Chowrangee Assembly Election 2024

Since its inception, Chowrangee has seen 18 Assembly elections, including two by-elections in 1993 and 2014. The seat was traditionally held by the Congress party and later the Trinamool Congress, except for 1977, when the Janata Party won, and the 1993 by-election claimed by the CPI(M). The Congress party won Chowrangee 10 times, while Trinamool Congress has held the seat for six consecutive terms since 2001.

The seat has been represented by prominent figures, including two former chief ministers, Dr Bidhan Chandra Roy and Siddhartha Shankar Ray. Roy won the seat in 1962, and Ray held it in 1967, 1969 and 1991. Ray resigned in 1992 to become the Indian Ambassador to the United States, resulting in the 1993 by-election.

Trinamool Congress has held Chowrangee with convincing margins. In 2011, Sikha Chowdhury (Mitra) defeated Bimal Singh of the Rashtriya Janata Dal by 57,739 votes, taking 52.90 per cent of the total. The Left Front’s move of giving the seat to Bihar’s regional RJD to gain support from Hindi-speaking voters did not yield results. The 2014 by-election, caused by Chowdhury’s defection to the Congress, saw Nayna Bandyopadhyay, a noted Bengali film and TV actor, win against BJP’s Ritesh Tiwari by 14,344 votes. She retained the seat in subsequent elections, defeating Congress leader Somen Mitra by 13,216 votes in 2016 and BJP’s Devdutta Maji by 45,344 votes in 2021.

Voting patterns in the Chowrangee segment in the parliamentary elections reflect the Assembly results, with Trinamool Congress leading in 2009, 2019 and 2024, except for 2014, when the Congress led by 1,548 votes. Trinamool’s leads were 26,560 votes in 2019 and 14,645 votes in 2024, with the BJP emerging as the main challenger since 2019. The Congress party’s decline in Chowrangee is notable, falling to 5.50 per cent of the vote in the 2019 Lok Sabha poll, rising slightly after its alliance with the Left Front to 12.80 per cent in the 2021 Assembly poll and 15.74 per cent in the 2024 parliamentary elections.

There were 209,713 registered voters in Chowrangee in 2024, up from 208,201 in 2021 and 202,478 in 2019. Muslim voters formed the largest group at 37.70 per cent, while Scheduled Caste voters accounted for 2.69 per cent. Chowrangee is entirely urban and typically records low voter turnout. The highest turnout in recent years was 58.40 per cent in 2019, with the lowest at 53.61 per cent in 2021. The turnouts were 55.40 per cent in 2024, 56.20 per cent in 2016 and 54.42 per cent in 2011.

The constituency covers a central part of Kolkata, including historic neighbourhoods and commercial areas. The area’s name is rooted in the 18th century, linked to the local saint Chowranginath. Chowrangee developed as a central part of Kolkata after the British established Fort William and expanded east of the Maidan. Chowrangee is known for its colonial-era buildings, major heritage hotels and elite clubs, traditional businesses, busy markets and large avenues. Over the decades, Chowrangee has retained its position at the heart of Kolkata’s business, entertainment, and shopping districts. Iconic hotels such as the Oberoi Grand and Peerless Inn, theatres, and traditional restaurants add to its cosmopolitan character. Notable landmarks include Victoria Memorial, Raj Bhavan, Metropolitan Building, and Shahid Minar. The Maidan, an open ground to its west, gave the city an expanse rarely seen in Indian metropolises and continues to draw crowds for leisure and political rallies.  

.The area enjoys strong urban infrastructure with road networks, metro stations, government offices, colleges, hospitals, and access to major railway terminals. Still, it faces issues typical of big Indian cities, such as congestion and ageing amenities. The local economy relies on retail, hospitality, service industries, and small businesses, supported by the city’s diverse population.

Trinamool Congress remains the favourite to retain the Chowrangee seat in the 2026 Assembly election, having led in six of the last seven contests. However, the party cannot afford complacency, as it faces rising competition from the BJP and the Congress-Left Front alliance, whose slowly increasing vote shares could impact Trinamool’s support, particularly among minority voters. The seat is set for a keenly contested election.

(Ajay Jha)