Kolkata, May 24 (IANS) The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday celebrated what it described as the “collapse” of the Trinamool Congress’ “Diamond Harbour Model” as its candidate from the Falta Assembly constituency, Debangshu Panda, was seen leading after 19 rounds of counting had been completed in the repoll process.

Officials said that in total, there are 21 rounds of counting, and after the completion of the 19th round, the BJP candidate had secured 1,37,473 votes.

The party attributed the trend to growing voter support for the BJP in West Bengal under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the political influence of Suvendu Adhikari.

BJP spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari, in a post on X, shared a video showing BJP supporters celebrating enthusiastically, waving party flags, raising slogans and cheering as counting trends showed Debangshu Panda maintaining a lead over CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi, Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla and Trinamool Congress nominee Jahangir Khan.

“Diamond Harbour Model COLLAPSES! ‘BHAIPOs’ arrogance defeated! People of Bengal under Suvendu Da and guided by PM Narendra Modi Ji’s vision, chose BJP in Falta!” Bhandari said in a post on X.

Bhaipo is a Bengali word which means “nephew” in English.

The Falta Assembly repoll held on May 21 in the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency area, represented by Abhishek Banerjee, reportedly saw a high voter turnout under tight security arrangements.

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 5,914 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, Shankar Kumar Nashkar of the Trinamool Congress 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.

–IANS

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