Bankura is a district headquarters town and a general category Assembly constituency created in 1951. It comprises Bankura municipality, the Bankura I community development block and three gram panchayats of Bankura II block. It falls under the Bankura Lok Sabha constituency as one of its seven segments.
Historically, this belt formed part of the old Mallabhum kingdom ruled from Bishnupur, where the Malla kings patronised terracotta temple building and craft traditions that spread across much of the present-day Bankura district.
Bankura has participated in 18 Assembly elections since its inception, including the 2012 by-election, and was a twin-seat constituency in 1957. The CPI(M) has won the maximum seven terms, the Congress five times, and the Trinamool Congress four times, while the All India Hindu Mahasabha took the inaugural 1952 election and the BJP opened its account here in 2021.
The restiveness of the Bankura voters stands out in the sequence of recent results. Kashinath Misra of the Trinamool Congress, who had first won the seat in 2001 and then finished runner-up to the CPI(M) in 2006, reclaimed it in 2011 by defeating the CPI(M)тАЩs Pratip Mukherjee by 29,090 votes. His death led to a by-election in 2012. Trinamool fielded his widow, Minati Misra, who held the seat by beating Nilanjan Dasgupta of the CPI(M) by 15,138 votes. In 2016, however, she lost narrowly to the Congress candidate Shampa Daripa by 1,029 votes, underlining the constituencyтАЩs reluctance to give any party a prolonged run. The pendulum swung again in 2021, this time towards the BJP, when Niladri Sekhar Dana defeated TrinamoolтАЩs film-star candidate Sayantika Banerjee by 1,468 votes.
A similar trend can be seen in Lok Sabha voting from the Bankura Assembly segment. The Congress led the CPI(M) by 6,557 votes in 2009. In 2014, the Trinamool Congress took the lead by 21,770 votes over the BJP. The BJP then overtook Trinamool in 2019 with a substantial lead of 46,776 votes and maintained its top position in 2024, although with a reduced margin of 16,312 votes.
Bankura had 278,992 registered voters in 2024, up from 269,289 in 2021, 256,657 in 2019, 244,482 in 2016 and 215,037 in 2011. Scheduled Castes, with 28.69 per cent of voters, form the largest social group, while Scheduled Tribes account for 3.32 per cent and Muslims 7.90 per cent. Rural voters, at 56.27 per cent, slightly outnumber the 43.73 per cent living in urban areas. Voter turnout has remained high with minor fluctuations: 80.05 per cent in 2011, 80.44 per cent in 2016, 79.54 per cent in 2019, 80.81 per cent in 2021, and 77.74 per cent in 2024.
Bankura district lies in western West BengalтАЩs Rarh region and has a mixed terrain, with the northern and north western parts forming the last spurs of the Chota Nagpur plateau, and the east and south opening out into gentler alluvial plains. The land rises and falls in low undulations, with lateritic uplands, patches of sal and mixed forests and more fertile tracts along river valleys. The river Damodar flows along BankuraтАЩs northern border, while the Dwarakeswar, Shilabati and Kangsabati rivers and their tributaries, such as the Gandheswari and Kumari, flow through or near the Bankura region.
BankuraтАЩs economy is based on a mix of agriculture, small-scale industry, and services. Farmers grow paddy as the principal crop, along with oilseeds, potatoes, vegetables and some pulses. The district is also known for its handicrafts, including the famous Bankura horse and other terracotta work, as well as dokra metal casting and weaving. The town functions as an administrative and commercial centre with government offices, colleges, hospitals and a growing services sector.
Bankura is reasonably well connected by both road and rail. It lies on the Bankura-Masagram railway line and has links to the South Eastern Railway network via Adra and Kharagpur, providing direct connections to Howrah and other major junctions. By road, Bankura is about 80 to 90 km from Durgapur and Asansol to the north and northwest, roughly 80 to 90 km from Purulia to the west, and around 140 to 170 km from Kolkata to the east. Within the district, Bishnupur lies about 40 to 50 km to the southeast. Towns in neighbouring districts, such as Burdwan, Durgapur and Asansol in Paschim Bardhaman, Jhargram in Paschim Medinipur and parts of eastern Jharkhand, are also accessible via the Damodar valley and state highway network, making Bankura a local transport and trade hub.
The BJP has built a degree of advantage with two consecutive parliamentary leads, but its Assembly victory margin in 2021 was low enough to give Trinamool hopes of reversing the trend in the 2026 election. The once dominant CPI(M) and the Congress have shrunk to around 6 per cent of the vote in the last two polls despite their alliance, and are unlikely to alter the outcome. In all likelihood, Bankura will see a straight BJP versus Trinamool Congress contest that could go down to the wire, where every vote cast will matter.
(Ajay Jha)
