Falta turns saffron: BJP deals fresh blow to Abhishek Banerjee in Diamond Harbour bastion

Weeks after toppling the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal, the BJP struck another symbolic blow on Sunday, capturing the Falta Assembly seat in a landslide and breaching a constituency long seen as part of Abhishek Banerjee's political fortress.

BJP candidate Debangshu Panda won by over one lakh votes. Panda secured 1,49,666 votes against CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi's 40,645 votes. Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla finished third with 10,084 votes. TMC nominee Jahangir Khan, a close aide of Abhishek Banerjee, managed just 7,783 votes and finished fourth. The result marked a dramatic reversal in a constituency that had been a Trinamool bastion for more than two decades.

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.