India, Oct. 10 -- The BJP on Friday steamrolled its rivals in Nandigram and scored a surprise win in Muslim-majority Rejinagar, underlining its expanding political reach in West Bengal barely four months after ending TMC's 15-year rule, as a fragmented opposition struggled to mount a challenge in the ruling party's first electoral test.

The twin victories carried contrasting but politically significant messages: in Nandigram, the BJP consolidated its hold over a constituency central to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari's political rise; while in Rejinagar, it signalled its ability to expand beyond its traditional electoral base. Hasirani Rath, the BJP candidate in Nandigram and mother of Adhikari's slain personal assistant Chandranath Rath...