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Following the Bharatiya Janata Party's win in the repolling for the Falta Assembly seat, Trinamool Congress (TMC) MP Saugata Roy has termed the withdrawal of the party's candidate ahead of the repolling as a "betrayal" and said pressure was behind the move.
Speaking to ANI here, Roy said the timing of the withdrawal led to the candidate's name remaining on the Electronic Voting Machine (EVM), as it was done after the last date for withdrawal had passed. "The result was bound to come because our TMC candidate, Jahangir Khan, had withdrawn from the election just a few days before the campaigning ended. His name remained on the EVM because the last date for withdrawal had already passed. This was a betrayal by Jahangir Khan. If he had withdrawn before the last date, TMC could have fielded a good candidate and there would have been a fair fight. Pressure was put on our candidate to withdraw; he couldn't withstand that pressure. I don't have much information about this. Abhishek Banerjee will be able to tell better about this because he is the MP of that area," Roy told reporters. He further said that the situation affected the party's chances in the repolling process. Falta underwent re-polling on May 21, as irregularities were reported during the 2nd phase of polling in the assembly segment on April 29. After the win in Falta today, the BJP now has 208 MLAs in the 294-seat state assembly. The re-polling recorded an approximate voter turnout of 88.13 per cent, as per the Election Commission of India (ECI). Furthermore, Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated BJP Debangshu Panda for the massive win on the Falta seat in West Bengal, which underwent re-polling owing to irregularities in the second phase of elections. Debangshu Panda recorded a massive win with a margin of 1,09,021 votes against Communist Party of India (Marxist) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi. Hailing the victory on X, PM Modi said, "Democracy has won, and intimidation has lost." PM Modi posted, "People of Falta have spoken! Democracy has won, and intimidation has lost. 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." "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. (ANI)
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