Kasba, an upscale neighbourhood in South Kolkata, has undergone a sharp transformation over the past few decades. The word kasba means hamlet in Bengali, and the locality once fitted that description, with scattered settlements of workers from leather and allied factories in nearby Tiljala and Tangra and domestic staff serving the affluent households of Ballygunge across the railway line. Over time, the construction of a railway overbridge and the link to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass pulled Kasba into the city’s fast lane and turned it into a preferred address for those seeking a relatively affordable alternative to older, costlier parts of Kolkata.
Kasba, a general category Assembly constituency located administratively in the South 24 Parganas district, was created in 2011. It consists of six wards of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, numbers 66, 67, 91, 92, 107 and 108, which give it an entirely urban character. It is one of the seven Assembly segments under the Kolkata Dakshin Lok Sabha seat. In the brief period since its formation, Kasba has remained loyal to the Trinamool Congress, with the incumbent minister Javed Ahmed Khan winning all three Assembly elections held so far.
Khan defeated the CPI(M)’s Shatarup Ghosh in the first two elections, by 19,889 votes in 2011 and 11,884 votes in 2016. The CPI(M), which polled 42.23 per cent of the votes in 2011 and 41.30 per cent in 2016, saw its support collapse in 2021 as it slipped to a distant third place with only 17.56 per cent of the vote. The BJP was the clear beneficiary. After securing just 1.78 per cent of the vote in 2011 and 9.10 per cent in 2016, it suddenly jumped to 25.88 per cent in 2021, emerging as the main challenger to the Trinamool Congress. Javed Ahmed Khan comfortably defeated Indranil Khan of the BJP by 63,622 votes.
The Trinamool Congress has also dominated the Lok Sabha polls from the Kasba Assembly segment. It has led in all four parliamentary elections held since 2009. In 2009, it led the CPI(M) by 15,413 votes and by a nearly identical 15,426 votes in 2014. As the CPI(M) declined and the BJP moved into second place, Trinamool’s margins grew sharply, rising to 34,641 votes in 2019 and 46,850 votes in 2024.
Kasba had 317,894 registered voters in 2024, up from 306,266 in 2021, 281,126 in 2019, 267,233 in 2016 and 224,955 in 2011. This growth reflects its absorption into the expanding spread of Kolkata, thanks to better connectivity and new housing, rather than influx on account of illegal immigration, as Muslims make up only a little over one-fifth of the electorate here. Scheduled Castes account for 10.58 per cent of voters, while Muslims, at 22.70 per cent, form the single largest community. Kasba is a completely urban constituency with no rural voters on its rolls.
Despite being an urban seat, Kasba has so far escaped the usual pattern of low turnout associated with many city constituencies. Voter participation has remained high and steady, at 76.39 per cent in 2011, 73.79 per cent in 2016, 72.26 per cent in 2019, 72.91 per cent in 2021 and 70.82 per cent in 2024.
Kasba lies to the south east of central Kolkata, between Ballygunge to the west and the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass to the east. For years, it was surrounded by paddy fields, swamps and ponds and retained a semi-rural feel well into the 1980s. The construction and expansion of the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass and the building of the connector linking Kasba and Ballygunge shifted the city’s growth. The bypass now carries a major share of north-south traffic on the eastern flank of the city and opened up Kasba for apartments, offices, schools, nursing homes and small commercial complexes.
The locality’s economy has moved away from its old base of leather-related labour and domestic work to a mix of small businesses, shops, services and salaried employment across the city. Residents work in nearby office clusters along the bypass and in central and south Kolkata, while the area itself has developed a dense network of markets, eateries, coaching centres, clinics and schools. Being within the Kolkata Municipal Corporation ensures access to civic infrastructure such as paved roads, drainage, piped water, street lighting and municipal solid waste services, though congestion and pressure on amenities are constant issues.
Kasba is well connected by road, rail and metro. Multiple roads link it to key parts of the city, including Gariahat, Ballygunge, Park Circus and Rash Behari Avenue, while the connector to the Eastern Metropolitan Bypass provides quick access to larger hospitals, malls and IT and business clusters further north and south along the bypass. The distance from Kasba to Howrah station is around 13 km by road, while Sealdah station lies roughly 7 to 8 km away. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport is about 20 to 22 km away by road. Nearby landmarks, such as Gariahat Crossing, Park Circus, Science City, and Ruby Crossing on the bypass, are all within a radius of approximately 3 to 8 km, making Kasba one of the better-connected residential belts in south Kolkata.
Being administratively part of South 24 Parganas, Kasba is linked by road to the district’s other urban and semi-urban centres to the south, including Jadavpur, Garia and further out to Sonarpur and Baruipur, which lie roughly 10 to 30 km away. Across the river, the city of Howrah is about 13 km away, while major towns in North 24 Parganas, such as Salt Lake, lie within about 10 to 15 km, tying Kasba into the broader Kolkata Metropolitan Area. Towns in the Hooghly district are further afield and typically reached via Howrah and the western corridors.
With the Trinamool Congress leading in all seven major elections held in Kasba since 2009 and its margins rising steadily, barring an unexpected turn of events, little seems likely to block the party from securing a fourth consecutive win here in the 2026 Assembly elections. Only a strong revival of the Left Front-Congress alliance from the margins, enough to make the contest a tight three-cornered fight and cut into Trinamool’s support, could seriously alter the arithmetic. In the absence of such a shift, Kasba appears set to remain with the Trinamool Congress.
(Ajay Jha)
