The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Debangshu Panda has secured a decisive victory in the Falta Assembly constituency in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district following the repolling held on 21 May. He defeated CPI(M) Candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi by a huge margin of 1,09,021 votes.
According to the results announced by the Election Commission of India (ECI), Panda has polled 1,49,666 votes, while Kurmi received only 40645 votes. Congress nominee Abdur Razzak Molla secured 10,084 votes at the third place.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Jahangir Khan, who had publicly announced his withdrawal from the contest two days before the repoll citing “personal reasons” and the interest of the constituency, ended up in fourth place with 7,783 votes. Two independent candidates and NOTA received negligible votes.
Despite his ‘withdrawal’, Jahangir Khan remained on the EVMs because it was only a repoll, not a fresh election. Candidates finalised for original voting on 29th April remained for the repoll.
The BJP’s victory in Falta marks a significant gain for the party in a seat long considered a TMC stronghold. The high margin reflects the impact of TMC’s weakened presence in the state after the party’s defeat on 4th May, and then Khan’s dramatic exit from the contest.
Khan, who had earlier styled himself after the film character ‘Pushpa’, stated that Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari’s promise of a special development package influenced his decision.
With today’s results of the repoll, the BJP tally in West Bengal has gone up to 208.
The repolling in all 285 booths of Falta was necessitated by serious allegations of electoral malpractices during the original polling on 29 April 2026. Complaints included tampering with EVMs, such as applying adhesive tapes, bubble gum, perfume-like substances, and ink on buttons to obstruct or identify votes for BJP candidate, along with voter intimidation, booth capturing, obstruction of genuine voters, and attempts to tamper with webcam footage from polling stations.
These irregularities raised serious doubts about the integrity of the process. After scrutiny by Election Commission observers, the ECI ordered a fresh poll across the entire constituency on 21 May to ensure free and fair elections. The repoll saw a high voter turnout of around 88 per cent amid heavy deployment of Central forces.
