Kolkata, May 24 -- Following the BJP's emphatic victory in the Falta assembly repoll on Sunday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari launched a blistering attack on the Trinamool Congress, claiming the once-celebrated "Diamond Harbour model" had now turned into a "Trinamool har-bar model" (losing model).
Thanking voters for handing the BJP what he described as an "overwhelming mandate", Adhikari said the people of Falta had "restored democracy" by voting freely after years of alleged political intimidation. "I had appealed to voters to ensure a victory margin of one lakh votes. The lead has crossed that mark," he said, while promising rapid development for the constituency.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi too congratulated BJP candidate Debangshu Panda for the win.
"Congratulations to Shri Debangshu Panda Ji for winning in Falta by a record margin. It indicates the unwavering faith of the people of West Bengal towards the BJP. People are seeing the exceptional work of the West Bengal Government across sectors and thus have decided to further bless us," Modi wrote on X.
"My compliments to all BJP Karyakartas across West Bengal for their outstanding work. We will keep working for West Bengal's progress in the times to come," he added.
BJP candidate Debangshu Panda won the politically significant repoll by a margin of over one lakh votes. According to the final figures, Panda secured 149,666 votes, comfortably ahead of CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi, who polled 40,645 votes. Congress nominee Abdur Razzak Molla stood third with 10,084 votes, while Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan slipped to fourth place with just 7,783 votes.
The outcome marked a dramatic reversal from the 2021 Assembly election, when the TMC had comfortably retained the seat. In that election, TMC candidate Sankar Kumar Naskar had secured 1,17,179 votes against BJP candidate Bidhan Parui's 76,805, winning by a margin of 40,374 votes. The constituency has an electorate of 2,36,768 voters.
This time, the constituency had emerged as one of the state's most closely watched battlegrounds after allegations of widespread irregularities during the April 29 polling. Complaints included the alleged use of perfume-like substances, suspicious ink marks and adhesive tapes on EVMs at several booths. Questions were also raised over alleged attempts to tamper with web-camera footage from polling stations. The Election Commission subsequently ordered repolling in all 285 booths under heavy deployment of nearly 35 companies of central forces. More than 87 per cent of the electorate cast their votes during the May 21 repoll. The scale of the BJP's victory transformed the Falta repoll into a contest with implications far beyond South 24 Parganas, particularly as the constituency had long been projected by the TMC as a symbol of its organisational dominance in the Diamond Harbour belt.
Adhikari accused the TMC of functioning like a "mafia company" dependent on extortion, syndicates and intimidation while in power. In a sharply worded statement, he alleged that the party had misused state machinery, looted public money and suppressed democratic voices over the years.
Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, however, questioned the credibility of the counting process and alleged large-scale irregularities. In a post on X, he claimed that all 21 rounds of counting in Falta were completed by 3.30 pm on Sunday, whereas during the May 4 counting process, only two to four rounds had been completed by that time.
Alleging intimidation of TMC workers and vandalism of party offices during the Model Code period, Banerjee also claimed that counting agents of parties other than the BJP were forced out of the counting venue by officials and central forces. He demanded accountability from the Election Commission and called for an independent CCTV audit of the counting process, asserting that "questions over the credibility of the mandate will only grow stronger" unless a fair probe was conducted.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.