Debangshu Panda of the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Falta Assembly seat in West Bengal by a margin of 1.09 lakh votes in the repoll held last week.

Panda secured 1,49,666 votes and defeated Sambhu Nath Kurmi of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), who polled 40,645 votes. Abdur Razzak Molla of the Indian National Congress finished third with 10,084 votes.

The result marked a major setback for the ruling All India Trinamool Congress, whose candidate Jahangir Khan slipped to fourth position and lost his security deposit. Jahangir Khan had announced his withdrawal from active campaigning two days before the repoll, though his name remained on the ballot.

The Election Commission had ordered a repoll across all 285 booths in Falta after allegations of electoral malpractice during the earlier polling. Complaints included the use of perfume-like substances, suspicious ink marks and adhesive tapes on EVMs. Authorities also detected attempts to tamper with web-camera footage from polling stations.

Repolling was conducted on 21 May 2026 under heavy security deployment, with around 35 companies of central forces stationed across the constituency. Voter turnout crossed 86% during the repoll.

The victory is being seen as a significant political gain for the BJP in South 24 Parganas district, a region traditionally considered a stronghold of the Trinamool Congress.

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