BJP Sweeps Falta Repoll as Debangshu Panda Wins by Over 1 Lakh Votes, TMC Slips to Fourth Place

Kolkata, May 2026 : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) registered a massive victory in the Falta Assembly repoll in West Bengal, with party candidate Debangshu Panda winning by a landslide margin of 1,09,021 votes after the completion of counting on Sunday. The result marked a dramatic political shift in the constituency and delivered a major setback to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).

According to the final results declared after all counting rounds, BJP candidate Debangshu Panda secured an overwhelming 1,49,666 votes. CPI(M) candidate Sambhunath Kurmi finished in second place with 40,645 votes, while Congress nominee Abdur Razzak came third with 10,084 votes.

In a stunning development, Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan ended in fourth position with only 7,783 votes. The performance proved disastrous for the ruling party, as the deposits of both the Trinamool Congress and Congress candidates were forfeited.

The Falta repoll results are being viewed as historic for multiple reasons. Political observers noted that this is the first time since the formation of the All India Trinamool Congress in January 1988 that a party candidate has finished in fourth place in any election.

The outcome is also significant because it marks the first occasion since 2011 — the year that ended the 34-year Left Front rule in West Bengal and brought the Trinamool Congress to power — that a Trinamool Congress candidate has lost his deposit in an Assembly election.

The repoll in Falta was conducted on May 21 following widespread allegations of electoral irregularities during the original polling process held on April 29 in the second phase of the recently concluded West Bengal Assembly elections.

Several complaints of alleged malpractice had emerged from the constituency on polling day. Opposition parties accused local Trinamool Congress workers of preventing voters from casting ballots and influencing polling stations. At some booths, voters alleged that the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) buttons corresponding to BJP candidates had allegedly been covered with white tape, sparking protests and outrage among residents.

Hundreds of voters reportedly took to the streets after claiming they were denied the opportunity to vote. The allegations prompted intervention from election authorities.

Subsequently, special poll observer Subrata Gupta, currently serving as an advisor to West Bengal’s Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, visited Falta personally to conduct an inquiry into the complaints.

Based on the findings of the inquiry, the Election Commission of India ordered a complete repoll across the entire Falta Assembly constituency.

The result on Sunday stood in sharp contrast to voting patterns witnessed in the constituency during recent elections.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, Trinamool Congress candidate Shankar Kumar Nashkar had won the Falta seat by a margin of nearly 41,000 votes. The constituency forms part of the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat, represented three times by Abhishek Banerjee, the Trinamool Congress general secretary and nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

During the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, Falta had reportedly given Abhishek Banerjee a lead margin of around 1.2 lakh votes, a figure that opposition parties had strongly questioned at the time.

With Panda’s victory, the BJP’s tally in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly has now risen to 208 seats. The Trinamool Congress currently holds 80 seats, while Congress and the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) have two seats each. CPI(M) and the All India Secular Front (AISF) hold one seat each.

The result is expected to intensify political debate in West Bengal ahead of future electoral battles, with opposition parties describing the Falta outcome as a strong public verdict against alleged electoral malpractice and political intimidation.