Kolkata, May 5: In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, TMC candidate Arup Roy secured victory in the Howrah Madhya Assembly seat with 95,948 votes. BJP’s Biplab Kumar Mandal followed with 79,865 votes, resulting in a winning margin of 16,083 votes. This election saw 15 candidates contesting, including Aparna Bose from Congress and Imtiaz Ahmed from CPM.
Howrah Madhya is a general category assembly seat located in the heart of Howrah district. It is part of the Kolkata metropolitan area and boasts strong urban connectivity due to its direct link across the Hooghly River to central Kolkata.
The boundaries of the Howrah assembly constituency have changed over time. Initially, there were four constituencies: Howrah North, West, East, and South. The Howrah Central seat was formed before the 1967 elections. Subsequently, in February 2006, the delimitation commission revised its boundaries, which took effect in the 2011 elections, renaming it Howrah Madhya.
Between 1967 and 2006, there were 11 assembly elections in the Howrah Central seat, with the Congress party winning six times. The Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) won three times, while TMC and CPI(M) each secured victory once. Since 2011, TMC has established a stronghold in this constituency. TMC leader Arup Roy has won three consecutive elections. He defeated the CPI(M) candidate by over 50,000 votes in 2011, the Janata Dal (United) candidate by a significant margin in 2016, and the BJP candidate in 2021 by a clear margin.
In 2024, there were a total of 269,095 registered voters in this constituency, an increase compared to previous elections. Muslim voters constitute approximately 24 percent, making them the largest voter group, while Scheduled Caste voters are relatively fewer. The voter turnout has seen slight fluctuations over the years, with percentages of 73.21 in 2011, 71.81 in 2016, 73.16 in 2019, 73.26 in 2021, and a decrease to 70.40 percent in 2024.
– O.P./D.K.P.
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