Jamalpur Assembly constituency, established in 1962, covers the entire Jamalpur community development block and the Mugura gram panchayat of the Raina I block. It is one of the seven segments that form the Bardhaman Purba Lok Sabha constituency.
In the 14 Assembly elections held in Jamalpur since its inception, the CPI(M) has won the seat four times. The Congress party and Independent leaders, all Left rebels, have held the seat three times each, while the Marxist Forward Bloc and the Trinamool Congress have won it twice each.
In 2011, Ujjal Pramanik of the Trinamool Congress emerged victorious, defeating sitting MLA Samar Hazra by 2,543 votes. Hazra had earlier won the seat four times in a row, thrice on the CPI(M) ticket and once as an Independent when he was denied renomination. In 2011, he contested as a nominee of the Marxist Forward Bloc. The result flipped in 2016 as Hazra, back as a CPI(M) candidate, snatched the seat from his 2011 conqueror by a margin of 1,423 votes. The Trinamool Congress, with Alok Kumar Majhi as its candidate, won the seat in 2021 with a margin of 17,971 votes over Balaram Bapari of the BJP. The CPI(M), with Hazra again as its candidate, slipped to a distant third by polling 11.27 per cent votes, 33.26 percentage points less than its tally in 2016, while the BJP’s vote share rose by 30.37 percentage points.
Compared to the churn seen in Assembly elections, Lok Sabha polls have been more stable, with the Trinamool Congress leading in the last three parliamentary polls in the Jamalpur segment. The CPI(M) led the Trinamool by 14,585 votes in 2009. The lead flipped in 2014 as the Trinamool moved ahead of the CPI(M) by 10,820 votes. The Trinamool retained its lead in 2019, though by a reduced margin of 3,684 votes, with the BJP replacing the Left Front as its main challenger. The quirky nature of the constituency surfaced again in 2024 when the Trinamool’s lead over the BJP surged to 36,368 votes.
After the 2025 SIR, Jamalpur Assembly constituency had 231,587 voters on the draft electoral roll, down by 10,300 from 241,887 in 2024. Earlier, the electorate stood at 235,793 in 2021, 229,247 in 2019, 216,698 in 2016 and 188,058 in 2011. Scheduled Castes form the most dominant bloc with 36.29 per cent of the voters, while Scheduled Tribes account for 14.41 per cent and Muslims 16.10 per cent of the electorate. It is a purely rural constituency with no urban voters on its rolls. Turnout has remained very high, touching 92.13 per cent in 2011, then settling at 88.64 per cent in 2016, 85.23 per cent in 2019, 87.67 per cent in 2021 and 85.27 per cent in 2024.
Historically, Jamalpur formed part of the old Bardhaman region and was once known as Salimabad in colonial records, before evolving into its present identity as a community development block in the Bardhaman Sadar South subdivision. References to Jamalpur appear in early 20th-century gazetteers, reflecting its role as a local administrative and policing centre under the British. Over time, it has developed as a rural hub serving surrounding villages rather than as a distinct urban township.
Jamalpur lies in the southern part of Purba Bardhaman district, which is widely regarded as the rice bowl of West Bengal. The terrain is part of the alluvial plain of central Bengal, largely flat with fertile soils suited to intensive agriculture. The wider district is drained by branches and canals linked to the Damodar and other river systems, which support paddy and a variety of other crops.
The local economy of Jamalpur is driven mainly by agriculture and allied activities. Paddy dominates, supported by irrigation from canals and tubewells, in line with the broader district pattern where a high share of the population depends on farming. Farmers also grow jute, oilseeds, potatoes and vegetables, while non-farm livelihoods include small trade, local services and seasonal work in nearby industrial and urban centres.
Jamalpur is connected to other parts of Purba Bardhaman by road. It lies about 29 km south of Bardhaman town, the district headquarters, and around 19 km from Memari, an important nearby railway and market town. Kolkata, the state capital, is roughly 90 to 100 km away by road. Buses and smaller vehicles link Jamalpur with Bardhaman, Memari and other blocks in the district. Rail access is typically through stations like Memari and Bardhaman, from where passengers connect to the Howrah-Bardhaman main line and onward destinations.
Other nearby towns in Purba Bardhaman include Purbasthali, Kalna and Bardhaman itself, all within a broad 20 to 50 km radius, which serve as centres for higher education, health facilities and wholesale trade. Beyond the district, towns in the Hooghly and Nadia districts lie within reachable distance by road and rail and form part of the wider economic catchment for Jamalpur’s residents.
The SIR-driven deletion of over 10,000 voters has injected a fresh dose of uncertainty into a constituency that was never fully settled to begin with. It is not known whether the disfranchised voters belong disproportionately to any single community or are spread across all sections, which makes the impact harder to read. The Trinamool Congress enters 2026 with the advantage of having won the seat last time and of leading in three consecutive Lok Sabha polls, yet the combined presence of the Left Front-Congress alliance and a strengthened BJP means a low-margin verdict cannot be ruled out. Given Jamalpur’s history of narrow swings, the recent shifts in vote share and the SIR-created churn in the rolls, the 2026 Assembly election here is more likely to resemble another close, multi-cornered contest than a straightforward one-sided race.
(Ajay Jha)
