Why Mamata Banerjee Lost Bhabanipur: Key Reasons Explained
West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. (Image TMC on X)
After 15 years in power, Mamata Banerjee faces a stunning electoral setback in Bhabanipur, with SIR, legal miscalculations, and shifting voter loyalties reshaping Bengal’s political landscape.
By NIRENDRA DEV
Kolkata, May 5, 2026 — West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee sensed her looming loss from the Bhabanipur Assembly seat, as she marched out from the counting centre to unleash accusations that the BJP with the help of the Election Commission stole over 100 constituencies. For days in the run up to the counting of the votes, Banerjee had been building up a case for defence against an electoral rout.
While her 15-year-rule presented a case of misgovernance, minority appeasement, and patronage for street thuggery that almost made her dispensation a copycat of the erstwhile Left regime, Adhikari proved his nemesis. In 2021, he had made clear his giant killing ability by defeating Banerjee from Nandigram constituency. In 2026, he handed over a crushing defeat to Banerjee from Bhabanipur seat, while also winning Nandigram.
In Kolkata, the change of power seems to take place with the incumbent CM losing. In 2011, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee had lost. In 2026, the people deprived Banerjee an opportunity to lead the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly
Observers in Kolkata asserted that “it is not communalism that spread in the state, but a Hindu resurgence swept through West Bengal.” “The people punished Mamata Banerjee for glorifying a slogan that she had borrowed from Bangladesh: ‘Joy Bangla (a slogan linked to Awami League),’” added political observers in Kolkata, who added that the “West Bengal mandate is about genuine nationalism.”
Political observers recalled victorious exultations of Mamata Banerjee in 2011. “It’s magic. It’s a festival of democracy.” She spoke those words after her Trinamool Congress decimated the Left rule for 34 years.
“Now we can really say Sonar Bangla,” remarked a Mumbai-based college student on social media.
The writing on the wall in 2011 was clear — the people are worried for their future and the politics of minority appeasement wouldn’t indefinitely cover up TMC’s abundant misgovernance. She kept on hurling insults to Hindus and even Hindu gods. Her party leaders also copied her. They all banked on the magical 30 percent (Muslim vote base).
But the Muslim votes split, and a chunk didn’t vote for the TMC. Her welfarism around ₹1500 monthly freebies also collapsed. On the day of polling in Kolkata, an innocuous frail looking housewife said: “I am here to vote for the BJP, because the state under Mamata Banerjee — a woman chief minister — gave people the right to say Allah o Akbar, but me and my children could not say Jai Shri Ram.”
The election has come and gone. She underestimated the power and legitimacy of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. She also overestimated the strength of her legal team and Delhi’s legal heavyweights, including Kapil Sibal. Over the past six months, she has lost more than a dozen cases in court.
She had boasted that she would not allow the SIR—a stance that proved badly misplaced. Her opposition misdirected the cadres, and the party organisation appears to have suffered. Misplaced priorities overwhelmed the party’s ecosystem and effectively boxed in its thinking.
“West Bengal was once the pride of India. The communists ruined it … Mamata Banerjee almost made it an extended counter for neighbouring Bangladesh,” said Durgapur-based Jhantu Purkayastha.
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