West Bengal bypolls: BJP retains Nandigram with record margin, wins Muslim-dominated Rejinagar

The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday (October 9, 2026) won both Nandigram and Rejinagar Assembly seats in West Bengal by a huge margin in the byelection that was held on October 6. In Nandigram Assembly seat located in Purba Medinipur district, BJP candidate Hasi Rani Rath won by a record margin of over 1.22 lakh votes. The margin of victory for BJP candidate Shankharavh Sarkar at Rejinagar in Murshidabad district was over 75,000 votes.

While it has been a tradition of the party in power in West Bengal to win bypolls, the significance of this victory is that a majority of Muslim electorate voted for the BJP both in Rejinagar and Nandigram. About 70% of the electorate in Rejinagar come from the minority community while 27% voters in Nandigram are Muslims.

Also Read : Bypoll results LIVE

With the results, the number of seats of the BJP in the State Assembly have increased to 209. There are a total of 294 seats in the House.

Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, who had urged Muslims to vote for the BJP in the bypolls, thanked minority voters of both Nandigram and Rejinagar. He said the BJP received support of 80% Muslims in Nandigram and that over 60% Muslim electorate voted for BJP in Rejinagar.

‘Backing govt.’

“The Muslims have voted for us because they want to stand with the government. Muslims were told that they will be put in detention centres and they will not be allowed to practice their religion, all of this have turned out to be false in the past five months. This is the reason why they (Muslims) have voted for us,” Mr. Adhikari told media persons at the State Secretariat.

The Chief Minister expressed hope that Bengali Muslims will support the BJP in the future and the party which registered 46% votes in the recent Assembly polls will get support of 60% of the electorate.

Mr. Adhikari said expressed hope that Muslims will continue to support the BJP in future, including upcoming civic polls in the State.

Congress candidate Milan Pradhan emerged as the runner-up in Nandigram securing about 46,000 votes. In Rejinagar, Aam Janata Unnayan Party candidate Golam Nabi Azad secured second position by securing about 40,00 votes. The byelections to Nandigram and Rejinagar were held amidst allegations of the Opposition not being allowed to campaign. The Congress nominee from Nandigram was arrested by the police and could campaign for only four days after the Calcutta High Court granted him conditional bail. Opposition candidates in Rejinagar also alleged that they were not allowed to campaign freely.

The bypolls in Nandigram were necessitated after getting elected from Bhabanipur and Nandigram, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari decided to retain Bhabanipur and resigned from Nandigram. AJUP leader Humayun Kabir was elected from Naoda and Rejinagar and he decided to resign from Rejinagar resulting in the bypoll.