Falta turns saffron: BJP deals fresh blow to Abhishek Banerjee in Diamond Harbour bastion
BJP's Debangshu Panda is set to bag Falta. He is leading against CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi by 76,397 votes
- May 24, 2026,
- Updated May 24, 2026 2:29 PM IST
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to register a historic victory in West Bengal's Falta assembly constituency on Sunday, with candidate Debangshu Panda taking a massive lead in the repoll that has emerged as a key political test for TMC's Abhishek Banerjee.
BJP's Debangshu Panda polled 1,11,270 votes after 16 of the 21 counting rounds, leading CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi by 76,397 votes. Kurmi had secured 34,873 votes, while Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla was a distant third with 9,284 votes.
Trinamool Congress nominee Jahangir Khan, a close aide of Banerjee, was pushed to fourth place with just 5,319 votes. Days before the poll, Khan announced that he was opting out of the race.
The result carries significance beyond a single assembly seat. Falta is one of the seven assembly segments that make up the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Banerjee and is widely regarded as his political stronghold.
The constituency has long been considered a Trinamool bastion. Falta has remained with the party since 2001, except in 2006 when the CPI(M) won the seat. A BJP victory would mark the first time the party has captured the constituency.
The contest gained statewide attention after the Election Commission ordered a repoll across all 285 booths in the constituency, which is in the South 24 Pargana district. The original polling held on April 29 was countermanded following allegations of EVM tampering and other irregularities.
More than 87 per cent of the constituency's 2.36 lakh voters participated in the repoll held on May 21.
The Falta battle also took on political significance due to Abhishek Banerjee's direct involvement. After the EC ordered a repoll, the TMC National General Secretary publicly challenged BJP leaders and suggested they could not win the constituency.
BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, subsequently framed the contest as a referendum on what they called the "Diamond Harbour model" associated with Banerjee's political control in the region.
The Falta result comes weeks after the BJP's sweeping victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, in which the party won 207 seats and reduced the Trinamool Congress to 80.
If the trend holds, the Falta outcome would not alter the Assembly's arithmetic. But it would hand the BJP a symbolic victory inside one of Abhishek Banerjee's strongest political bastions and deepen the pressure on the TMC leadership following its humiliating defeat in Bengal.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to register a historic victory in West Bengal's Falta assembly constituency on Sunday, with candidate Debangshu Panda taking a massive lead in the repoll that has emerged as a key political test for TMC's Abhishek Banerjee.
BJP's Debangshu Panda polled 1,11,270 votes after 16 of the 21 counting rounds, leading CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi by 76,397 votes. Kurmi had secured 34,873 votes, while Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla was a distant third with 9,284 votes.
Trinamool Congress nominee Jahangir Khan, a close aide of Banerjee, was pushed to fourth place with just 5,319 votes. Days before the poll, Khan announced that he was opting out of the race.
The result carries significance beyond a single assembly seat. Falta is one of the seven assembly segments that make up the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, which is represented by Banerjee and is widely regarded as his political stronghold.
The constituency has long been considered a Trinamool bastion. Falta has remained with the party since 2001, except in 2006 when the CPI(M) won the seat. A BJP victory would mark the first time the party has captured the constituency.
The contest gained statewide attention after the Election Commission ordered a repoll across all 285 booths in the constituency, which is in the South 24 Pargana district. The original polling held on April 29 was countermanded following allegations of EVM tampering and other irregularities.
More than 87 per cent of the constituency's 2.36 lakh voters participated in the repoll held on May 21.
The Falta battle also took on political significance due to Abhishek Banerjee's direct involvement. After the EC ordered a repoll, the TMC National General Secretary publicly challenged BJP leaders and suggested they could not win the constituency.
BJP leaders, including Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, subsequently framed the contest as a referendum on what they called the "Diamond Harbour model" associated with Banerjee's political control in the region.
The Falta result comes weeks after the BJP's sweeping victory in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, in which the party won 207 seats and reduced the Trinamool Congress to 80.
If the trend holds, the Falta outcome would not alter the Assembly's arithmetic. But it would hand the BJP a symbolic victory inside one of Abhishek Banerjee's strongest political bastions and deepen the pressure on the TMC leadership following its humiliating defeat in Bengal.