In bitter battle for Bengal, it’s Mamata Banerjee vs ex-loyalist Suvendu Adhikari today
TNN | Updated: Apr 1, 2021, 07:41 IST
The second phase of polling in Assam and West Bengal features probably the most high-profile contest of these elections — the showdown between Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram. That contest sets the tone for the 30 seats that poll in Bengal on Thursday with BJP hoping to do even better than it did in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In the 2016 assembly elections, the contest in these parts had been largely between Trinamool and the Left-Congress alliance with BJP polling just 7.4% of votes and winning one seat. But by 2019, BJP had upped its vote share to 42.4% to grab the lead in 12 assembly segments. Trinamool’s slightly higher vote share of 45.9% gave it six more seats leaving Left and Congress with no leads here.