Behala Paschim Assembly Election 2024

Behala Paschim’s electoral journey can broadly be divided into three phases. The original Behala Assembly constituency was established in 1951 and existed till 1962. In the three elections held during this phase, the All India Forward Bloc won the seat in 1952, while the CPI took it in 1957 and 1962. In 1967, the seat was split into Behala East and Behala West, a division that remained in place until 2006. The present configuration, Behala Purba and Behala Paschim, came into effect in 2011 after delimitation. Behala West went to the polls 11 times, of which nine were won by the Left parties, taking their tally to 12 straight wins in the broader Behala area. The CPI(M) won eight of these elections, and the CPI once. The Trinamool Congress breached this Left citadel in 2001, and its winning run has now stretched to five consecutive terms, all with Partha Chatterjee as its candidate.

Behala West was renamed Behala Paschim in 2011, with major boundary changes. Under its present shape, the constituency is composed of 10 wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, including ward numbers 118, 119 and 125 to 132, which gives it a fully urban outlook. It is a segment of the Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha seat. The change of name and boundaries did not affect the Trinamool Congress’s fortunes. Partha Chatterjee won his third straight election in 2011, defeating the CPI(M)’s Anupam Debsarkar by 59,021 votes. He faced a tougher contest in 2016 as the CPI(M) candidate Kaustav Chatterjee reduced his victory margin to 8,896 votes. Partha Chatterjee went on to win his fifth term in 2021, defeating the BJP’s Srabanti Chatterjee by 50,884 votes.

The Trinamool Congress has kept its grip on Behala Paschim during the Lok Sabha elections as well. The party has led from this segment in all four national polls since 2009. It was ahead of the CPI(M) by 35,386 votes in 2009 and by 23,138 votes in 2014. The BJP replaced the CPI(M) as the principal challenger from 2019 onwards, but without dislodging the Trinamool, which led the BJP by 16,165 votes in 2019 and by 15,196 votes in 2024.

Behala Paschim had 318,301 registered voters in 2024, up from 313,198 in 2021, 295,532 in 2019, 294,404 in 2016 and 260,955 in 2011. No caste or religious group dominates the electorate, with Muslims forming about 5.70 per cent and Scheduled Castes around 4.80 per cent of voters. It is a purely urban seat, with no rural voters on its rolls. Turnout has remained high for an urban constituency but shows signs of growing disenchantment, especially in Lok Sabha polls, which draw lower participation than Assembly elections. Turnout in Assembly polls stood at 77.83 per cent in 2011, 75.49 per cent in 2016 and 74.15 per cent in 2021. In the last two Lok Sabha elections, it was 73.53 per cent in 2019 and declined by more than four percentage points to 69.16 per cent in 2024.

Behala itself is one of the older settled tracts in the Kolkata region, with roots that predate the colonial city and links to old zamindari estates such as those of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family. It grew along routes used by traders and pilgrims between Kolkata, Kalighat and Gangasagar, and over time it turned into a dense, mixed neighbourhood rather than a purely residential suburb.

Today Behala Paschim lies within the southern stretch of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation along Diamond Harbour Road and forms part of the city’s metropolitan sprawl. It is known for landmarks such as the Behala airport and flying club, the Sabarna Sangrahashala at Barisha, traditional Durga Puja houses, busy crossings like Behala Chowrasta and Sakherbazar and a cluster of schools, markets and clubs that tie it closely to the everyday life of south Kolkata.

Road connectivity is strong, with Diamond Harbour Road linking Behala directly to the Maidan and central Kolkata. Buses and autos connect the constituency to Esplanade, Howrah and other parts of the city. The new Joka-Esplanade metro corridor, with stations such as Behala Chowrasta, has added a rapid transit option that runs broadly along the old tram alignment, even though trams no longer operate in this part of Behala. Residents also look to the major railway junctions of the city. Howrah station is roughly 10 to 12 km away by road, while Sealdah lies about 12 to 15 km from the heart of Behala. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Dum Dum is about 25 to 30 km away, depending on the route taken.

Within South 24 Parganas, Behala Paschim looks south towards suburban and semi-urban centres such as Joka and Thakurpukur on its doorstep and Baruipur, which is about 22 to 25 km away by road. Diamond Harbour town, further down the Hooghly, lies roughly 38 to 40 km from Behala. To the north and east, Behala is around 35 to 40 km by road from Barasat in North 24 Parganas. Across the river in Howrah district, it is about 10 to 12 km from Howrah city, which also serves as a gateway to Hooghly district towns located further upstream.

On paper, the Trinamool Congress appears a runaway winner even before the 2026 elections are held, given its chain of nine consecutive first-place finishes, including five Assembly wins and leads in four Lok Sabha polls. The BJP has yet to mount a serious challenge to the Trinamool here. The Left Front-Congress alliance is down but not out, having polled 20.50 per cent of the vote in 2021 and 17.04 per cent in 2024 in this constituency.

The Trinamool, however, faces a serious internal challenge. It has to identify a worthy successor to its five-time MLA Partha Chatterjee, who served as Education Minister but was suspended indefinitely from the party in 2022 following his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate as a main accused in the teachers’ recruitment scam. Since Chatterjee has not been convicted, he remains eligible to contest the 2026 elections. Bringing him back into the party fold could fuel allegations of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s tacit involvement in the scandal. Whether Partha Chatterjee stays out of the election or enters the fray as an Independent may matter more to the outcome than the formal opposition. If he contests on his own and triggers a split in the Trinamool’s vote base, the Behala Paschim election could open up and give parties like the BJP, or even a revived Left Front-Congress alliance, a chance to squeeze through to a maiden victory.

(Ajay Jha)