Kolkata: With 11 more rounds of counting for the repolling of Falta Assembly constituency in the South 24 Parganas of West Bengal yet to be completed, the lead margin of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s candidate, Debangshu Panda, has already increased to 38,940 votes.
In total, there will be 21 rounds of counting, and the votes polled by the BJP candidate at the end of the 10th round of counting were 64,238.
On the other hand, at the end of the 10th round of counting, the CPI(M) candidate, Sambhunath Kurmi, has consolidated his second position by securing 25,298 votes.
The Congress party candidate, Abdur Razzak, is in the distant third position, securing just 6,429 votes.
Maintaining the same trend since the beginning of the counting at 8 a.m. on Sunday, the Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan has maintained the fourth position, securing just 3,304 votes.
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.
“Abhishek Banerjee often took pride in his Diamond Harbour model. Now the real face of that model has been revealed. Sunday’s trend also reveals the secrets behind Abhishek Banerjee’s victory — an unthinkable margin of over 7,00,000 votes from Diamond Harbour in 2024, with Falta giving the maximum lead,” said a state BJP leader.
At the time the report was filed, there was no reaction from any of the opposition parties, including Trinamool Congress, CPI(M) and Congress, to the trends.
