Haroa has participated in 18 Assembly elections, including the 2024 by-election, since its inception in 1951, and has kept shifting its loyalty from one political party to the other. In the initial decades, it emerged as the stronghold of the Congress party, before it became a CPI(M) bastion. Ever since the Left Front was voted out of power in 2011 following its 34 years of rule in the state, the incumbent ruling Trinamool Congress has established a solid grip over the constituency.
To start with, Haroa was a twin-seat constituency in the 1951 elections, and the Congress and CPI shared honours. Since 1957, when it became a single-seat constituency, the CPI(M) won the seat seven times in succession between 1977 and 2006. The Trinamool Congress broke the CPI(M) victory chain in 2011 and has since won all four elections, including the 2024 by-election. Earlier, the Congress won the seat on four occasions, and the rebel Bangla Congress, which later merged with the parent Congress party, won the seat twice.
The Trinamool Congress opened its account here in 2011 when its nominee Julfiquer Ali Molla defeated the CPI(M)’s Imtiaz Hossain by a narrow margin of 1,124 votes. The Trinamool Congress entered the 2016 elections with a new candidate, Haji Nurul Islam, and the move paid off as Islam defeated CPI(M)’s Imtiaz Hossain, as the Trinamool’s margin surged to 42,407 votes in 2016. Haji retained the seat in 2021 with even a bigger margin of 80,978 votes, defeating Kutubuddin Fathe, the Left Front-Congress backed candidate of the Indian Secular Front. Haji’s election to the Lok Sabha in 2024 led to the by-election later that year in which the Trinamool Congress’s victory margin increased further to 115,188 votes as its nominee Sheikh Rabiul Islam beat the Indian Secular Front candidate Piyarul Islam.
The Trinamool’s dominance is also reflected in the Lok Sabha voting trends in the Haroa Assembly segment. The party led the CPI by 1,807 votes in 2009, which surged to a lead of 43,355 votes over the CPI in 2014. The BJP emerged as the second choice party in 2019, but without impacting the Trinamool Congress, as it increased its lead to 97,548 votes. The ISF replaced the BJP to finish second as the Trinamool’s lead catapulted to a new high of 110,991 votes in 2024.
Haroa had 269,049 voters in the draft roll for the 2026 Assembly elections, registering a nominal increase from 268,961 registered voters in 2024. Earlier, the figure stood at 259,206 in 2021, 246,682 in 2019, 231,183 in 2016, and 186,630 in 2011. Muslims are the most dominant group in Haroa with a concentration of 65.70 per cent of the voters, followed by the Scheduled Castes who account for 15.60 per cent of the electorate and 4.33 per cent of the Scheduled Tribes. It is a purely rural seat with no urban voters on its rolls. Turnout has remained quite high with 89.80 per cent in 2011, 86.81 per cent in 2016, 84.54 per cent in 2019, and 87.70 per cent in 2021.
Haroa lies in the Ichhamati-Raimangal plain of the lower Ganga delta and has predominantly alluvial soil with numerous rivers and creeks flowing through the wider region. The terrain is flat and low-lying, criss-crossed by khals and waterways, and parts of the broader subdivision form the fringe of the Sundarbans settlements. Agriculture remains the mainstay of the local economy, supplemented by small-scale trade and services linked to nearby markets and the Haroa block headquarters.
Haroa stands on a key road corridor that links it to Kolkata and other parts of North 24 Parganas. Regular bus services connect Haroa Bazar and Haroa Bridge with Kolkata localities such as Shyambazar, Nagerbazar, Airport, Kaikhali, Baguiati and Rajarhat. The nearest railway station is located on Harua Road, accessible via the Sealdah-Hasnabad line. Barasat, the district headquarters, lies roughly 25 km away by road, while Basirhat is around 30 km, and Kolkata, the state capital, is around 45 km from Haroa.
Other nearby North 24 Parganas towns include Deganga, Minakhan, Baduria, Taki and Hasnabad, all within a radius of about 20 to 40 km. Haroa also sits not too far from the international border with Bangladesh, with border points and towns such as Taki and Ghojadanga roughly 25 to 35 km away on the Indian side and Bangladeshi towns and rural settlements lying across the border beyond the Ichhamati and Raimangal rivers.
The marginal decline in the number of registered voters, if the draft rolls remain unchanged, may only impact the margins but not the outcome. The Trinamool Congress has remained virtually unchallenged here, and its vote share as well as its lead has kept increasing to absurd proportions. It has won or led in all eight elections held here since 2009. As of now, there is absolutely no challenge to it in sight. Barring the unexpected, the Trinamool Congress is favourably poised to retain the Haroa seat in the 2026 Assembly elections without breaking sweats.
(Ajay Jha)
