Keshiary, also spelled Keshiari, is a block-level town and an Assembly constituency in the Kharagpur subdivision of Paschim Medinipur district. It comprises the entire Keshiari community development block and eight gram panchayats of the Dantan I block, and is one of the seven segments under the Medinipur Lok Sabha seat.
The constituency was created in 1967 and has gone to the polls 14 times. The CPI(M) emerged as the dominant force for nearly three and a half decades, winning eight terms in a row from 1967 to 2011. The Congress had earlier won the first four elections between 1967 and 1972, while the Trinamool Congress has taken the seat in the last two contests since 2016.
Trinamool had to sit out three consecutive defeats at the hands of the CPI(M) in 2001, 2006 and 2011. Its fortunes changed in 2016, when Paresh Murmu defeated sitting CPI(M) MLA Biram Mandi by 40,749 votes. Murmu retained the seat in 2021, this time with a smaller margin of 15,330 votes over Sonali Murmu Soren of the BJP, underlining the BJP’s emergence as the main challenger.
Lok Sabha election trends from the Keshiary segment show a tug of war for the top spot. In 2009, the CPI(M) was ahead of the Trinamool Congress by 14,230 votes, only for Trinamool to surge ahead in 2014 with a lead of 40,121 votes over the CPI(M). The 2019 polls saw the BJP push past both to lead Trinamool by 10,874 votes, before Trinamool regained the advantage in 2024 with a lead of 7,782 votes.
Keshiary had 248,705 registered voters in 2024, up from 238,835 in 2021, 231,098 in 2019, 217,975 in 2016 and 182,549 in 2011. Scheduled Tribes form the largest group, at 25.68 per cent of the electorate, while Scheduled Castes account for 20.32 per cent. Muslims have a very small presence and do not play a decisive role in the constituency’s politics. The seat is overwhelmingly rural, with 97.93 per cent rural voters and only 2.07 per cent living in urban pockets. Voter participation has been robust, with turnout at 91.70 per cent in 2011, 88.47 per cent in 2016, 88.64 per cent in 2019, 89.12 per cent in 2021 and 85.18 per cent in 2024.
Keshiary lies in the south-western part of Paschim Medinipur, close to the border with Odisha. Historically, this belt formed part of the upland Medinipur region, with tribal communities playing a prominent role in local society and economy. The block also contains Kurumbera Fort at Gaganeshwar village, an old stone fortification with arched gateways and enclosed courtyards, originally built in the 15th century under the Gajapati kings of Odisha and later modified during Aurangzeb’s reign.
The terrain around Keshiary reflects the transition from the Chota Nagpur plateau fringe to the coastal plains. Much of the block lies on undulating lateritic uplands, with a large share of the cultivated area having laterite soil and the rest alluvial. The land rises and falls gently, with scattered low hills, red and gravelly soils and patches of degraded forest. To the east, the ground flattens into more fertile plains as one moves towards Narayangarh and the coastal belt. Streams and seasonal rivulets drain into larger rivers like the Subarnarekha and its tributaries further south and west.
Agriculture remains the backbone of Keshiary’s economy. Paddy is the main crop, supplemented by pulses, oilseeds and some vegetables on better irrigated plots. The lateritic tracts are less fertile and often mono-cropped, which makes livelihoods more vulnerable and pushes many households towards wage work and seasonal migration. Tribal communities here depend on a mix of small farming, collection of forest produce, animal husbandry and daily labour. Rural roads link villages to local markets, while basic infrastructure such as electricity and primary schools now covers most of the region, though gaps remain in healthcare and higher education within easy reach.
Keshiary’s road links connect it to key towns of Paschim Medinipur and beyond. Kharagpur, the nearest major rail and industrial centre, lies roughly 40 to 50 km away by road. Medinipur town, the district headquarters, is further north, reached via Kharagpur and other connecting roads, and falls within about 60 to 70 km. Jhargram to the northwest is also accessible by road within a similar distance range, forming part of the forested tribal belt along the West Bengal-Jharkhand border. To the south and southeast, the Dantan and Narayangarh blocks lead towards the Subarnarekha basin and the coastal districts.
From Keshiary, the state capital Kolkata lies roughly 150 to 170 km away. In neighbouring states, towns such as Baripada in Odisha and Jamshedpur and Ghatshila in Jharkhand are within a broader 100 to 150 km radius.
For the 2026 Assembly elections, the Trinamool Congress can take heart from its current run of three straight victories in Keshiary, including a strong win in 2016 and a comfortable margin in 2021. The BJP, however, will draw confidence from its Lok Sabha performances, having led in 2019 and then fallen behind by only about 3.7 percentage points in 2024, a gap it will consider bridgeable. The Left Front-Congress alliance has withered in this constituency, slipping to the margins and unlikely to influence the result unless there is a major resurgence. The stage is thus set for a direct and hard-fought contest between the Trinamool Congress and the BJP in 2026, with Trinamool starting marginally ahead but facing a serious challenge to retain the Keshiary seat.
(Ajay Jha)
