Mamata Banerjee refuses to 'resign', calls EC 'villain'

Refusing to resign, Banerjee asserted that her party’s fight was not against the BJP but against the Election Commission.

“If I had lost, I would have resigned. But if anyone thinks I will step down under pressure, that is not going to happen,” she said, addressing a press conference in Kolkata.

“We did not lose the election. It was a forceful attempt to defeat us,” she said.

“It is sad to say that the Chief Election Commissioner became the villain of this election, looting the democratic rights of the people and manipulating the EVMs,” she alleged.

Banerjee further claimed that several Trinamool Congress workers were detained two days before polling, which, according to her, affected the outcome of the election.

Targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, she alleged direct interference. “They selected people from their party, and the BJP played the game directly with the Election Commission. This became a battle between the BJP and the Election Commission. We were fighting against the entire machinery. The PM and HM were directly involved,” she said.

Banerjee, who first became Chief Minister in 2011 after ending the 34-year rule of the Left Front, also alleged that nearly 100 seats were “stolen” in the election.

The BJP registered a historic performance, winning 207 seats—its highest-ever tally in the state, which had remained a Trinamool Congress stronghold for 15 years. The Trinamool managed to secure only 80 seats, with Banerjee herself losing from her stronghold Bhabanipur to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari.

This was the first election in West Bengal following the deletion of around 90 lakh voters under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR).

Despite the defeat, Banerjee maintained, “We have won the election morally.” She also alleged that she was assaulted and forcibly removed froma  counting centre.

Adhikari defeats Banerjee in Bhabanipur

In a result that has sent shockwaves through West Bengal’s political landscape, Suvendu Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency by a margin of 15,114 votes, ending her long-standing dominance in one of Kolkata’s most symbolic political battlegrounds.

The verdict, declared after a tense and closely watched counting process, marks one of the most dramatic upsets of the 2026 Assembly elections and delivers a significant psychological blow to the Trinamool Congress.

Bhabanipur: A political stronghold falls

Bhabanipur has long been more than just another constituency in Bengal politics—it has been Banerjee’s political bastion for over a decade.

Having represented the seat in previous elections, the constituency symbolised her leadership in Kolkata and across the state. With strong organisational backing and consistent urban voter support, Bhabanipur was widely regarded as a Trinamool fortress—making Adhikari’s victory not just electoral, but deeply symbolic.