KOLKATA/FALTA: The CPM secured a distant second place in the first assembly by-election after the BJP's recent state election victory, marking a significant shift in voter allegiance. Debangshu Panda of the BJP won the Falta seat by a record margin of 1,09,021 votes, slightly exceeding the 1-lakh margin that Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari had requested from the electorate.
BJP's Highest Winning Margin
This was the BJP's highest winning margin in the 2026 assembly elections, surpassing its previous best of 1,04,265 votes in Matigara-Naxalbari. In Falta, the BJP garnered 71.2% of the votes, a sharp increase from 36.7% in the 2021 assembly elections. However, the most significant takeaway from the repoll result was the wholesale transfer of minority votes from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) to the CPM's Sambhu Nath Kurmi, who received 40,645 votes (19.3% vote share), and to a lesser extent, the Congress, which got 10,084 votes. The TMC's Jahangir Khan finished fourth with only 7,783 votes (3.7% vote share).
Trinamool's Diamond Harbour Model of Defeat
Jahangir Khan had announced 48 hours before the repoll that he was quitting the fray. The TMC lost its deposit in a seat it had won in four of the previous five assembly polls since 2001, and where it had secured a lead of 1.6 lakh votes (89% vote share) in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Trinamool national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee had retained the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat, of which Falta is one of seven assembly segments, by a margin of more than 7 lakh votes in 2024. In the 2021 assembly elections, TMC's Sankar Kumar Naskar had won Falta by defeating Bidhan Parui of the BJP by 40,774 votes.
Chief Minister's Response
Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari wrote on Facebook, "TMC took a lead of one-and-a-half lakh votes in this constituency and made the past election a joke. Fifteen years later, when people regained their freedom to vote... the reality has come out. This is just the beginning. There is a long journey of rejection. The skeleton of the party is now exposed." Claiming that TMC's "infamous Diamond Harbour model" has become a model of defeat for the party, Adhikari said, "I had requested the people of Falta to give us a margin of 1 lakh votes. The winning margin crossed one lakh eight thousand. I will repay your debt through development."
CPM and Congress Reactions
CPM state secretary Md Salim said, "We could campaign only for a week - that, too, in a handful of booths - in Falta before the April 29 election. But before the repoll, we could increase our visibility and launch an intense campaign. That resulted in nearly 20% vote share for the Left." The CPM had not fielded any candidate in the seat in 2021. Congress, which got 10,084 votes, said the "secular" votes went in its favour. Pradesh Congress president Subhankar Sarkar said the BJP benefited from its winning streak in the recent state polls and the consolidation of Hindu votes. Minorities account for over 30% of Falta's electorate.
TMC Allegations
TMC's Abhishek Banerjee said, "The counting of votes for the Falta repoll exposed glaring inconsistencies. By 3:30 pm, all 21 rounds of counting were over. On May 4, only 2-4 rounds were completed by that time. The country deserves an explanation from the Election Commission," he said, alleging that a large number of TMC workers were attacked before the repoll.
