Gangarampur constituency covers Gangarampur municipality, four gram panchayats of the Gangarampur community development block, and six gram panchayats of the Tapan block, giving it a largely rural outlook. It is one of the seven segments under the Balurghat Lok Sabha seat.
Established in 1951, Gangarampur has taken part in all 17 Assembly elections held in West Bengal so far. The Congress party and the CPI(M) were the dominant forces and arch-rivals for long, with both winning the seat six times each. The CPI won the seat twice, while the now defunct Indian Congress (Socialist), the Trinamool Congress and the BJP have held the seat once each.
In 2011, Satyendra Nath Ray won the seat for the Trinamool Congress in a closely fought contest, defeating Nandalal Hazra of the CPI(M) by 668 votes. This was the CPI(M)’s first defeat here in 24 years, during which it had held the seat for five consecutive terms. Goutam Das of the Congress party emerged victorious in 2016, defeating Trinamool’s sitting MLA Satyendra Nath Ray by 10,733 votes. The 2021 polls turned into a clash between turncoats, as Ray grabbed the BJP ticket after quitting the Trinamool Congress, while Goutam Das moved from the Congress to the Trinamool. Ray defeated Das by 4,592 votes.
Lok Sabha elections in the Gangarampur segment show similar shifts. In 2009, the Revolutionary Socialist Party led the Trinamool Congress by 9,817 votes. The picture flipped in 2014, when the Trinamool led the RSP by 18,650 votes. The BJP then surged ahead in 2019 with a lead of 22,085 votes over the Trinamool Congress and retained its lead in 2024, though by a reduced margin of 16,800 votes.
In December 2025, following the Special Intensive Revision, the Gangarampur Assembly constituency had 216,414 voters on the draft electoral roll, a decline of 14,409 from 230,823 voters in 2024. Earlier, the electorate stood at 224,040 in 2021, 212,210 in 2019, 198,724 in 2016 and 159,575 in 2011. Scheduled Castes form the most dominant bloc in the reserved constituency, with 34.48 per cent of the voters, while Scheduled Tribes account for 14.29 per cent and Muslims 20.90 per cent. It is predominantly rural, with 77.21 per cent of voters living in villages across the 10 gram panchayats, compared to 22.79 per cent urban voters within Gangarampur town. Turnout has remained robust with 89.70 per cent in 2011, 87.29 per cent in 2016, 85 per cent in 2019, 84.68 per cent in 2021 and 79.64 per cent in 2024.
The wider area around Gangarampur has a long history that goes back to ancient Kotibarsha, whose capital, Devkot, locally known as Bangarh, stood near the present town. The ruins of Bangarh, including old embankments, mounds and tanks, point to the importance of this belt under early dynasties and later under the Muslim rulers, when Devkot briefly served as a capital. Over time, Gangarampur grew as a riverine settlement around these older sites.
Gangarampur is located on the bank of the Punarbhaba River, which flows through the Gangarampur and Tapan blocks of Dakshin Dinajpur before joining the Ganga system further south. The terrain is part of the general alluvial plain of North Bengal, with flat to gently undulating land and fertile soils. The presence of the Punarbhaba and other nearby rivers supports paddy cultivation and forms part of the district’s traditional tank-and-river landscape.
The local economy is driven mainly by agriculture, small trade and services. Paddy and other crops are grown in the surrounding rural areas, while Gangarampur town serves as a local market centre for nearby villages. The town also has small-scale manufacturing, retail establishments and government offices linked to its status as a subdivision headquarters.
Gangarampur is linked to the rest of the district and state by both road and rail. It lies on National Highway 512, which connects it to Balurghat and other centres. Balurghat, the district headquarters, is about 40 km by road. Kolkata, the state capital, is about 315 km away. The Gangarampur railway station on the Eklakhi-Balurghat line connects the town by broad gauge rail to Malda and further to the wider Indian Railways network.
Other nearby towns within Dakshin Dinajpur include Buniadpur, about 13 km away, Harirampur, around 32 to 33 km away, and Tapan, roughly 18 km from Gangarampur. To the west and south-west lie towns in Uttar Dinajpur and Malda districts, while to the east, the international border with Bangladesh is roughly 50 to 55 km away, with parts of Dinajpur district of Bangladesh lying across the Punarbhaba and other rivers.
Politically, the frequent switching of parties by prominent leaders has added volatility to an already competitive seat. The deletion of over 14,000 voters in the SIR has introduced another layer of uncertainty ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections. If the draft roll remains largely unchanged, the contest is likely to stay finely balanced. The BJP goes into the polls with a slight edge after winning the 2021 Assembly election and leading in the last two parliamentary polls in this segment. The Left Front-Congress alliance, after slipping below seven per cent of the vote, may have only a limited bearing on the outcome. The Trinamool Congress faces the challenge of regaining lost ground and reaching out to the SC and ST communities at a time when its Muslim vote base appears more exposed to the impact of deletions on the voter roll.
(Ajay Jha)
