Counting begins for the crucial by-polls in West Bengal’s high-profile Nandigram and Rajnagar assembly constituencies. In Nandigram, which registered an 80.89 percent voter turnout, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hasirani Rath faces Congress candidate Milan Pradhan, who is backed by the Mamata Banerjee faction. The election has witnessed controversy, with the Congress alleging rampant vote theft and electoral irregularities while demanding a re-poll, charges that the BJP has strongly rejected at both state and national levels. The contest marks the Bharatiya Janata Party’s first major electoral test after its 2026 assembly victory, testing its political momentum and minority outreach. Meanwhile, it serves as a critical ground test for the split Trinamool Congress factions, evaluating Mamata Banerjee’s grassroots alliance with the Congress on one side, and Ritabrata Banerjee’s faction seeking to claim the political inheritance and establish a third front on the other.