Panihati BJP candidate Ratna Debnath casts vote, puts women’s safety at centre of campaign
Telegraph | 29 April 2026
In Sodepur, North 24 Parganas, BJP’s Panihati candidate Ratna Debnath cast her vote on polling day, bringing a deeply personal issue into the centre of her campaign.
Debnath, the mother of the RG Kar rape-murder victim, said women’s safety remains her top priority.
Speaking to reporters after voting, she said, “The TMC failed to address the worsening law and order situation in the state. Only one arrest has been made in the RG Kar case. How did the accused get access to a secure place supposedly guarded by hospital security?”
The case she referred to dates back to the rape and murder of a young doctor inside RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, an incident that had sparked protests across the country.
Nearly twenty months later, it continues to shape political conversations in West Bengal. “Apart from my daughter, hundreds of women have also been facing atrocities in West Bengal under the TMC rule. My priority is women's safety,” Debnath said.
She expressed confidence about the result. “We have to ensure that not a single vote is lost,” she said, adding that people would vote for a change and “free West Bengal from ‘the misrule of TMC’.”
In Panihati, Debnath is up against Tirtankar Ghosh, son of sitting MLA Nirmal Ghosh, and Kalatan Dasgupta.
Polling is underway in 142 constituencies in the second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections, with security arrangements in place across districts. The first phase on April 23, covering 152 seats, recorded a turnout of 93.19 per cent.