Kolkata, Mar 15 (PTI) With the assembly polls now announced, West Bengal is officially on track to chart the course of its government for the next five years. Following is a look at some of the key constituencies in the districts, which could go a long way in determining the colour of the state’s political landscape.
Nandigram: Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district occupies a special place in Bengal’s political history as the epicentre of the anti–land acquisition movement in 2007 during the Left Front regime. The protests against a proposed chemical hub became a turning point that weakened the Left’s three-decade rule and propelled Mamata Banerjee’s rise to power.
The constituency again grabbed national attention in the 2021 assembly elections when senior BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in a high-stakes contest, turning it into one of the most politically symbolic seats in the state.
Sandeshkhali: When Rekha Patra, a housewife from Sandeshkhali in Bengal’s Sunderbans delta and an alleged torture victim in the hands of arrested TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh, was fielded as the BJP’s face in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Basirhat seat, she was labelled as the “embodiment of the party’s fight against atrocities on women under Mamata Banerjee’s rule”.
Patra lost the polls in Basirhat, a Trinamool fortress, by a margin of over 3.33 lakh votes, to TMC’s Haji Nurul Islam, now deceased. The BJP, however, took heart from the fact that Patra managed to secure a lead over Islam in the Sandeshkhali assembly seat, one of the seven assembly constituencies that make up the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.
Two years hence, the Sandeshkhali violence issue may have been pushed to the back burner, but the saffron camp continues to keep the issue of women’s safety at the forefront of its election agenda.
Gaighata: Located in North 24 Parganas district along the India–Bangladesh border, Gaighata is widely regarded as a stronghold of the Matua community, a significant Scheduled Caste group whose political preferences often influence electoral outcomes in several constituencies.
The Matua vote has become a key battleground between the BJP and the ruling TMC, especially in the context of debates around citizenship, refugee rights and the implementation of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
Asansol Dakshin: Situated in the industrial belt of Paschim Bardhaman district, this seat represents the urban and coal-mining heartland of western Bengal. The constituency is currently represented by BJP’s Agnimitra Paul since 2021.
With its mix of industrial workers, traders and urban middle-class voters, the seat often mirrors political shifts in the wider Asansol–Durgapur industrial region.
Kharagpur Sadar: It is another significant constituency, known for its diverse electorate comprising railway employees, traders and migrant workers. The seat in Paschim Medinipur district once served as the political base of former BJP state president Dilip Ghosh, who represented the constituency in the 2016 assembly elections before moving to parliamentary politics.
With the presence of major institutions such as IIT Kharagpur nearby, the constituency combines an academic hub with a bustling railway township.
Sujapur: Sujapur is likely to remain one of the most closely watched seats in the polls due to its strategic and demographic significance. Located in Malda district, Sujapur has a mixed voter base with a substantial minority population. It is currently represented by TMC’s Muhammad Abdul Ghani.
Sujapur’s electoral behaviour often reflects broader political trends in North Bengal, and its outcome could influence the overall performance of parties in the region.
Samserganj: A nondescript assembly constituency in Murshidabad district till recently, Samsergunj caught people’s attention following violent agitations in April 2025 against the Waqf (Amendment) Act. The killing of a 72-year-old man and his son in a mob attack at their house led to massive protests by the BJP, who had accused the ruling TMC of being complicit and the police of not taking action.
Central forces were deployed on High Court orders to control the situation in the violence-hit district.
Samserganj is a Muslim-majority constituency where the Congress came second in the 2021 polls with 37 per cent votes against the TMC’s 51 per cent. The BJP, which came third with less than 6 per cent vote share, hopes to improve its tally riding on polarisation, observers say.
Dinhata: This constituency in North Bengal’s Cooch Behar district has emerged as one of the most politically volatile segments of Bengal, marked by fierce electoral contests between the TMC and the BJP in recent years. A largely rural constituency with around three lakh voters, the presence of nearly 41 per cent ST electorate makes social and agrarian issues key factors in the region’s electoral politics.
Represented by Udayan Guha, a senior TMC leader doubling up as the North Bengal Development department minister, it remained a stronghold of Forward Bloc, a Left Front constituent, till 2011.
In the 2021 state polls, Union Minister Nisith Pramanik of the BJP narrowly defeated Guha, highlighting the party’s growing influence in the region. Guha staged a comeback that year after Pramanik vacated the seat to retain his position in the Lok Sabha. PTI PNT SMY SCH AMR SUS NN MNB
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