(UPDATED: 17:16)

Kolkata (West Bengal)

Striving to prove that "Bangla nijer meyekei chaye" (Bengal wants its own daughter), West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has won from the Nandigram constituency by a narrow margin of 1,200 votes.

Making the game of thrones in Bengal more interesting, Mamata chose Nandigram over her home turf Bhabanipur seat this time to test her fate in the 2021 elections. It was the agitation in Nandigram and Singur against the Left government's land acquisition policies that made Mamata Banerjee the Chief Minister of West Bengal. Nandigram witnessed a high voltage "Khela" (game of power) on April 1 in the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls.

The constituency has seen a direct contest between West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former ministerial colleague Suvendu Adhikari, who had joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in December last year.

It must be added here that Adhikari had pledged that he would quit politics if he did not defeat Mamata by 50,000 votes in Nandigram.

Meanwhile, trends suggests the victory of the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal assembly elections as the party is leading in 207 constituents. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is leading in 81 seats.

So, it will not be wrong to say that the soil of Nandigram is again leading the way for Mamata's chief ministership in Bengal.

The counting of votes in the state began on Sunday at 8 am following COVID-19 protocols.

Bengal witnessed a fierce contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and BJP across eight phases. The Samyukta Morcha comprising the Congress, Left parties and ISF also tried to put up a strong fight. The BJP made a concerted attempt to dislodge the TMC.

The Election Commission made necessary arrangements for counting. The counting is taking place amid an unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the country.

While Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress (TMC) sought to seize power for the third consecutive term, the BJP made claims of winning 200 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly.

The power-packed campaigns by the main contenders - the Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -- involved rallies with large participations and mega roadshows. The third front i.e. the coalition of the Congress, Left Front and Indian Secular Force seemed to be on the back foot when it came to campaigning.

The ambitious BJP did intense campaigning with the goal to topple the incumbent TMC government in the state. To continue its stride in Bengal especially after an overwhelming result in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in the state, the party brought Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, party president JP Nadda and many others for campaigning.

'Tolabaazi' (extortion), 'cut money', syndicate raj and appeasement politics were a few topics over which the BJP targeted the ruling TMC. It was Banerjee's nephew Abhishek, who had been the target of attacks by the BJP that called him 'Tolabaaz bhaipo' (extortionist nephew). Prime Minister Modi's jibe "Didi...o...didi" against the TMC supremo in his rallies also caught much attention among the public.

Mamata endorsed her governance as the rule of three 'M's, that is, 'Maa', 'Mati' and 'Manush' (mother, soil and people). But the Bengal elections had another 3M factor this time, that is, 'Mamata', 'Modi' and 'Muslim'.

So Banerjee's challenge was to counter Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity in Bengal on one side and regain her support base of the minority community that was impacted by the Left-Congress-ISF alliance and stepping in of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM.

Several surveys gave an edge to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC). In West Bengal, all exit polls predicted that the BJP would make major inroads and a few also said that the party would emerge victorious.

Times Now-C voter exit poll predicted 158 seats for TMC, 115 for BJP and 19 for others. ABP-C Voter predicted TMC to get 152-164 seats, BJP 109-121 seats and Left-Congress alliance 14-25 seats.

According to Republic-CNX exit poll, BJP would have got 138-148 seats and, therefore, an edge over TMC which was predicted to get 128-138 seats.

As per India TV- People's Pulse, BJP was expected to get 173-192 seats while TMC would have been reduced to 64-88 seats and Left-Congress alliance would have got 7-12 seats.

Axis My India predicted a hung assembly in Bengal with the ruling TMC expected to get 130-156 seats and BJP 134-160 seats.