Nandigram Opinion Poll 2021: Who Will Win Nandigram Assembly Election 2021?

Kolkata, Mar 31: With the first phase of the Assembly election in West Bengal is over, the focus has now shifted to the all-important seat of Nandigram which will go to polls on 1 April.

It can be seen that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is all set to take on her once-trusted aide Suvendu Adhikari at Nandigram, both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP have pulled out all stops in a bid to win the seat.

On Monday and Tuesday, Banerjee took part in two roadshows in the constituency, which covered both the blocks that are part of the seat. Amit Shah, on his part, also held a massive roadshow on Tuesday to drum up support for Adhikari.

Mamata Banerjee had first announced her intention to contest from Nandigram at a rally on 18 January. Since then, the TMC has been on an overdrive in seeking to ensure the chief minister's victory from the seat. The party's top brass - party chief Subrata Baxi, Cabinet minister Purnendu Basu and Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen - have been camping in the constituency in the past one month, as noted by The Hindu Business Line.

It can be seen that both the TMC and BJP have expressed confidence about winning the all-important seat. An article in News18 has quoted a TMC leader as saying, "She will win comfortably in Nandigram. There is no anger against her amongst the people...she will win her seat, defeating Suvendu Mukherjee by a comfortable margin."

Adhikari, on his part, has vowed to defeat Banerjee by over 50,000 votes in the seat or quit politics.

The chief minister and the BJP candidate have exchanged sharp barbs at each other, with the former referring to Adhkari as a 'traitor' and the BJP leader referring to Banerjee as an 'outsider'.

Several local factors also may have a significant bearing on the electoral contest in Nandigram. As noted by an article in Firstpost, one such factor could be the influence of Firoja Bibi, who was the MLA representing Nandigram from 2009 to 2016.

Various other issues - such as alleged mismanagement of cyclone Amphan relief money on the one hand, and state government schemes to provide free ration and facilitate getting official documents on the other hand - are also expected play a role in the poll battle.

Elections to the 294-member Assembly will be held in eight phases from 27 March to 29 April. The results will be declared on 2 May.