Raghunathpur Assembly Election 2024

Raghunathpur is a subdivision-level town in northern Purulia, situated on the lower steps of the Chota Nagpur plateau with undulating land and scattered hillocks. The Assembly seat, created in 1957, presently covers the Raghunathpur municipality and the Raghunathpur I, Neturia and Santuri community development blocks. It is one of the seven segments under the Bankura Lok Sabha constituency.

Since 1957, the constituency has gone to the polls 16 times. The CPI(M) emerged as the single largest force with six straight victories between 1982 and 2006, while the Congress party has four wins, the last of them coming as far back as 1972. The Socialist Unity Centre of India has taken the seat three times, the Trinamool Congress twice and the BJP once.

The CPI(M)’s long winning run eventually ended in 2011. That year, Purna Chandra Bauri of the Trinamool Congress defeated CPI(M) candidate Dipali Bauri by 12,743 votes, and in 2016, he widened the gap over the CPI(M)’s Satyanarayan Bauri to 16,142 votes. The BJP, which had been a distant third with 4.91 per cent of the vote in 2011 and 12.92 per cent in 2016, broke through in 2021 when Vivekananda Bauri defeated Hazri Bouri of the Trinamool Congress by 5,438 votes.

Parliamentary election trends from the Raghunathpur segment trace the shifting loyalty of its voters. In 2009, the CPI(M) led the Congress here by 14,182 votes, while in 2014 the Trinamool Congress moved to the front with a lead of 4,504 votes over the CPI(M). In 2019, the BJP surged ahead, establishing a lead of 42,633 votes over Trinamool, and in 2024 it fell just short, trailing Trinamool by a wafer-thin margin of 455 votes.

The electorate in Raghunathpur has expanded steadily over the last decade and a half. The constituency had 273,046 registered voters in 2024, up from 259,434 in 2021, 247,821 in 2019, 234,336 in 2016 and 198,409 in 2011. Scheduled Castes form the largest bloc with 30.45 per cent of the voters, while Scheduled Tribes account for 18.70 per cent and Muslims for about 8 per cent.

It is a predominantly rural seat, with 78.02 per cent of voters living in villages and the remaining 21.98 per cent in Raghunathpur town. The turnout has been consistently high with 81.40 per cent in 2011, 82.31 per cent in 2016, 81.87 per cent in 2019, 82.96 per cent in 2021 and 77.36 per cent in 2024.

Geographically, Raghunathpur lies in the eastern plateau and hills region of West Bengal, on the lowest step of the Chota Nagpur plateau. The landscape is characterised by rolling uplands, lateritic soils and scattered low hills, with more level stretches along river valleys. The area falls within a rain shadow zone with a dry climate for much of the year, and the short monsoon season is crucial for both agriculture and water storage. Small rivers and rivulets draining into the Damodar-Subarnarekha system, along with tanks and ponds, are the main surface water sources.

The local economy is anchored in agriculture and allied activities, with paddy, oilseeds and some coarse cereals and pulses as the principal crops. Many households supplement farm income through daily wage work, small trade and employment in nearby industrial belts, including coal, power and metal industries in parts of the Asansol-Durgapur and Jharkhand border zones. Proximity to coalfields and industrial centres in neighbouring Bardhaman, Bankura and Jharkhand has created a pattern of commuting and seasonal migration, while government services, education and small businesses in Raghunathpur town provide additional livelihoods.

Raghunathpur is connected by road to the district headquarters at Purulia town and to major urban centres in adjoining districts. Purulia lies about 40 to 50 km away by road. To the north and northeast, Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman district is within roughly 45 to 60 km, accessible by road and rail, linking Raghunathpur to the Howrah-Delhi main line and the wider coal belt. Bankura town lies to the east at roughly 50 to 60 km by road, while to the west and northwest, Jharkhand towns such as Bokaro and Dhanbad are around 100 to 120 km away. Kolkata, the state capital, is considerably farther to the southeast at about 200 to 220 km.

Going into the 2026 Assembly elections, Raghunathpur is poised for a closely fought contest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP. Both parties have reasons for optimism. Trinamool led by a whisker in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, and the BJP is the incumbent in the Assembly with a substantial lead here in 2019 and a narrow deficit in 2024. The Left Front-Congress alliance has eroded sharply, now reduced to a combined vote share of fewer than 7 per cent and unlikely, on current trends, to decisively impact the outcome. The stage is set for a keen, two-cornered fight in which either Trinamool or the BJP can realistically hope to take Raghunathpur in 2026, with no clear favourite on paper.

(Ajay Jha)