BJP's Debangshu Panda wins Bengal's Falta Assembly seat by over 1.09 lakh votes

BJP candidate Debangshu Panda won the Falta assembly seat on Sunday by a 1.09 lakh votes, breaching the stronghold of the Trinamool Congress, whose nominee Jahangir Khan slipped to fourth position.

Just days before the repoll, Khan announced that he would not be in the contest, a decision the TMC described as his personal.

Panda secured 1,49,666 votes while CPI(M)'s Sambhu Nath Kurmi came second with 40,645 votes cast in his favour. Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla stood third with 10,084 votes.

Khan got 7,783 votes in the 2.36 lakh-strong constituency. The TMC had held the seat continuously since 2011 and won it in 2021 with around 57 per cent of the votes polled.

The repoll was conducted on May 21 in all 285 booths under heavy central force deployment after the Election Commission ordered fresh voting following allegations of large-scale irregularities during the April 29 polling.

Khan, who cultivated a larger-than-life 'Pushpa'-style image of defiance during the campaign and emerged as one of the most recognisable faces of the contest, dramatically announced two days before the repoll that he was stepping aside ''for Falta's interest''.

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