States » EastPosted at: Oct 5 2026 12:48AM


Guard the booths, prepare for defeat: Bengal CM’s Nandigram challenge

Nandigram, Oct 4 (UNI) West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday turned the eve of the Nandigram by-election into a direct showdown with the Opposition, daring rival parties to “guard” every booth and even the counting centre — only to be “escorted home” after their defeat.
With campaigning ending amid allegations of bomb attacks and fears of post-poll violence, Adhikari issued an unequivocal assurance that Tuesday’s voting would be peaceful, while delivering his sharpest political warning yet to the Opposition.
“Guard the booths. Go to the counting centre,” Adhikari said, mocking the Opposition’s call for all its constituents to unite against the BJP. “We will send muri and chanachur. If you want rice at noon, we will arrange that too. After you lose miserably, it will be our responsibility to take you home.”
The Chief Minister said vehicles would even be kept at the Reyapara counting centre to ferry defeated Opposition representatives back to their homes.
The taunt came as the BJP sought to project Nandigram as a test of whether the Opposition could mount a coordinated challenge to the ruling party after fracturing into rival camps.
Adhikari, who also holds the police portfolio, said there would be no repeat of violence on polling day.
He claimed the Central forces and state police were maintaining “very good coordination” and asserted that the administration would not allow trouble.
“I am the Chief Minister as well as the police minister. I also have a responsibility,” he said, citing the May 26 repoll held at Falta as an example of trouble-free polling.
He was equally dismissive of Opposition allegations surrounding the EVMs and the Reyapara counting centre.
Taking a swipe at Congress leader Shubhankar Sarkar’s concerns, Adhikari asked why EVMs were trusted in Kerala when Congress was in power there but questioned in West Bengal.
“Are EVMs sweet in Kerala and salty or bitter here?” he asked, pointing to Form 17C and the presence of counting agents.
On police action against Opposition workers, Adhikari said warrants would be executed irrespective of the election and accused those facing criminal cases of being involved in murders, bomb attacks and attacks on women. He claimed the BJP had secured bail for nearly 600 of its workers before the 2026 Assembly elections.
The Chief Minister then turned his fire on the Trinamool Congress, declaring that the party had virtually disappeared from Nandigram.
“Does Trinamool exist in Nandigram? Is there any existence of Trinamool?” he asked, claiming that the party had undergone a “natural death” politically and predicting that its candidate would remain far behind the major contestants.
But the most politically significant claim of the final campaign day came from minority-dominated pockets of Nandigram.
Adhikari claimed that local minority residents had themselves invited him into areas where, according to him, BJP programmes had previously been impossible.
Referring to women who greeted him with flowers and posters seeking “friendship with the government”, he said the development could dramatically widen the BJP’s expected margin.
“We already had a lead of 25,000 to 30,000. If they join us, the margin will become much bigger,” he said.
The Chief Minister also sought to turn the final campaign into a referendum on his government’s performance, citing welfare payments, housing, road repairs and infrastructure projects.
He claimed that 1.56 crore women had already received benefits under the government’s welfare programme and said 4,000–5,000 roads across the state were being repaired.
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Tags: #Guard the booths# prepare for defeat: Bengal CM’s Nandigram challenge
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