Kolkata, May 24 (IANS) Results for the Falta Assembly repoll in West Bengal have been declared at the end of all the rounds of counting on Sunday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate Debangshu Panda being declared elected by a landslide margin of 1,09,021 votes. While Panda secured a total of 1,49,666 votes, CPI(M) candidate Sambhunath Kurmi came in the second position, securing a total of 40,645 votes. Congress candidate Abdur Razzak came in the third position, receiving 10,084 votes.

Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan ended fourth in the tally, securing 7,783 votes. The deposits of both Congress and Trinamool Congress candidates have been forfeited. The results of the Falta repoll are unique from two angles. This is for the first time in any election in history since the Trinamool Congress’ foundation in January 1988, that any party candidate has finished the race in the fourth position. Secondly, this is the first time since 2011, which marked the end of the 34-year Left Front regime and the beginning of the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year regime, that any party candidate has had his or her deposit forfeited.

The repoll at Falta was conducted on May 21. With the victory of Panda in Falta, BJP’s total tally in the 294 West Bengal Assembly constituencies now stands at 208, followed by Trinamool Congress at 80, Congress and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) at two each and CPI(M) and All India Secular Front (AISF) at one each. The trend on Sunday is a complete study in contrast to the results in Falta, both in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls as well as in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress' Shankar Kumar Nashkar was elected by a margin of 41,000 votes from Falta, which is one of the seven Assembly constituencies under the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency. Abhishek Banerjee, Trinamool Congress general secretary and Mamata Banerjee’s nephew, has represented the Diamond Harbour seat three times. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the Falta Assembly constituency gave Banerjee a lead margin of around 1,20,000 votes, which opposition parties described as a mockery of the polling process.

Polling for the Falta Assembly constituency was conducted on April 29 in the second phase of the recently concluded two-phase Assembly polls in the state. On April 29, several complaints of electoral malpractices were reported in Falta. At several polling booths, the EVM buttons corresponding to the names and symbols of BJP candidates were covered with white tape. Hundreds of voters took to the streets after they were not allowed to vote, allegedly by Jahangir Khan's supporters. Subsequently, special poll observer Subrata Gupta, currently serving as advisor to Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari, personally visited Falta and conducted an inquiry. Based on Gupta's findings, the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered repoll across the entire Falta Assembly constituency.

--IANS