Established in 1951, Santipur constituency covers the entire Santipur municipality and six gram panchayats of the Santipur community development block. It has gone to the polls 19 times so far, including two by-elections in 2014 and 2021. The Congress has won nine times, the Revolutionary Communist Party of India four times, Independent candidates twice, the Trinamool Congress twice in by-elections, and the CPI and BJP once each.
Ajoy Dey was the central figure in its electoral history, with six consecutive wins, five on the Congress symbol and one on the Trinamool symbol. He returned to the Assembly in 2011, defeating RCPI’s Yar Mullick by 38,158 votes. After he defected to the Trinamool, a by-election followed in 2014, in which he won his sixth term as a Trinamool candidate, beating CPI(M)’s Anup Kumar Ghosh by 20,135 votes.
His 25-year reign ended in 2016, when Arindam Bhattacharya of the Congress defeated him by 19,488 votes. In 2021, Dey lost again, this time to the BJP’s Ranaghat MP Jagannath Sarkar, who beat him by 15,878 votes but then chose to retain his Lok Sabha seat, forcing another by-election. After Ajoy Dey’s death from Covid-related complications, the Trinamool nominated Braja Kishore Goswami, who defeated the BJP’s Niranjan Biswas by 64,675 votes. Voters clearly punished the BJP for Sarkar’s decision to vacate the Assembly seat, but this anger did not last, because in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the BJP once again led in the Santipur segment, finishing 29,947 votes ahead of the Trinamool.
The BJP’s rise has been visible in parliamentary contests. Till 2014, Santipur was mainly a contest between the Trinamool and the Left. The Trinamool led the CPI(M) by 11,191 votes in 2011 and by 17,248 votes in 2014. The BJP, which had polled only 6.61 per cent in 2009 and 16.64 per cent in 2014, surged to the top in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, leading the Trinamool by 35,012 votes in this segment. In 2024, despite the by-election setback in between, the BJP again finished ahead of the Trinamool by 29,947 votes, confirming that its position as the principal force in Santipur is no aberration.
Santipur had 258,315 registered voters in 2024, up from 255,619 in 2021, 241,506 in 2019, 225,358 in 2016 and 190,634 in 2011. Although it is a general category seat, the Scheduled Castes form a sizeable bloc with 33.54 per cent of voters, while the Scheduled Tribes account for 2.49 per cent and Muslims about 14 per cent. It has a mixed profile, with 36.24 per cent of voters living in villages and 63.76 per cent in the urban wards of the municipality. Turnout has remained high but has declined by over six percentage points between 2011 and 2024. It stood at 89.75 per cent in 2011, 88.83 per cent in 2016, 86.61 per cent in 2019, 86.16 per cent in 2021 and 83.06 per cent in 2024.
Santipur is one of the oldest urban centres of Nadia and has a long history. It appears in early medieval references and later grew into a prominent town under regional rulers, with a fort and administrative establishments that gave it strategic and commercial importance on the eastern bank of the Bhagirathi-Hooghly rivers. Over time, Santipur turned into a dense town of narrow lanes, traditional para neighbourhoods and old houses. Its many temples and religious establishments, some said to be around 500 years old, give it a distinct character and draw visitors from surrounding areas, even though it functions mainly as a working textile and market town.
The wider terrain around Santipur lies on the alluvial plains of Nadia district to the east of the Hooghly River. This landscape is cut across by distributaries such as the Jalangi, Churni and Ichamati, whose gradual silting has made floods a recurring feature in parts of the district. The land is mostly flat and fertile, with a close pattern of fields, ponds and drainage channels. Santipur town itself sits not far from the Bhagirathi and has historically depended on the river system for trade and communication.
Santipur’s economy rests on a combination of agriculture, trade and, above all, handloom weaving. The town and its adjoining villages have been a major centre of cotton and silk handloom production since the Mughal period, when Santipur textiles found markets beyond Bengal. The handloom tradition was strengthened when waves of Hindu weavers from Dhaka, Tangail, Bikrampur and other parts of East Bengal moved to the Nadia region, first over earlier centuries and again during political unrest. After the Partition of Bengal in 1947, many Hindu weavers left Dhaka and other weaving centres of East Bengal, which became East Pakistan, and settled in Santipur and nearby areas, reinforcing its status as a weaving hub. Under colonial rule, Santipur hosted East India Company factories and its handwoven muslins and fine cottons were known in European markets. Even today, thousands of weavers, master weavers and traders are engaged in producing Santipur saris and other handloom products, while agriculture, small shops and services provide additional livelihoods.
Santipur is also one of the oldest municipalities in West Bengal. The municipality was set up in 1853, making it the second oldest municipality in the state, and this long civic history has given the town basic urban infrastructure such as paved roads, drainage, markets and some organised civic services, though pressure on these facilities has grown over time. Road links connect Santipur to Ranaghat, Krishnanagar, Nabadwip and other parts of Nadia and neighbouring districts. Rail connectivity on the Sealdah-Krishnanagar-Lalgola corridor and related suburban lines places Santipur firmly within the extended commuter belt of Kolkata, allowing daily movement of workers, students and traders.
Ranaghat, the subdivisional headquarters, is Santipur’s closest major town, lying about 16 to 18 km away by road and rail. Krishnanagar, the district headquarters, is roughly 35 to 40 km north and serves as the main administrative and judicial centre. Nabadwip, an old religious town on the Bhagirathi in the same district, is around 30 to 35 km away and linked by regional roads and rail. To the south, Kalyani and Chakdaha, located on the main suburban corridor to Kolkata, lie approximately 40 to 60 km away, depending on the route. Kolkata, the state capital, is about 80 to 90 km away by rail via Ranaghat or Kalyani and a similar distance by road, placing Santipur a few hours from the metropolis while it retains a distinct small-town and semi-rural feel.
The 2026 Assembly election in Santipur is likely to be a direct contest between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. The Trinamool has so far won only by-elections here, benefiting from the usual advantage that ruling parties enjoy in bypolls and, in 2021, from voter anger at the BJP MP who vacated the seat. Trinamool is yet to win a regular Assembly election in Santipur. The BJP, looking at its strong leads from the 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha elections, can reasonably assume that much of the earlier resentment has faded and that it now goes into 2026 with an edge. Any revival of the Left Front-Congress alliance would tend to split the Muslim and anti-BJP vote that currently leans towards the Trinamool. If that happens while the BJP retains its support among Hindu voters, it would further strengthen the BJP’s position. If, however, the Trinamool manages to hold and enlarge its base despite such a split, it could narrow the gap and turn Santipur into a much closer fight.
(Ajay Jha)
