Gaighata Assembly Election 2024

Established in 1967, Gaighata constituency includes Gobardanga municipality, seven gram panchayats of Gaighata community development block, and three gram panchayats of Habra I block. It is a segment of the Bangaon Lok Sabha seat. 

Gaighata has gone to the polls 14 times since its inception. The Trinamool Congress has won four times between 2001 and 2016, the CPI(M) four times between 1977 and 1987 and again in 1996, the Congress party three times, the Bangla Congress twice in 1967 and 1969 and the BJP once, in 2021.

The Trinamool made an early breakthrough soon after its formation, when Jyotipriya Mallick won in 2001 by defeating sitting CPI(M) MLA Manmatha Roy by 11,690 votes, and he held on in 2006 with a reduced margin of 4,819 votes. The party then changed candidates in each of the next three elections. In 2011, Manjul Krishna Thakur retained the seat for the Trinamool by defeating CPI nominee Manoj Kanti Biswas by 25,472 votes. In 2016, Pulin Bihari Ray won a fourth consecutive term for the party, beating the CPI’s Kapil Krishna Thakur by 29,572 votes. In 2021, the Trinamool fielded Narottam Biswas, but the strategy of rotating candidates faltered as the BJP, which had earlier been a distant third, surged to victory, with Subrata Thakur defeating Biswas by 9,578 votes.

Lok Sabha voting in the Gaighata segment underlines the BJP’s ascent. The Trinamool led comfortably here in the 2009 and 2014 parliamentary elections, ahead of the CPI(M) by 18,802 votes in 2009 and 21,391 votes in 2014. In 2019, the BJP turned the tables by gaining a lead of 35,948 votes over the Trinamool. In 2024, the BJP’s lead over the Trinamool declined somewhat but remained substantial at 27,005 votes, underlining that the saffron party’s gains were holding rather than fading.

Gaighata had 263,468 registered voters in 2024, up from 252,053 in 2021, 240,296 in 2019, 224,311 in 2016 and 186,186 in 2011. The Scheduled Castes form the largest bloc with 43.81 per cent of voters, while the Scheduled Tribes account for 2.58 per cent and Muslims for less than 9 per cent. It is a predominantly rural constituency, though its proximity to the Bangaon-Barasat corridor and the international border gives it a semi-peripheral character. Rural voters account for 61.13 per cent of the electorate, compared to 38.87 per cent in urban pockets. Voter turnout has remained high but shows a mild softening over time, with 88.36 per cent in 2011, 86.02 per cent in 2016, 83.87 per cent in 2019, 84.75 per cent in 2021 and 83.08 per cent in 2024.

Gaighata lies in the northern part of North 24 Parganas, in the Bangaon subdivision, close to the India-Bangladesh border. The constituency is part of the lower Gangetic alluvial plain, with flat, fertile land and a dense network of rivers, canals and water bodies. The Ichamati River, which enters North 24 Parganas from Nadia and flows south through blocks such as Bagdah, Bangaon, Gaighata and Swarupnagar before heading towards the Sundarbans, is the main river that controls this region’s drainage and flood pattern. The terrain is low-lying and prone to waterlogging during heavy monsoon rains, but the alluvial soils are generally suitable for intensive cultivation.

Agriculture remains the backbone of the local economy. Paddy is the dominant crop, with boro and aman paddy cycles supported by irrigation from rivers, canals, shallow tubewells and ponds. Jute, vegetables and oilseeds are also grown in substantial quantities, and small-scale pisciculture in household and village ponds is a viable source of supplementary income. Many residents take up non-farm work as well, including jobs in small shops, transport, brick kilns and construction, and a significant number commute or migrate for work towards Bangaon, Barasat and the Kolkata urban belt.

Gaighata is linked by road to the Bangaon-Barasat-Kolkata corridor. Bangaon, the subdivisional headquarters and nearest major town, lies roughly 15 to 20 km away by road from different parts of the block and acts as the main local hub for markets, health facilities and administrative offices. Barasat, the district headquarters, is much further south, a little under 100 km from Bangaon by road and somewhat less by rail, and serves Gaighata indirectly via the Barasat-Bangaon route. Kolkata, the state capital, lies about 70 to 80 km from Gaighata by rail via Bangaon and Barasat and a slightly longer distance by road.

Rail connectivity for Gaighata’s residents runs mainly through the Sealdah-Bangaon line. From local stations on this suburban corridor, trains connect commuters to Bangaon, Barasat and Sealdah, and onwards to central Kolkata and the larger suburban network. Petrapole, the last station on the Indian side leading to the Benapole land port in Bangladesh, lies not far beyond Bangaon and serves as a major freight and border-crossing point. Gaighata itself does not sit directly on the border but lies only a few kilometres west of the international line. The distance to the Bangladesh border at points such as Benapole-Petrapole is on the order of 20 to 25 km by road via Bangaon. On the Bangladeshi side, towns like Benapole and Jessore form the closest urban centres, visible in everyday conversation and cross-border family and trade links, even though formal movement is concentrated through the official land port and rail crossing.

Within North 24 Parganas, Gaighata is linked to other towns such as Habra, Gobardanga and Ashoknagar by road and connecting routes, placing it within the broader northern fringe of the Kolkata metropolitan sphere. Further afield, it sits not far from the boundaries with the Nadia district to the west and from the Basirhat-Hasnabad belt to the east, though its main orientation in terms of commerce and administration is towards Bangaon and Barasat.

The stage is set for a 2026 contest in which the BJP starts with a clear advantage. The party has built a strong bond with Scheduled Caste voters, reflected in its 2021 Assembly victory and sizeable leads in the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The Trinamool Congress, by contrast, has struggled to compensate for the low Muslim share in the population and is also hurt by the drift of former Left workers and committed voters towards the BJP out of hostility to the Trinamool. The Left Front-Congress alliance has shrunk to single-digit vote shares and no longer appears capable of influencing the outcome. Unless the Trinamool can significantly win back SC voters from the BJP and rebuild part of the old anti-BJP base, the BJP goes into the 2026 Assembly election in Gaighata with a definite upper hand in its effort to retain the seat.

(Ajay Jha)