Neck and neck. Cliff-hanger. Seesaw.

The clichés flew as most of Bengal remained glued to TV sets through Sunday, watching Nandigram swing this way and that, now poised to hand the BJP the bragging rights and the next moment appearing to script sweet vindication for Mamata Banerjee.

Late in the night, the Election Commission announced BJP candidate and Trinamul turncoat Suvendu Adhikari as the winner over his former mentor by 1,956 votes, or just over 0.85 per cent of the 2.28 lakh ballots cast.

Trinamul, which suspects hanky-panky, had formally sought a recount before the result was announced. The chief minister also hinted at a possible court case.

However, handed the rest of Bengal with a decisive mandate, Mamata seemed not too bothered by the possibility of an embarrassment at the hands of her former protégé, and at the theatre of her rise to power a decade ago.

“Accepting the verdict of the people of Nandigram. I salute the people there. It’s another thing that votes were looted there. We might move court,” she told the media.

Mamata, set for a third term as chief minister with a two-thirds majority, added: “I’m not worried about the Nandigram outcome. The victory of Bengal has saved the entire nation.”

If sworn in as chief minister, as is likely, Mamata has to win a by-election within six months. That should hardly prove an obstacle and she might well consider contesting from Khardah, which Trinamul candidate Kajal Sinha won before dying of Covid.

The BJP, though, tried to squeeze every bit of mileage out of the Nandigram result.

BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya tweeted: “This is BIG. Mamata Banerjee, the sitting Chief Minister, loses Nandigram. BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari wins….”

He went on: “After this crushing defeat what moral authority will Mamata Banerjee have to retain her Chief Ministership? Her defeat is a taint on TMC’s victory.”

I congratulate the people of West Bengal for having rebuffed divisive politics and given the world another proof, if proof was needed, of India’s secular ethos, democratic resilience and — political acumen. I felicitate Mamatadebi on her epic victory

Gopalkrishna Gandhi Former Bengal governor

Close fight

Since morning, Mamata had been trailing. Leading from the first round of counting, Adhikari was ahead by 17,379 votes at the end of the 10th of 17 rounds. It was early afternoon.

But the chief minister began clawing back from the 11th round, and except for a setback in the 12th, chipped away at the deficit. When the 16th round ended, she led by 820 votes.

This was when some reports mistakenly declared her the winner by 1,200 votes, although one round of counting remained.

The district administration later attributed the lapse to a coordination gap and a server glitch while the BJP alleged malpractice to aid Mamata.

That one remaining round apparently dragged for three hours, for it was 8pm when Adhikari was formally announced victorious from a constituency whose 68,000 Muslims made up a little over 26 per cent of an electorate of 2.57 lakh.

Among the votes counted in the last round were those cast in Sonachura, fulcrum of the land movement that had catapulted Mamata to power in 2011 but which had witnessed a vicious and polarising campaign by Adhikari against her.

“Hindu-majority Sonachura, which Suvendu had intensely polarised, proved the clincher,” a senior Trinamul leader said.

“Outside Nandigram, the polarisation bid did not work for the BJP almost anywhere, with Bengal’s Hindus slamming the door on Hindutva. But in Nandigram, it seemed to pay off for them.”

He added: “Also, she (Mamata) did not secure good enough leads from Garchakraberia, Kendemari, Satengabari, Muhammadpur and Shamsabad, where minorities make up 70-80 per cent of the population. That made things worse.”

While Adhikari polled 48.49 per cent of the votes, Mamata secured 47.64 per cent and the Left’s Minakshi Mukherjee, 2.74 per cent.

“A lot of irregularities marred the counting, and things got very fishy during the final round,” said Trinamul leader Abu Taher.