New Delhi: Falta in West Bengal’s South 24 Parganas district made it to the national lexicon last month when a political contest, framed almost like a cinematic clash with a “Singham vs. Pushpa” narrative, caught the people’s imagination.
The “Singham” label was for Ajay Pal Sharma, an Indian Police Service (IPS) officer known for his tough policing style and reputation as an “encounter specialist” in Uttar Pradesh. He was deployed as an Election Commission police observer in the Falta Assembly constituency, where he has been involved in addressing electoral issues and ensuring fair elections, though he has sometimes been called controversial.
“Pushpa”, drawn from the Telugu blockbuster, was used by the Trinamool Congress candidate, Jahangir Khan, to convey his resilience, defiance, and grassroots charisma. However, Khan, described as a local muscleman in certain quarters, withdrew from the by-election race, claiming it was in the larger interest of ensuring peace and development in Falta.
Polling held on April 29 was scrapped by the Election Commission over allegations of tampering with Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and other irregularities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate beat his nearest Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) rival by a margin of over one lakh votes, while the Trinamool Congress came fourth, behind the Indian National Congress. The results show that 71 per cent of the votes went to the BJP, while the CPI(M) polled 19 per cent. Incidentally, in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the Left party managed less than 1 per cent of the vote. The Trinamool then received 89 per cent of the votes, but has now dropped to just four per cent.
Except for the winner and runner-up this time, all other contesting candidates have had their deposits forfeited, according to reports. This is a reversal of earlier mandates in this Assembly constituency that is part of the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency, where Trinamool supremo Mamata Banerjee’s nephew Abhishek Banerjee, also the party’s general secretary, won three subsequent polls.
In the 2024 parliamentary election, Abhishek Banerjee consolidated his winning margin to over seven lakh votes, from around 3.2 lakh in 2019 and about 71,000 in 2014. Going by the 2024 breakdown as per the Election Commission’s Form 20, Abhishek Banerjee led with impressive margins in all seven Assembly segments that comprise the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha seat.
Among these, the difference in mandates between the Trinamool candidate and his nearest challenger from the BJP was the highest in Falta. It stood at a stupendous 1.68 lakh vote margin out of about 2.06 lakh mandates polled in the Falta segment. Overall, the Trinamool heir-apparent polled more than 10.48 lakh out of around 15.31 lakh mandates, without a single one of these, as recorded on EVMs, being declared rejected. Of the 7,064 postal ballots, 470 were discarded.
Similarly, in state polls, Trinamool Congress candidates have maintained a lead over their closest challengers consecutively since winning the Falta seat from the CPI(M) in 2011. From an initial difference of over 27,000 votes, the margin fell slightly to about 23,000 in 2016, then spiked to well over 40,000 in 2021 when the party nominated a new face.
Another new Trinamool face in Falta, in the form of “Pushpa” Jahangir Khan, however, ended up decimating the party’s strength, crumbling the perceived “Diamond Harbour model”. While critics alleged the results were linked to power play and intimidation, Abhishek Banerjee and his party credited the results to the administration’s people-centric initiatives, including efforts to uplift health and sports facilities in the region and a cohesive organisation.
Known as the “Diamond Harbour model”, the term earned brickbats and bouquets from the two divergent viewpoints. In the other Assembly segments, while the Trinamool managed to retain four seats, Diamond Harbour, Bishnupur, Maheshtala, Budge Budge, and Metiaburuz, the BJP wrested Satgachia by a thin margin of 401 votes.
But it was Falta that was being considered a prestige fight, largely over the “Singham vs. Pushpa” narrative. Many had earlier predicted a victory for the BJP in Falta, especially after the Trinamool’s convincing loss overall. There was also little doubt that the win would be by a large margin. But what the by-election result threw up was something that few perhaps could have imagined, especially when, just two years ago, Abhishek Banerjee, riding on the “Diamond Harbour model”, had registered a phenomenal victory.
(IANS)
