Jalangi Assembly Election 2024

Established in 1951, Jalangi has participated in all 17 Assembly elections held in West Bengal so far. The Congress party dominated the early phase, winning four of the first five elections between 1951 and 1969, with an Independent candidate breaking its sequence in 1962. This was followed by back-to-back wins for the Bharatiya Jana Sangh (the predecessor of the BJP), before the CPI(M) captured the seat and turned it into a stronghold by winning nine consecutive elections between 1977 and 2016. It took a CPI(M) defector to stop the Left juggernaut and hand the Trinamool Congress its first win in Jalangi.

Abdur Razzak extended the CPI(M)’s run when he was first nominated to contest Jalangi in 2011, defeating the Trinamool Congress’s Idris Ali by 37,861 votes. He retained the seat in 2016 with a reduced margin of 25,267 votes against Trinamool’s Alok Das. Ahead of the 2021 Assembly polls, Abdur Razzak switched to the Trinamool Congress and went on to win a third straight term as MLA, this time as a Trinamool candidate, trouncing Siful Islam Molla of the CPI(M) by 79,276 votes and ending the Left’s long hold over the seat.

Lok Sabha voting in the Jalangi segment initially reflected the CPI(M)’s strength. In 2009, the CPI(M) led the Congress by 1,833 votes here, and in 2014 it widened its lead over the Congress to 14,607 votes. The Abdur Razzak factor became apparent once he joined the Trinamool Congress ahead of the 2019 general elections. The Trinamool led the Congress by 24,677 votes that year. In 2024, the first Lok Sabha election fought by the Left Front and Congress as allies, the Trinamool’s lead in Jalangi shrank sharply to 5,758 votes, signalling a revival of the Left-Congress combine and a more competitive contest.
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Following the 2025 Special Intensive Revision in West Bengal, the Jalangi Assembly constituency had 265,380 voters as per the draft electoral roll, a marginal decline of 6,927 from 272,307 voters in 2024. Earlier, the electorate stood at 261,258 in 2021, 248,314 in 2019, 211,652 in 2016 and 197,836 in 2011, indicating a sharp surge of 36,662 voters between 2016 and 2019. Of the eight individuals who have represented Jalangi since its inception, seven have been Muslims, which reflects its status as a Muslim-majority constituency where Muslims account for about 68.90 per cent of voters, while Scheduled Castes make up around 12.80 per cent. Jalangi is a purely rural seat with no urban voters on its rolls. Turnout has remained robust though it has eased over time with 89.23 per cent in 2011, 83.92 per cent in 2016, 83.28 per cent in 2019, 85.12 per cent in 2021 and 80.65 per cent in 2024.

Jalangi lies in the north-eastern part of Murshidabad district on the Bagri plain, close to the India-Bangladesh border. The constituency covers the Jalangi block and adjoining panchayats of Raninagar II, an area criss-crossed by distributaries of the Ganga, particularly the Jalangi and Bhairab rivers, which are in their decaying stages. A major problem here is riverbank erosion along the Ganga-Padma and its branches. Large tracts of Murshidabad were lost to erosion, and the Jalangi block has repeatedly seen villages and mouzas washed away, forcing thousands of families to shift in years such as 2006-07. The terrain is low-lying alluvial flatland with fertile soils but high vulnerability to flooding, sand deposition, waterlogging and gradual loss of land along eroding embankments.

The local economy is largely agrarian. Farmers grow paddy as the staple crop, alongside jute, oilseeds and vegetables on smaller plots, taking advantage of the fertile alluvium and shallow groundwater. However, flooding and erosion have deposited sand over many fields, making cultivation difficult and pushing men and women from Jalangi block into seasonal or long-term migration to cities across India, from Delhi and Rajasthan to Kerala and Gujarat, in search of work. Many households now combine agriculture with migrant remittances, small trading, transport, petty services and employment in government schemes. Basic infrastructure, such as rural roads, electricity, primary schools, madrasas and health sub-centres, has expanded, but higher education, advanced healthcare and organised-sector jobs still require travel to larger towns such as Berhampore or urban centres beyond the district.

Jalangi is connected by road to the district headquarters at Berhampore (Baharampur), which lies about 48 to 50 km away. Domkol, the subdivision headquarters and  another major town, lies to the north-east within roughly a 20–30 km radius, while other Murshidabad towns and blocks are accessible via the district’s road network. Kolkata, the state capital, is about 190 to 200 km from Jalangi by road. Across the riverine international boundary, Jalangi faces the Rajshahi division in Bangladesh. Rajshahi city and neighbouring upazilas lie just across the Padma River, linked on the Bangladeshi side by road and ferry networks that shape cross-border economic and cultural ties, even as formal movement remains regulated.

The 2025 SIR is unlikely to fundamentally alter the electoral balance in Jalangi, since the net reduction of 6,927 names is modest and the constituency’s Muslim-majority character remains intact. The BJP faces structural limitations here because Hindus are in a clear minority, restricting its ability to emerge as the dominant force. The sharply reduced Trinamool lead of 5,758 votes in the 2024 Lok Sabha election from this segment indicates that the Left Front-Congress alliance is back in business and capable of mounting a serious challenge to the Trinamool in 2026. The coming Assembly election in Jalangi thus promises a multi-cornered contest, but with the main battle likely between the Trinamool Congress and the CPI(M)-led alliance, in what could be a tough, closely fought race in one of Murshidabad’s key border constituencies.

(Ajay Jha)