The high-stake contest for south Kolkata’s Bhabanipur Assembly seat has generated wide interest and speculation among the city’s political pundits. The winner could also end up becoming the state’s next chief minister.West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee is being challenged in her home turf by BJP candidate and Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari.Adhikari’s political stocks had gone up several notches after he defeated Mamata in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly election. He is now challenging her in Bhabanipur. But whether he will be able to repeat his Nandigram performance remains the moot question.Mamata can still become the CM through a byelection after losing in Bhabanipur, as she had done after losing to Adhikari in Nandigram. But, the TMC will have to secure a majority in the rest of the state.Of the 294 Assembly seats in West Bengal, this is the most-watched contest. Suvendu’s victory will earn him bragging rights for defeating ‘Didi’ twice, including in her home ground, and brighten his chances to become BJP’s chief minister.However, Subrata Chaudhuri, an old resident of Bhabanipur, is apprehensive that the identity of Bengalis will be challenged if the BJP wins. “The TMC is corrupt and has other faults, but I have faith that Mamata can do a course correction,” Subrata says.The Bhabanipur constituency came into existence in 2011 after delimitation and is a heavily urban area. It has a significant mix of residential and commercial areas of South Kolkata. Although it is known as an old Bengali residential area, Bhabanipur always had a sizable number of commercial establishments owned by non-Bengalis. Now, several multi-storied housing complexes and slums are also part of it.Most residents regard Mamata as the local girl. But Suvendu, whose reputation as a giant killer has spread, is no longer an unknown entity. The dissatisfaction with Mamata is mostly among the non-Bengali speakers. The slum residents remain happy with the help they get from her.The stakes have risen further with both PM Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah publicly aligning themselves with the contest. Mamata has entrusted Firhad “Bobby” Hakim, her most trusted aide and Kolkata Corporation’s first Muslim Mayor since Independence, to oversee her election.Suvendu, a former colleague and once trusted lieutenant of Mamata, was in the forefront of the Nandigram movement on forced land acquisition by the Left Front government in 2007 and paved the way for the TMC’s massive victory that ended 34 years of Left rule in West Bengal.He had also enjoyed several ministerial portfolios in Mamata’s government and was also a TMC parliamentarian. But he resigned as Transport Minister and left the party in 2020.Several reasons were attributed for his departure but a key factor was said to be Mamata’s decision to empower her nephew Abhishek Banerjee over other old and trusted party colleagues like him.An elderly housewife in the area says there is need for change in Bengal. “No one should be allowed to stay for too long; it only breeds corruption and bad governance,” she says.In the recent past, the TMC has won all the three Assembly elections as well as the two by-elections in Bhabanipur. Its victory margin ranged between 25,000 and 27,000 in the regular Assembly polls. Vote difference had risen to up to 60,000 in the byelections, with Mamata ensconced in the CM chair.However, after the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, names of over 47,000 voters have been deleted. In a tightly-contested and multi-corner electoral field, the possibility of an upset win cannot be ruled out. Nor should there be surprise if defying political pundits’ speculation, Mamata consolidates her support further and wins Bhabanipur with a massive victory.