Domkal is a key legislative assembly constituency in West Bengal’s Murshidabad district. In the 2021 Assembly elections, the seat was won by the Trinamool Congress.
The 2021 contest marked a clear shift in the constituency’s political dynamics. TMC candidate Jafikul Islam defeated CPM’s Mohd. Mostafijur Rahaman by a margin of 47,229 votes, securing 56.45 per cent of the vote compared to the CPM’s 35.57 per cent. The BJP, which had earlier remained a marginal player in the seat, secured 5.46 per cent of the vote. The Congress, once a strong presence in the constituency, did not contest the election as it was part of an alliance with the Left Front.
In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the CPM showed signs of regaining ground, reducing the TMC’s lead in the Domkal Assembly segment to 13,471 votes. This was almost identical to the 13,696-vote lead the TMC had recorded in the 2019 parliamentary polls, indicating that the contest in the constituency remains competitive.
Established in 1967, Domkal has gone to the polls 14 times. The seat was long regarded as a stronghold of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), which won it 11 times, including nine consecutive victories between 1977 and 2016. The Congress managed to break this dominance twice, winning the seat in 1969 and 1972. CPM leader Anisur Rahman was a dominant figure in the constituency, winning six consecutive terms from 1991 to 2016. However, signs of weakening support for the CPM emerged in 2011 and 2016, when it retained the seat with narrow margins of 3,075 and 6,890 votes respectively, even as the Trinamool Congress steadily expanded its base.