BJP candidate Debangshu Panda won West Bengal's Falta Assembly repoll on May 24 with 1,49,666 votes, ahead of CPI(M) candidate Sambhu Nath Kurmi's 40,645. Congress candidate Abdur Razzak Molla received 10,084. The margin between the first two candidates was 1,09,021 votes, according to the Election Commission figures also reported that evening by Moneycontrol.
The Commission's results table placed Trinamool Congress candidate Jahangir Khan fourth with 7,783 votes, or 3.7%, compared with Panda's 71.2% and Kurmi's 19.34%. This was a constituency result: it showed the CPI(M) ahead of the other opposition contestants in Falta, while the BJP retained a substantial lead over all of them.
The election followed a separate polling timetable. The Commission's May 8 announcement scheduled Falta's repoll for May 21. Moneycontrol's May 24 account reported that Khan had announced he would no longer contest shortly before polling, although his name remained on the ballot. That distinction matters when comparing the candidates' recorded totals.
Later reporting, updated June 3: The Indian Express described calls for opposition cooperation after the result. Congress spokesperson Soumya Aich Roy argued that a united fight was necessary against the BJP. CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty criticised the TMC's retreat in Falta and said his party would campaign on jobs and livelihoods.
The June 3 version also quoted an unnamed CPI(M) state committee member describing efforts toward an understanding for the Rejinagar and Nandigram bypolls. An unnamed Congress leader said any alliance decision belonged to the party high command, while identifying Malda and Murshidabad as areas of organisational strength.
That report placed the debate against the parties' limited Assembly representation: Congress had won two seats and CPI(M) one after contesting separately. The comments describe political intentions and competing claims to opposition space, not a concluded alliance. Their individual dates were unspecified; they are included here as later reporting, not as statements established on May 30.
