Originally established in 1951, Burwan vanished from the state’s electoral map for the 1957 and 1962 elections before being revived in 1967. The Delimitation Commission restructured its boundaries and formally designated it as a Scheduled Caste reserved seat from the 2011 Assembly polls.
Burwan has witnessed 15 Assembly elections. The Congress party has won the seat five times, while the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) has claimed nine victories, including a dominant stretch of seven consecutive wins between 1977 and 2006. The Trinamool Congress opened its account in 2021, when Jiban Kumar Saha defeated the BJP’s Amiya Kumar Das by a narrow margin of 2,749 votes.
Earlier, in 2011, Congress’s Promita Rajak, contesting as the joint nominee of the Congress-Trinamool alliance, won by a razor-thin margin of 616 votes. She retained the seat in 2016, defeating Trinamool’s Shasthi Charan Mal by 15,002 votes.
Despite its Assembly success, the Trinamool Congress has not led in Burwan during the last four Lok Sabha elections. The Congress party remained ahead in the segment in 2009, 2014 and 2019. In 2024, the BJP surged ahead for the first time, though its lead was a modest 558 votes, with Trinamool finishing second once again.
Burwan had 226,178 registered voters in 2024, up from 217,500 in 2021 and 208,378 in 2019. Although the seat is reserved for Scheduled Castes, they form the second-largest voter group at 23.12 per cent, behind Muslims who account for 37.40 per cent. The constituency is entirely rural, with no urban voters. Voter turnout has remained high, though it dipped to 76.54 per cent in 2024 from 81.39 per cent in 2021. It stood at 78.88 per cent in 2019 and 78.03 per cent in 2016.
Burwan lies in the Mayurakshi-Dwarka plain, part of the southeastern corner of the Rarh region in Murshidabad district. The terrain is gently undulating, with clay and lateritic clay soils that support agriculture as the primary occupation. The area is drained by tributaries of the Bhagirathi River, which flows through the district and is regulated by the Farakka Barrage. Seasonal flooding is common due to the combined discharge of rivers like Mayurakshi, Dwarka, Brahmani and Kopai.
The local economy is driven by paddy, mustard and jute cultivation, along with small-scale trading and artisan activity. Infrastructure is modest, with road connectivity linking Burwan to nearby towns. The nearest railway station is located in Kandi, about 20 km away. The district headquarters, Baharampur, lies approximately 45 km from Burwan. Kolkata, the state capital, is around 215 km away by road.
Nearby towns include Kandi (20 km), Bharatpur (15 km), and Nabagram (30 km). Burwan borders the Birbhum district, with Mayureswar town about 25 km away. Nadia district lies to the southeast, with Krishnanagar around 85 km distant. Jharkhand’s Pakur town is roughly 95 km away, while Bangladesh’s Rajshahi division lies across the international border, though there is no direct road link.
Over the past few elections, Burwan has kept all major parties within striking distance, with narrow margins and shifting leads reflecting a restless electorate. What makes the 2026 Assembly election particularly compelling is the resurgence of the Congress-Left Front alliance, which jumped from just 6.94 per cent of the vote in 2021 to 22.57 per cent in 2024. This revival sets the stage for a fierce triangular contest, where any further gains by the alliance could seriously threaten the Trinamool Congress’s hold on the seat. In a constituency where no party can afford complacency, the outcome may well hinge on candidate selection, grassroots mobilisation and the ability to consolidate support across communities.
(Ajay Jha)
