The high-profile Bhabanipur Assembly constituency is witnessing a nail-biting finish. TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee has surged to a stellar lead of more than 19,000 votes after a see-saw battle in the opening few rounds.
BJP's Suvendu Adhikari threatened a late twist as he reduced the lead by almost 60 per cent by the end of 12 of the 20 rounds of counting.
Banerjee opened with a slender lead of 1,996 votes in the first round, polling 3,666 votes against Adhikari's 1,670, before the leader of the opposition flipped the script to move ahead of the incumbent Chief Minister by 1,558 votes.
Banerjee, however, bounced back quickly in the third to take a lead by just 898 votes, and never looked back.
By the sixth round, the lead surged to over 19,000, despite the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) facing a drubbing in the overall West Bengal scenario.
According to Election Commission data, Banerjee secured 44,729 votes against Adhikari's 37,545, with just eight more rounds of counting remaining.
