West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | BJP's Debangshu Panda wins Falta by over 1.09 lakh votes

BJP now has 208 seats in the West Bengal Assembly as Debangshu Panda won the Falta constituency repoll by a margin of 1,09,021 votes on Sunday.

While Falta was once a Trinamool Congress stronghold, Panda's nearest rival was from the CPI(M), while Congress came third as TMC's Jahangir Khan slipped to fourth position.

Few days prior to the repoll, Khan had announced that he would not be in the contest, a decision the TMC described as 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 Falta seat was held by the TMC since 2011.

Not so long ago, Falta was described by the TMC camp as one of the key symbols of its organisational dominance in the Diamond Harbour belt. The constituency had witnessed aggressive political mobilisation and had become central to a bitter face-off between the BJP and TMC.

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.

The constituency had become the centre of controversy, when complaints surfaced over alleged use of perfume-like substances, ink marks and adhesive tapes on EVMs at multiple booths.

Subsequent scrutiny also revealed alleged attempts to tamper with web-camera footage from polling stations, prompting the Election Commission to order a repoll in all 285 booths.

(With PTI inputs)