West Bengal Assembly Election Results 2026 Live Updates: Mamata fights back — now leading in Bhabanipur; Suvendu says ‘BJP forming Bengal govt’

After trailing Suvendu Adhikari in the opening rounds, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has turned the Bhabanipur trend around and is now leading in her own constituency. It is a personal lifeline in what has otherwise been a brutal morning for the Trinamool Congress — with the BJP+ sitting above 148 seats statewide, the battle for Bengal may be all but decided, but Mamata Banerjee’s own political survival is still being fought round by round in South Kolkata.

Suvendu Adhikari had predicted early this morning that the picture in Bhabanipur would only become clear from rounds nine or ten onwards. The reversal in trend suggests the seat’s Muslim and minority voters — and perhaps sections of the urban bhadralok — are coming through for Mamata Banerjee in the later rounds, even as the BJP’s Hindu consolidation strategy has delivered across much of the rest of the state.

Bhabanipur has not been won by anyone other than Mamata Banerjee since 2011. A loss here tonight, on top of a statewide defeat, would be politically devastating. A win would give her a platform to lead the Opposition from.