BJP candidate Ratna Debnath won Panihati seat by defeating TMC candidate Tirthankar Ghosh in Panihati Assembly constituency by a huge margin of 28,836 during couting in West Bengal Assembly Election 2026. Debnath got 87,977 votes while Ghosh accumulated 59141 votes.
"This victory is the victory of the people of Panihati, of the entire Bengal. I dedicate this victory to Prime Minister Modi. I have been able to free the people from the misgovernance of the Ghosh family, for which I thank the people; I could not have done this alone. This victory has been achieved because of the people of Panihati," Debnath said reacting on her victory.
The constituency went to the polls in the second phase on April 29.
The race was primarily between the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), although several other parties were also in the fray, adding to the competitiveness of the political landscape.
Historically, Panihati has been a reliable seat for the party. Senior TMC leader Nirmal Ghosh had won the seat for three consecutive terms after taking it from the CPI(M) in 2011, strengthening the party’s hold in the area.
This time, however, the BJP put forward Ratna Debnath, who is the mother of the RG Kar rape and murder victim. The case had a strong emotional impact across West Bengal and has also influenced political discussions around law and order in the state. BJP hopes this sentiment may help it gain ground in the constituency.
Key candidates in fray
Other candidates in the race included Kalatan Dasgupta from the CPI(M) and Subhashish Bhattacharya from the Congress, adding further competition.
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election, Nirmal Ghosh of TMC defeated BJP’s Sanmoy Bandhapadhyay by a margin of 25,177 votes in Panihati. The constituency falls under the Dum Dum Lok Sabha seat, where in the 2024 general elections, TMC candidate Prof Saugata Roy won against BJP’s Silbhadra Dutta by a margin of 70,660 votes.
