Our Bureau
Kolkata
In one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, Ratna Debnath, the mother of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder victim, has won the Panihati Assembly seat for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Her victory marks a major political upset and symbolises a sharp shift in voter mood in North 24 Parganas.
Official Election Commission data shows that Ratna Debnath polled 87,977 votes from the Panihati constituency, defeating Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Tirthankar Ghosh by a margin of 28,836 votes as Ghosh secured 59,141 votes.
Before this election, Panihati had been under TMC control since 2011, with Nirmal Ghosh of the party winning the seat in 2016 and 2021. This year, the BJP unseated the ruling party here as part of a wider sweep in West Bengal, where the saffron party crossed the two‑thirds mark with 206 seats in the Assembly, ending Mamata Banerjee’s 15‑year rule.
Ratna Debnath’s campaign centred on the demand for justice and women’s safety, drawing national attention to the RG Kar case. Her first‑time electoral victory from Panihati has turned her into a key BJP face in the state and underlines how the party has used the emotional wave around the RG Kar tragedy to rework local politics.
