Goa, May 25 -- The BJP has delivered a major political blow to the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal by winning the Falta Assembly seat with a huge margin, marking a symbolic collapse of Abhishek Banerjee's long-dominant "Diamond Harbour Model".

BJP candidate Debangshu Panda secured a landslide victory with 1,49,421 votes after all 22 rounds of counting were completed on Sunday. CPI(M) candidate Shambu Nath Karmi finished second, while TMC heavyweight Jahangir Khan - once considered the party's most powerful local face in the region - slipped to fourth place with just 6,257 votes.

The result is being seen as a dramatic reversal for the TMC, which had controlled the Diamond Harbour region for over a decade under Banerjee's leadership. Fa...