Saibal Gupta
Kolkata, May 6 (UNI): In the recently concluded assembly polls in West Bengal, there are at least 18 constituencies where the winning margin is less than 5,000 votes — a figure that roughly translates to just about 2 per cent, considering the fact the size of the electorate in most of the 294 constituencies is more than 2 lakhs.
Not only were several seats decided by margins under 5,000 votes, but at least 20 more constituencies recorded victory gaps between 5,000 and 10,000, strikingly reflecting how tightly contested the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections were and how marginal shifts in voter preference ultimately shaped the larger mandate.
According to the recently released election commission results of these nail-biting contests, the BJP emerged dominant, winning 11 of the 18 seats, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) secured victory in 6 constituencies.
The Congress accounted for one such win, highlighting how even a handful of votes played a decisive role in determining outcomes across party lines.
However, the closest contest in the state was recorded in Rajarhat New Town, where BJP’s Pijush Kanodia defeated TMC’s Tapas Chatterjee by a mere 316 votes — the lowest margin in this election.
Apart from that there were at least four constituencies including Indus, Jangipara, Raina, and Satgachia, where margins were under 1,000 votes underscoring the intensity of the contests.
In Indus, BJP’s Nirmal Kumar Dhara edged past TMC’s Shyamali Roy Bagdi by just 900 votes. Jangipara saw BJP’s Prasenjit Bag defeat TMC’s Snehashis Chakraborty by 862 votes.
In Raina, BJP’s Subhashis Patra won by 834 votes in a contest where both candidates were from the BJP, while in Satgachia, BJP’s Agnishwar Naskar triumphed over TMC’s Somashree Betal by just 401 votes.
Several other constituencies also witnessed closely fought battles.
In Amdanga, TMC’s Mohammad Kasem Siddique defeated BJP’s Arindam Dey by 2,995 votes, while in Amta, BJP’s Amit Samanta won against TMC’s Sukanta Kumar Paul by 4,454 votes.
Champdani saw BJP’s Dilip Singh defeat TMC’s Arindam Guin by 3,026 votes, and Haripal recorded a BJP win with Madhumita Ghosh beating TMC’s Karabi Manna by 3,488 votes.
In Harirampur, TMC’s Biplab Mitra secured a victory over BJP’s Debabrata Majumdar by 1,986 votes and in Kashipur-Belgachia BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari defeated TMC heavyweight Atin Ghosh by a margin of 1,651 votes.
Similarly, in Labpur, BJP’s Debashis Ojha won by 3,550 votes against TMC’s Abhijit Sinha and in Madhyamgram, TMC Rathin Ghosh defeated BJP’s Anindya Banerjee by 2,399 votes.
In Mandirbazar, TMC’s Joydeb Halder beat BJP’s Mallika Paik by 1,995 votes.
Pandebeshwar saw BJP’s Jitendra Kumar Tiwari win against TMC’s Narendranath Chakraborty by 1,398 votes.
In Sitai, TMC’s Sangita Roy defeated BJP’s Asutosh Barma by 2,721 votes, while Uluberia North recorded a BJP victory with Chiran Bera winning by 2,177 votes over TMC’s Bimal Kumar Das.
The lone Congress win in this category came from Raninagar, where Julfikar Ali defeated TMC’s Abdul Soumik Mondal by 2,701 votes.
There were also a couple of exceptional cases where the victory margin slightly exceeded the 5,000 mark but remained politically significant.
In Hingalganj, BJP’s Rekha Patra — a Sandeshkhali victim — defeated TMC’s Ananda Sarkar by 5,421 votes, drawing considerable attention.
Conversely, in Kamarhati, senior TMC leader Madan Mitra managed to hold on to his seat against BJP’s Arup Chowdhury with a margin of 5,646 votes, making it another closely watched contest despite being just above the 5,000 thresholds.
UNI SAG