In Jadavpur, TMC MLA hopes to break repeat jinx

Kolkata: No MLA has been able to win the Jadavpur seat in two consecutive rows since 2011. Getting a second term in the 2026 Assembly election will be the test for Trinamool's Debabrata Majumdar, who won the seat in 2021.

While Trinamool chose Majumdar, also a KMC MMiC, as its MLA candidate, CPM has placed its trust in senior Calcutta High Court advocate and former mayor Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya. The BJP has also switched its 2021 Jadavpur face with Bengali television actress Sarbori Mukherjee.



Covering parts of Kolkata and extending to South 24 Parganas, Jadavpur constituency had been a Left stronghold. It comprises 10 KMC wards, including Bijoygarh, Baghajatin, Patuli, parts of Santoshpur, Chittaranjan Colony, Naktala and parts of Garfa and Mukundapur.

The mix of colony land and high-rises make up for an electoral base, known to be driven by "paribartan (change)" waves. In 2011, when Left leader and then chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee lost to Trinamool's Manish Gupta from here, the shift in choice was synonymous with the Left's 34-year governance ending in Bengal. But in 2016, the constituency swung back to the Left, with Sujan Chakraborty reclaiming the seat, which again slipped back to Trinamool with corporator Debabrata's win. Amid this to-and-fro was a silent rise of BJP in vote share. In 2021, it managed a third position with 6,092 votes behind CPM's.

This time, people of Jadavpur have been criticising Trinamool for not creating jobs, recruitment corruption and lack of women's safety. But the discontent comes with a rider as a large section of the electorate does not want the power to shift to BJP. "They do not have the best track record in fulfilling promises. Look at what they did with Delhi, Bihar, Assam. Their ‘Jai Shree Ram' won't get a job," said a Trinamool loyalist from Jadavpur 8B.

Many voters blamed the Left's 2021 defeat on its tie-up with Congress. "Left voters shifted to BJP. But with CPM fighting alone and the SIR harassment, votes will return to CPM," an octogenarian said.

Votes from high-rises in Mukundapur may go in favour of the BJP, which is otherwise on the back foot.

Moreover, there are rumours of infighting within Trinamool. A KMC councillor had apparently hoped to get the Jadavpur ticket and party insiders suspect the denial to him may affect the count from a particular ward.

But Trinamool candidate Mazumder denied infighting. Armed with a long list of civic promises — safe drinking water, water treatment plant, pumping station to tackle waterlogging, desilting of canals —he told TOI, "We promise to instal CCTV cameras in every important part here."

Left's Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya told TOI, "People are leaving for jobs outside. CPM has promised to provide jobs rather than ‘bhaata' (dole). RG Kar is an issue. The way women are made to feel unsafe under this govt needs to change with right policy decisions and implementation. Mamata govt has ruined Bengal's cultural, social and economic fabric."
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