Created ahead of the 2011 Assembly elections, Chakulia has so far voted in three Assembly polls. The Forward Bloc won the first two elections, with Ali Imran Ramz defeating Serajul Islam of the Congress by 20,413 votes in 2011 and Ashim Kumar Mridha of the BJP by 27,529 votes in 2016. Trinamool Congress captured the seat in 2021 when Minhajul Afrin Azad defeated BJP candidate Sachin Prasad by 33,837 votes, pushing the two-time winner Ramz down to a distant third.
BJP’s growth in Chakulia has been slow but steady. Its vote share rose from 3.24 per cent in 2011 to 24.36 per cent in 2016 and 30.26 per cent in 2021, turning it into a consistent contender. The Lok Sabha results in this Assembly segment show the same churn. After starting on the fringes, the BJP moved into second place in 2019 as Trinamool Congress led here for the first time with a margin of 7,825 votes. In 2024, Trinamool retained the lead by only 1,172 votes over the Congress as the BJP finished close behind with 29.22 per cent of the vote, against 33.10 per cent for the Congress and 33.76 per cent for Trinamool Congress.
The BJP’s advance is noteworthy because Chakulia is a Muslim majority seat. Muslims account for around 61 per cent of the voters, while Scheduled Castes make up about 22.23 per cent and Scheduled Tribes 7.22 per cent. The entire electorate is rural with no urban voters on the rolls. Chakulia had 249,081 registered voters in 2024, up from 233,378 in 2021 and 221,285 in 2019, while turnout has stayed high with modest variation, from 74.97 per cent in 2011 to 75.31 per cent in 2016, 74.31 per cent in 2019, 74.35 per cent in 2021 and 71.16 per cent in 2024.
Chakulia, the headquarters of Goalpokhar II block, lies in the northern part of Uttar Dinajpur district near the Bihar border. The area is part of the flat alluvial plains of North Bengal, with nearby rivers such as the Mahananda and Nagar shaping its agriculture-based economy, where paddy, jute and other crops dominate, supplemented by small trading centres, weekly markets and transport-related work. Chakulia is about 62 km from Raiganj, the district headquarters, around 40 km from Islampur, close to 7 to 10 km from Kishanganj in Bihar and about 24 km from Dalkhola, an important road and rail junction on National Highway 27 and the mainline to North Bengal and the Northeast.
Roads link Chakulia to Raiganj, Islampur, Dalkhola and Kishanganj, giving it access to both West Bengal and Bihar markets. At the same time, residents typically use Kishanganj and Dalkhola railway stations, located roughly 9 km and 22 km away respectively, for long-distance travel. Kolkata, the state capital, is situated about 450 to 500 km away by road, underscoring Chakulia’s location in the far northern fringe of the state. Within Uttar Dinajpur, towns such as Goalpokhar, Kaliyaganj and Itahar also fall within the wider catchment for trade, services and administration.
Chakulia may be a laidback rural belt, but the political contest here is shaping into a keen three-cornered fight. The Assembly seat is with Trinamool Congress, the Congress has shown its strength in the 2024 Lok Sabha tally in this segment, while the BJP has built a sizeable base despite its limited appeal among Muslim voters. The BJP’s only realistic chance of moving beyond second place and capturing Chakulia lies in a near-even split of Muslim votes between the Congress and Trinamool Congress, combined with consolidation of Hindu and Scheduled Caste voters behind it, a combination that would produce a tight and captivating triangular contest in the 2026 Assembly elections.
(Ajay Jha)
