The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) on Tuesday, 19 May sharply criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) after its candidate Jahangir Khan withdrew from the Falta constituency repoll in West Bengal, with both parties labelling the move an act of political cowardice. The Samajwadi Party (SP), a Trinamool ally within the INDIA bloc, broke ranks with the criticism and defended the withdrawal.

Jahangir Khan's Exit

On the final day of campaigning for the Falta repoll, Jahangir Khan made a terse public declaration: 'I am not contesting this election.' The announcement came without an official explanation from the Trinamool Congress, leaving the party's position in the constituency vacant and triggering an immediate political storm across opposition ranks.

BJP and CPI-M React Sharply

BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla did not hold back, saying: 'Trinamool is a cowardly, runaway and surrender-minded party. Their candidate withdrew after seeing the public mood and the kind of sentiment that prevailed during the Bengal elections.' He added that Trinamool 'could have only won the Assembly election by scaring the people, but could not.'

CPI-M leader Hannan Mollah drew a contrast with his own party's approach. 'Development will not happen by running away from the struggle. Our party is small, and we are facing attacks every day, yet we have fielded our candidate. Whatever the result may be, it is important to protest against injustice,' he said. Mollah further argued that Trinamool's conduct followed a pattern: 'When times are good, they stand in front, and when times are bad, they run away. That is the character of the Trinamool Congress.'

ISF Offers Three Theories

Indian Secular Front (ISF) leader Naushad Siddiqui outlined three possible explanations for the withdrawal. 'One is that he himself backed off. Second could be, he is giving a green signal to the BJP that he is working for them and hence providing them an easy victory. The third can be an internal conflict within the Trinamool Congress,' Siddiqui said. He also noted the timing: it had not even been a month since Trinamool's defeat in the Assembly polls, and now no candidate was willing to stand for the repoll. 'If he had contested the poll, he would have been placed at fourth or fifth, which, in turn, would have been a great humiliation for the party,' he added.

SP Backs the Move, Calls for Poll Boycott

Samajwadi Party leader S. T. Hasan took a starkly different position, supporting Khan's decision and going further by urging all opposition parties to boycott future elections. 'There is no relevance of elections left anymore. The polls are being forged, and the Election Commission has itself been reduced to a political party,' Hasan said. He claimed that under present conditions, 'BJP can unanimously declare itself as the winner,' and that Khan 'would have been definitely defeated in the repoll.' The SP's stance underscores a growing fracture within the INDIA bloc over electoral strategy, particularly in Bengal.

What This Signals

The Falta repoll withdrawal is the latest indicator of Trinamool's post-Assembly election vulnerability in the constituency. Notably, the episode has exposed fault lines within the opposition alliance, with the SP's call for a poll boycott sitting uneasily alongside the CPI-M and ISF's decision to contest. How the repoll result shapes up will be closely watched as a barometer of TMC's ground-level strength in the aftermath of its recent electoral setback.