From voter turnout to polling trends, a fact-sheet for West Bengal's Nandigram

With voting now over in Nandigram, the constituency in West Bengal's Purba Medinipur district that witnessed a high-profile electoral contest yesterday between chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her former protégé-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari, all eyes are on the May 2 results. Both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) have claimed that they had the upper hand in the second phase of the state assembly polls, and after campaigns marked by tall promises on both ends, the loss of either could spell trouble for their respective political fortunes.

While Adhikari had pledged that he will quit politics if he does not defeat Mamata Banerjee by 50,000 votes in Nandigram, the TMC has claimed, citing 'on-ground reports', that Banerjee will be winning with a "huge margin" and that the question of her fighting from another seat does not arise.

In the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly Elections, Nandigram went to vote in Phase-II on April 1, along with 29 other assembly constituencies in a total of four districts — South 24 Parganas, Bankura, Paschim Medinipur and Purba Medinipur. It is worthwhile to note the trends which marked Nandigram's voting patterns, in this election as well as in others over the years. Here's what you should know:

Nandigram - voter turnout

2021 assembly elections: 80.79%

2016 assembly elections: 86.97%

2011 assembly elections: 88.35%

Nandigram - candidates -

2021 assembly elections

Suvendu Adhikari (BJP)

Mamata Banerjee (TMC)

Minakshi Mukherjee (CPI-M)

2016 assembly elections

Suvendu Adhikari (TMC)

Abdul Kabir Sekh (CPI)

Bijan Kumar Das (BJP)

Bappaditya Nayak (SUCI-C)

Ram Mohan Maity (BNP)

2011 assembly elections

Firoja Bibi (TMC)

Paramananda Bharati (CPI)

Bijan Kumar Das (BJP)

Mehedi Masud Sekh (PDCI)

Nandigram - constituency results -

2016 assembly elections

Suvendu Adhikari, then in the Trinamool Congress, won the Nandigram constituency in the 2016 West Bengal assembly elections with 1,34,623 votes. Abdul Kabir Sekh, of the CPI, emerged as the runner-up with 53,393 votes.

Adhikari won the seat for the TMC with a margin of 81,230 votes, which was 40.30% of the total valid votes.

2011 assembly elections

Trinamool's Phiroja Bibi emerged as the winner from Nandigram in the 2011 assembly elections, with 1,03,300 votes. CPI's Paramananda Bharati, with 59,660 votes, was declared the runner-up.

Phiroja Bibi won the Nandigram assembly seat in 2011 with a margin of 43,640 votes (which was 25.42% of the total valid votes).

Nandigram - party-wise trends

The Trinamool Congress has won the Nandigram assembly segment thrice, first in the 2009 bye-election, and later in the 2011 and 2016 West Bengal assembly elections.

Congress has won the seat twice, in 1969 and in 1996.

The Communist Party of India (CPI) has emerged victorious in Nandigram eight times till now (1967, 1971, 1972, 1982, 1987, 1991, 2001, and finally, in 2006).

(Data sourced from the Election Commission of India. The statistics recorded here are applicable for the Nandigram assembly constituency formed after the 1962 elections, following the merging of the erstwhile Nandigram North and South constituencies)