Ratna Debnath, mother of RG Kar rape-murder victim, dominates early rounds in West Bengal's Panihati
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "Ratna Debnath, mother of RG Kar rape-murder victim, dominates early rounds in West Bengal's Panihati")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP candidate from Panihati Assembly constituency Ratna Debnath greet each other during the campaign for the candidate ahead of the second phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, at Panihati, in North 24 Parganas on April 24 Photograph: (ANI)
In one of West Bengal’s most emotionally charged contests in Panihati, RG Kar victim’s mother Ratna Debnath is leading by over 8,000 votes as she turns personal tragedy into a powerful political challenge against Mamata Banerjee’s government. Scroll down.
Ratna Debnath, the mother of the doctor raped and murdered at RG Kar Medical College and BJP candidate for West Bengal's Panihari, is leading in her race by over 8,000 votes after three rounds of counting on Monday (May 4). Panihari has become one of the most closely watched contests of the West Bengal assembly election, with significance that goes well beyond the seat itself. Debnath entered the election as a grieving mother who lost her daughter on August 9, 2024, when a postgraduate trainee doctor was found raped and murdered in a seminar room at the Kolkata hospital. The case ignited mass protests across India and became a defining issue for critics of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's government, which holds the health portfolio and faced sustained accusations over its initial handling of the investigation.
Who's winning in West Bengal's Panihari?
Debnath is running against Trinamool Congress candidate Tirthankar Ghosh, who trailed her by over 8,000 votes after three counting rounds. The CPI(M) candidate Kalatan Dasgupta was in a distant third position.
West Bengal's 294-seat assembly went to the polls in two phases, April 23 and April 29, with counting underway on May 4.
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Ratna Debnath's 'main enemy'
Earlier, as she entered the election fray, Debnath had announced, "My main enemy is Mamata Banerjee because she's the Health Minister, and my daughter worked for the Health Department". She questioned, "Why didn't Mamata Banerjee save my daughter?".
Recently, on April 29, Debnath reiterated her earlier statement, once again naming Banerjee as her primary target throughout the campaign. Voicing appreciation for the high voter turnout in the state, she
"Our only regret is that when such an incident happens, our female Chief Minister herself insults women," she said before polling concluded. "Those who say that girls should not go out after 8 PM, when my daughter was murdered, they said girls should not do night duty. This time Bengal will fight against this."
Her husband Shankaran Debnath pointed to the broader pattern of the election, describing record voter turnout as evidence that the public had made up its mind. West Bengal saw a staggering 91.62 per cent turnout across the second phase of polling.
