kolkata, May 24
Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Debangshu Panda on Sunday, May 24, registered a landslide victory in the repolling at Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal. Breaching the stronghold of Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC), Panda won by a margin of 1,09,021 votes.
Jahangir Khan ended up at the fourth position, days after announcing that he would not be a part of the contest – a decision TMC described as his personal.
Overall, Panda bagged 1,49,666 votes, while CPI(M) candidate Sambhunath Kurmi came in the second position, securing a total of 40,645 votes. At the third spot was Congress candidate Abdur Razzak, receiving 10,084 votes.
Meanwhile, Jahangir Khan only managed to get 7,783 votes. Notably, the deposits of both Congress and Trinamool Congress candidates have been forfeited.
Reacting to BJP’s win, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari wrote on X, “The notorious ‘Diamond Harbour’ model has turned into the ‘Trinamool’s Loss-Bar’ model!!!”
BJP’s Amit Malviya said, “This is not just an electoral result, it officially marks the collapse of the so-called “Diamond Harbour Model” propagated for years by Mamata Banerjee’s nephew and Trinamool’s heir apparent.”
Notably, the results for the Falta repoll hold major significance for multiple reasons.
According to IANS, this marks the first time in any election in history since the TMC’s foundation in January 1988, that any party candidate has finished the race in the fourth position.
Also, this is the first time since 2011, which marked the beginning of the TMC’ 15-year regime, that any party candidate has had his or her deposit forfeited.
The repolling for the Falta seat was conducted on May 21.
With the win in Falta, BJP’s total tally in the 294 West Bengal Assembly now stands at 208. It is followed by TMC at 80, Congress and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) at two each and CPI(M) and All India Secular Front (AISF) at one each.
