Baranagar Assembly Election 2024

Baranagar’s history stretches back centuries. An ancient artisan settlement, the area is located on the banks of the River Hooghly, adjacent to Kolkata. Portuguese traders first set up a camp here, followed by a Dutch trading station that became an anchorage for their ships in the 17th century. The Dutch established a hog factory, reportedly slaughtering about 3,000 hogs yearly for export. Over time, Baranagar became a centre for jute trade and industry, manufacturing gunny bags and other products. The British took over in 1795. The municipality itself, initially formed as North Suburban Municipality in 1869 and later renamed in 1889, is among the oldest in India.

The Assembly constituency, established in 1951, covers Baranagar municipality in its entirety along with four wards of Kamarhati municipality. The seat has seen 18 elections, including the 2024 by-election, and has been a witness to major turning points in Bengal’s political history. It is particularly known as the Waterloo for two stalwarts. Former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu won this seat six times, three times for the undivided Communist Party of India and three for CPI(M) between 1951 and 1971. In 1971, he defeated then chief minister Ajoy Mukherjee of Bangla Congress by a margin of 11,053 votes. However, Basu suffered a major setback in 1972, losing to Shiba Pada Bhattacharjee of CPI by 38,987 votes, in a contest between the two communist parties. This loss was a turning point, and Basu shifted to the Satgachhia constituency after that.

The fierce contest between CPI and CPI(M) opened doors for the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP), which, as the junior partner in the Left Front, was allotted the seat from 1977. RSP went on to win Baranagar seven times in a row between 1977 and 2006. In total, the CPI and CPI(M) have won this seat four and three times respectively. Since 2011, the Trinamool Congress has asserted dominance, winning four times. Tapas Roy of the Trinamool Congress bagged the seat three times, defeating RSP’s Sukumar Ghosh by 36,828 votes in 2011, and again in 2016 with a reduced margin of 16,100. Roy completed a hat-trick in 2021 by defeating BJP’s Parno Mitra by 35,147 votes.

Roy’s switch to the BJP in 2024 and subsequent resignation from the Trinamool Congress triggered a by-election. Though the Trinamool Congress retained the seat, its victory margin shrank sharply, with Sayantika Banerjee defeating the BJP’s Sajal Ghosh by 8,148 votes.

The BJP’s emergence as a key player has also been visible in parliamentary contests. It overtook CPI(M) since 2019 to become the principal challenger to the Trinamool Congress. In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the Trinamool led the Baranagar segment over the BJP by 14,695 votes, while the lead narrowed to 11,977 in the 2024 elections.

Baranagar had 217,774 registered voters in 2021, rising from 208,417 in 2019. Scheduled Caste and Muslim voters accounted for just 4.92 per cent and 3.10 per cent respectively, reflecting their minuscule presence. This is a purely urban seat, bordered by localities like Alambazar, Bonhooghly, Noapara and Dunlop, and bereft of rural voters.

The terrain is flat and densely built-up, marked by a network of arterial roads connecting Baranagar to the rest of Kolkata. The area is perched on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River, and the Baranagar Jute Mill, one of India’s oldest, is still operational. The city’s economy, once rooted in jute and small-scale industry, is nowadays driven largely by services, education, printing, publishing and cotton processing. Major urban infrastructure includes a metro station, extensive road and bus connectivity, and proximity to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport.

Despite being an urban seat, voter turnout in Baranagar has typically been high, though it has shown a downward trend in recent years. It stood at 79.46 per cent in 2011, dropping to 77.01 per cent in 2016, 75.83 per cent in 2019 and 73.59 per cent in 2021.

BJP’s steady growth in Baranagar remains a headache for the Trinamool Congress, despite the latter having led in seven of the last eight elections, while the BJP has yet to lead in any. The BJP, however, continues to close the gap, signalling a fierce contest for 2026. Added to this is the Left Front-Congress alliance’s quiet resurgence, which could split Trinamool’s traditional support base and alter the electoral calculus. Who clinches Baranagar in 2026 is uncertain, but a tight and captivating battle is on the cards.

(Ajay Jha)