BJP sweeps Falta repoll by over 1.09 lakh votes, TMC slips to fourth place

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a landslide victory in the Falta Assembly repoll on Sunday, defeating its nearest rival by 1,09,021 votes in a contest marked by the conspicuous absence of the Trinamul Congress (TMC) from the field. The counting of votes was conducted at Diamond Harbour Women’s University amid tight security and in the presence of candidates and polling agents of various parties.

According to the Election Commission of India, BJP candidate Debanshu Panda (photo) after a total of 22 rounds of counting secured 1,49,666 votes in the Falta Assembly re-election, defeating his nearest rival, CPI(M) candidate Shambhunath Kurmi, by a margin of 1,09,021 votes. The CPI(M) candidate polled 40,645 votes to finish second. The Congress candidate, Abdur Razzak Molla, secured the third position with 10,084 votes. Trinamul Congress candidate Jahangir Sheikh finished fourth and forfeited his security deposit after polling only 7,783 votes. With this, the BJP’s tally in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly has now risen to 208 seats. Falta had earlier been considered a Trinamul stronghold.

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Notably, TMC candidate Jahangir Khan remained absent from the political field throughout the repoll process. He was not seen during polling on Thursday and remained away from the counting centre on Sunday as well. No TMC polling or counting agents were reportedly present either at booths on polling day or at the counting venue. The Election Commission had cancelled the earlier polling process in the entire constituency during the second phase of the Assembly elections in the state following allegations of voter intimidation, suspected EVM irregularities and procedural violations reported from multiple booths. Just days before the repoll, Jahangir Khan had announced that he would not be in the contest, a decision the TMC described as his personal.

From the very first round of counting, the BJP maintained a decisive lead, leaving little doubt about the eventual outcome. Chief Minister, Suvendu Adhikari, hailed the verdict and claimed that the “Diamond Harbour model” had turned into a “Trinamul har-bar model”. In a post on X, he thanked the voters of Falta for ensuring a victory margin exceeding one lakh votes, saying he had appealed to the electorate to hand the BJP candidate a massive mandate. Launching a sharp attack on the TMC leadership, Adhikari alleged that the party had transformed into a “mafia company” and had survived through intimidation, extortion and misuse of state machinery.

He further claimed that the people of Falta were able to exercise their franchise freely after many years, resulting in what he described as the “real picture” emerging in the constituency. Meanwhile, former Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamul Congress national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP, Abhishek Banerjee, rejected the BJP’s claims and alleged that the repoll was marred by widespread rigging and EVM tampering. Political observers noted that while the BJP swept the constituency with an unprecedented margin, the CPI(M) appeared to have partially filled the vacuum in the opposition space by finishing second, pushing the TMC to an embarrassing fourth position in a seat once regarded as one of its bastions.