The mother of the RG Kar doctor who was raped and murdered, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ratna Debnath, won the Panihati constituency, in the West Bengal Assembly election on Monday, defeating the Trinamool Congress candidate.
She defeated Tirthankar Ghosh by more than 28,000 votes.
The constituency had been held by the TMC’s Nirmal Ghosh since 2011, when the party came to power in West Bengal. His son was fielded by the party for the 2026 elections.
On Monday, the doctor’s mother was quoted by ANI as saying: “My daughter is no longer just mine…the whole world is looking at Panihati.”
She added: “My daughter will surely make the lotus bloom in all of Bengal. The vote is for that purpose. I said it is a fight for justice. The fight will not stop here…I will continue as long as I live.”
Ahead of the polls, she had said that she was contesting “to fight for justice for my daughter” and for the safety of women in the state.
On August 9, 2024, the 31-year-old trainee doctor was found dead on the premises of the state-run hospital. The death had sparked protests across the country.
Sanjoy Roy, who was convicted for the doctor’s rape and murder, was sentenced to life imprisonment in January 2025.
In February 2025, the Calcutta High Court admitted an appeal filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation seeking a death sentence for Roy.
After the rape and murder came to light, the West Bengal Junior Doctors’ Front led protests for several weeks, demanding the resignation of senior officials and an end to the “threat culture” in the state’s medical centres.
Healthcare services across West Bengal were hit for several weeks as protesting doctors at state-run hospitals held a strike against the incident.
The CBI is separately looking into alleged tampering of evidence in the case, and alleged corruption at the medical facility. Those accused in the case include the hospital’s former principal Sandip Ghosh and an ex-officer-in-charge of the Tala police station.
Also read: Interview: RG Kar protester is ‘shocked, shattered’ to see victim’s mother contest on BJP ticket
BJP wins Bengal
In the results declared on Monday, the BJP won 206 seats in the 294-member West Bengal Assembly, ending the 15-year rule of the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC.
A party or an alliance needs 148 seats in the Assembly to secure a majority. The TMC had won 80 seats and was leading in one constituency, data from the Election Commission showed at 12.15 pm on Tuesday.
The Congress and former minister Humayun Kabir’s Aam Janata Unnayan Party won two seats each. The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the All India Secular Front secured one win each.
Banerjee lost to BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari by more than 15,000 votes in the Bhabanipur constituency. Adhikari had defeated Banerjee in Nandigram seat in the 2021 polls, after which the TMC chief had been elected to the Assembly from Bhabanipur in a bye-election.
Votes in 293 constituencies were counted on Monday as the Election Commission has ordered repolling in the Falta Assembly seat citing “severe electoral offences”. The polling there will be held on May 21 and the votes will be counted on May 24.
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