Diamond Harbour: Trinamool Congress strongman and candidate from the Falta Assembly Constituency, Jahangir Khan, pulled out from the electoral race on Tuesday, barely two days ahead of re-polling, as reported by timesnow.in.
Khan, considered close to Trinamool national general secretary and Diamond Harbour MP Abhishek Banerjee, was fielded by the party from Falta, an Assembly seat under the Diamond Harbour Parliamentary Constituency.
He shot into the limelight, even as West Bengal was preparing for the elections this year, after people alleged that he, along with his associates, were moving around the constituency, threatening people and asking them to vote for the Trinamool.
What followed was high-drama. Ajay Pal Sharma, an IPS officer from Uttar Pradesh, who was appointed police observer for South 24-Parganas, turned up outside Khan’s residence with a posse of armed policemen.
On being told that Khan was not at home, Sharma warned his family members of strict action him, unless the candidate mends his ways.
“Don’t come crying to us after that,” the officer warned.
The video clip of this interaction went viral and Sharma soon earned the title of ‘Singham’, a maverick police officer played by Bollywood star Ajay Devgn in a series of movies by that name.
Khan then told a public meeting that if Sharma was ‘Singham’, he was ‘Pushpa’, a sandalwood-smuggler played by south Indian actor Allu Arjun.
The Falta Assembly Constituency went to the polls on April 29, but the Election Commission of India (ECI) ordered re-polling in all the 285 polling stations there on May 3, barely a day ahead of declaration of results in the state.
The re-polling will take place between 7 am and 6 pm on May 21, and the result will be declared on May 24.
They have issued these directives “on consideration of severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during the polling in a large number of polling stations on April 29, 2026 in 144-Falta Assembly Constituency, West Bengal”, the ECI noted.
It is considered rare for the poll authority to order a re-election in an entire Assembly seat.
After the loss suffered in the Assembly elections, no top leader of the Trinamool Congress went to campaign for Khan in Falta for the re-polling.
According to reports, Khan has rarely been seen in public after the election results were declared on May 4.
