Established in 1951, the constituency is made up of the entire Beldanga municipality, six gram panchayats of Beldanga I and five gram panchayats of the Berhampore community development blocks, and is one of the seven segments of the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat.
Beldanga has participated in all 17 Assembly elections held in West Bengal so far. The Congress party has won the seat nine times, the RSP registered victories on six occasions, while an Independent politician and the Trinamool Congress have won once each.
Safiujjaman Sheikh of the Congress party won the seat in 2011, defeating Mohd Refatullah of the RSP by 13,883 votes. He retained the seat in 2016, defeating Golam Kibria Mia of the Trinamool Congress by 30,281 votes, but the constituency witnessed a churn in 2021 when the Trinamool Congress fielded Hasanuzzaman Sheikh, who beat BJP’s Sumit Ghosh by 53,832 votes, while Safiujjaman Sheikh finished a distant third.
Lok Sabha voting trends in the Beldanga Assembly segment reveal close contests between the Congress party and the Trinamool Congress. The Congress party led in 2009 and 2014 over the RSP by 33,312 votes and 43,238 votes, respectively, but the script changed in 2019 when the Trinamool Congress surged to a narrow lead of 3,088 votes over the Congress party, which remained alarmingly low at 4,455 votes in 2024, showing that the Lok Sabha fight here has narrowed considerably and mirrors the shifting loyalties of the Assembly elections.
Beldanga had 272,074 voters in the draft roll released for the 2026 elections. Unlike some other constituencies where Muslims are in the majority and have witnessed the deletion of a large number of voters, Beldanga has recorded a moderate increase of 7,263 voters compared to 264,811 registered voters in 2024. Previously, the number of registered voters had witnessed unrealistic surges as the rolls increased by 70,314 in the decade between 2011 and 2021, despite a large number of migrations to other parts of West Bengal and other states of the country as people moved out to beat the limited availability of job opportunities in the region. The number of registered voters stood at 252,944 in 2021, 237,355 in 2019, 219,501 in 2016, and 182,630 in 2011. Voter turnout has remained high with 82.04 per cent in 2011, 80.28 per cent in 2016, 80.40 per cent in 2019, 80.89 per cent in 2021, and 77.84 per cent in 2024.
The ruins of Karnasubarna, the capital of Shashanka, the first important king of ancient Bengal in the 7th century, lie close to the Beldanga constituency. Beldanga itself lies in the central Murshidabad district on the alluvial plains of the Ganga. The terrain is flat and fertile, with rivers like the Bhagirathi flowing nearby. Agriculture is the backbone of the economy, with paddy, jute, and vegetables grown widely, while small businesses and trade add to the livelihood. Road connectivity comes from National Highway 12, which passes through Beldanga linking it to Berhampore and Kolkata. Rail connectivity is provided by Beldanga railway station on the Sealdah-Lalgola line, which connects the town to Berhampore, Krishnanagar, and Kolkata.
Berhampore, the district headquarters, is 22 km north of Beldanga. Kolkata, the state capital, is 190 km south, Malda town in Maldah district is 95 km north, Kandi in Murshidabad district is 35 km west, Jiaganj is 30 km north, Domkal is 40 km east, Krishnanagar in Nadia district is 65 km south, and Ranaghat is 95 km south. The Bihar border lies about 120 km northwest near Bhagalpur, while the Bangladesh border is about 60 km east near Jalangi, and across the border, the nearest town is Rajshahi, about 75 km east.
The violent protests in January reflect the surcharged atmosphere in Beldanga. If the prevailing tension escalates, it might lead to polarisation of voters along communal lines and throw open the 2026 Assembly elections. Records suggest the Congress party led in four of the last seven elections here, while the Trinamool Congress led in three. The BJP has a natural handicap due to Beldanga’s Muslim majority. Its only prospect lies in the Congress party emerging stronger to split the Trinamool vote base and a decline in participation of Muslim voters. On paper, Beldanga appears to be heading for a close and intriguing three-cornered contest which might go to the wire, provided the state does not witness further violence, which might impact the outcome.
(Ajay Jha)
