After voting in Bhabanipur, West Bengal CM and TMC candidate Mamata Banerjee alleged “atrocities” and “capture” of polling booths by central police forces, while her opponent, BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, chanted the religio-political slogans “Jai Sri Ram” and “Hindu-Hindu, bhai-bhai” after he cast his ballot three hours before her, on Wednesday.
West Bengal Leader of Opposition and BJP candidate from Bhabanipur, Suvendu Adhikari, shows his inked finger after voting in the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections 2026, in Kolkata on Wednesday. (Shyamal Maitra/ANI Photo)
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Bhabanipur is the most high-profile contest within the ultra-charged elections in Bengal this time. Suvendu Adhikari had defeated Mamata Banerjee from Nandigram in 2021, even as the TMC otherwise won; and she later entered the assembly via a bypoll.
“Since yesterday night, they started atrocities, and they arrested so many of our people. It is contempt of court,” Banerjee said.
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While claiming that the Trinamool Congress would still win, she alleged, “The CRPF cannot torture like this. There is no state police at any booth. CRPF has captured it all. They should secure the border; instead of doing that, they are securing one political party.”
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While claiming that the Trinamool Congress would still win, she alleged, “The CRPF cannot torture like this. There is no state police at any booth. CRPF has captured it all. They should secure the border; instead of doing that, they are securing one political party.”
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She added, “I have never seen this. I have been fighting elections since 1984, but the atrocities are terrible.”
Earlier, Leader of Opposition Adhikari walked out of the booth after voting and raised his arms with “Jai Sri Ram” chants, and said Hindus must be united.
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At the booth, he was surrounded by some TMC supporters who sloganeered against him too.
Voter turnout
Overall, more than 78% of the 3.2 crore electors cast their votes in the second and final phase of West Bengal assembly polls till the afternoon on Wednesday. The turnout remained almost parallel to phase one, which had recorded over 78.77% polling till 3 pm.
Purba Bardhaman recorded the highest turnout at 83.11%, followed by Hooghly at 80.77% and Nadia at 79.79%.
Howrah registered 77.73% polling, North 24 Parganas 77.39%, while Kolkata North and Kolkata South recorded 78% and 75.38% turnout respectively. South 24 Parganas, where several prestige contests are underway, registered 76.75% voting.
Aarish Chhabra is an Associate Editor with the Hindustan Times online team, writing news reports and explanatory articles, besides overseeing coverage for the website. His career spans nearly two decades across India's most respected newsrooms in print, digital, and broadcast. He has reported, written, and edited across formats — from breaking news and live election coverage, to analytical long-reads and cultural commentary — building a body of work that reflects both editorial rigour and a deep curiosity about the society he writes for.
Aarish studied English literature, sociology and history, besides journalism, at Panjab University, Chandigarh, and started his career in that city, eventually moving to Delhi. He is also the author of ‘The Big Small Town: How Life Looks from Chandigarh’, a collection of critical essays originally serialised as a weekly column in the Hindustan Times, examining the culture and politics of a city that is far more than its famous architecture — and, in doing so, holding up a mirror to modern India. In stints at the BBC, The Indian Express, NDTV, and Jagran New Media, he worked across formats and languages; mainly English, also Hindi and Punjabi. He was part of the crack team for the BBC Explainer project replicated across the world by the broadcaster. At Jagran, he developed editorial guides and trained journalists on integrity and content quality. He has also worked at the intersection of journalism and education. At the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad, he developed a website that simplified academic research in management. At Bennett University's Times School of Media in Noida, he taught students the craft of digital journalism: from newsgathering and writing, to social media strategy and video storytelling. Having moved from a small town to a bigger town to a mega city for education and work, his intellectual passions lie at the intersection of society, politics, and popular culture — a perspective that informs both his writing and his view of the world. When not working, he is constantly reading long-form journalism or watching brainrot content, sometimes both at the same time.
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Home/India News/Suvendu's ‘Hindu-Hindu’ slogans, then Mamata's ‘capture’ charge in Bhabanipur after both cast votes in big direct fight
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