Amajor political row erupted between the Bharatiya Janta Party and the Trinamool Congress on Sunday after BJP’s Debangshu Panda recorded a comfortable victory in the Falta constituency of West Bengal, where re-polling was conducted on May 21.
Panda won with over 1 lakh votes while CPI(M)’s Sambhu Nath Kurmi trailed with 40,645 votes and Congress’ Abdul Razzak Molla got only 10,084 votes. All this after the TMC candidate had backed out of the contest before the polls.
Following the announcement of results, TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee sought an explanation from the Election Commission over the timing of vote counting in the Falta constituency. He alleged that on May 4, when the West Bengal Assembly election results were declared, only 2-4 rounds had been completed till 3:30 pm. In contrast, all 21 rounds of counting were done in Falta on Sunday by that time.
“The Falta AC repoll counting today exposes glaring inconsistencies. By 3:30 pm in the afternoon today all 21 rounds were completed. On 4th May, till the same time, only 2- 4 rounds had taken place. The country deserves an explanation from the ECI,” he wrote in a post on X.
He also accused the Election Commission of “turning a blind eye” to the situation in West Bengal, claiming that over 1,000 workers from Falta have been forced to flee their homes in the last 10 days. He further alleged that party offices were vandalised in broad daylight even while the Model Code of Conduct was in force.
“Although more than 1000 workers from Falta have been forced to flee their homes in the last 10 days the Election Commission continued to turn a blind eye. Party offices were vandalised in broad daylight even when the Model Code of Conduct was in force.”
“The Election Commission has taken no action. Instead, the CEO, who was allegedly used by the ECI to delete names under the guise of SIR and manipulate the electoral process, was appointed Chief Secretary of the new WB government at a time when the Model Code of Conduct was still in force in Falta and the polling process had not even been completed.”
Calling it “worrying”, he further alleged that counting agents of Trinamool and other political parties, except the BJP, were allegedly thrown out of the venue on May 4th by officials and central forces deployed under the Election Commission of India.
“This is deeply alarming and strikes at the heart of free and fair elections. Unless compromised officials are held accountable and an independent CCTV audit of the counting process is conducted, questions over the credibility of the mandate will only grow stronger,” he added.
‘Just a beginning of rejection’, says Suvendu Adhikari after TMC’s loss in Falta
However, Banerjee was not the only one trading remarks on the social media platform X. West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari also made sharp comments.
Without naming anyone in his post, Adhikari said that a party “devoid of principles and ideology, which had morphed into a mafia company,” had its “skeletal state laid bare” after losing power. He alleged that by abusing state machinery, the party looted public funds, extorted people’s hard-earned money, and collected money through syndicates and a culture of threats, adding that its leaders had come to treat the state as their fiefdom.
Accusing the TMC of “throttling democracy”, Adhikari said there is no crime “this con artist hasn’t orchestrated” under the title of “commander.”
“As a result, turning the previous election into a farce, Trinamool had taken a lead of one-and-a-half lakh votes in this assembly segment. Fifteen years later, when people regained the freedom to cast their votes on their own, the true reality came to light,” he wrote on X.
He added that this is “just a beginning” of rejection and that the TMC faces a tough battle against ‘NOTA’ in elections.
“This is just the beginning; now we must traverse the long journey of rejection. The All India Trinamool Congress has already been defeated even by NOTA in the Tripura state assembly elections. The people of West Bengal are waiting to witness this fierce fight in West Bengal in the coming days…”
Repolling across all 285 booths in the Falta constituency was conducted after voting in the South 24 Parganas seat on April 29 was scrapped over allegations of EVM tampering and other irregularities. Two days before the results were scheduled to be declared, ECI ordered a fresh repoll in the constituency, which was held on May 21.
More than 87 per cent of the constituency’s 2.36 lakh voters turned up for the repoll. To ensure smooth conduct of polling, EC significantly stepped up security, deploying around 35 companies of central forces across the constituency.