Birbhum TMC banks on low deletions, minority votes; BJP eyes gains from 2021
The Statesman | 23 April 2026
Barely 1,08,290 names have been deleted across the eleven Assembly constituencies in Birbhum district following the SIR.
The total number of voters in the 2021 Assembly polls stood at 27,99,639 but has declined to 26,91,349 in 2026. While the BJP won the lone seat of Dubrajpur in 2021, the Trinamul Congress secured the remaining ten seats ~ Siuri, Bolpur, Nanoor, Labhpur, Sainthia, Mayureswar, Nalhati, Murarai, Rampurhat and Hansan.
Labhpur recorded the highest polling percentage in 2021 at 88.33 per cent, while the lowest turnout was in Murarai at 82.8 per cent.
Birbhum was shaken last year when five persons were deported to Bangladesh by the Delhi Police from Rohini over fears of illegal entry through the BSF. While Sunali Bibi and her son managed to return to their native place in Birbhum, the other three remain in Bangladesh.
TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee met Sunali Bibi and assured her that her husband and the two others would be brought back safely, promising assistance in all legal matters. The families had been working as migrant labourers in Delhi for a long period before being detained by the police.
The TMC is placing considerable emphasis on the sizeable minority vote bank in Birbhum, many of whom have reportedly faced harassment during the prolonged SIR process and encountered difficulties while working as migrant labourers in Hindi-speaking states.
However, the BJP maintains that despite the relatively low number of deletions, it expects to win at least four to five seats, citing factional infighting within the ruling party and strong anti-incumbency sentiment.
“The BJP will perform exceedingly well in Birbhum district and is certain to win significantly more seats this time,” said Jaganath Chattopadhyay, the BJP candidate from Siuri.
Four seats ~ Dubrajpur, Siuri, Nanoor and Rampurhat ~ were decided by margins of less than 10,000 votes in the 2021 polls. In contrast, the TMC won Hasan, Nalhati and Murarai by margins exceeding 50,000 votes.
Meanwhile, a key political figure in the district, Anubrata Mondal, has returned to the spotlight. He was lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi during both the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and the 2023 three-tier panchayat polls. All eyes are now on his movements in the district, although his strained relationship with zilla parishad sabhadipati and political rival Kajal Sheikh remains unchanged.