handle the situation. The police managed to somehow handle the two groups who tried to cause a nuisance. The BJP camp claimed that even though their leader Suvendu was not present in the area on the polling day, the Trinamool leaders abused him by chanting his name. However, the Trinamool camp denied such allegations.

Nandigram Trinamool block president Bappaditya Kar said, "We have asked for polls in a peaceful manner. But the people of the area joined the protest when the BJP tried to get people from outside to vote. Along with this, the BJP took them to the booth by forcing them to influence the voters. We wanted a peaceful vote. But the BJP has won the vote by sheer force."

National vice-president of BJP Dilip Ghosh said, "Trinamool will lose and BJP will win where people can vote in Bengal. The same happened at the Bhekutia Samabay Krishi Samity election in Nandigram. Trinamool's allegation of bringing in outsiders is completely false." He further said, "Trinamool wanted to win the cooperative elections with police and outsiders. But they lost because the common people stood up against them."

The Bhekutia region of Nandigram has been a BJP stronghold for years. In the last Assembly polls, the opposition leader was ahead of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by nearly 6,000 votes from this region.