Bardhaman Dakshin assembly polls 2026: Moumita Biswas Misra of BJP wins against Khokan Das of TMC

Moumita Biswas Misra of the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Bardhaman Dakshin (General) Assembly Constituency No. 261, defeating Khokan Das of the All India Trinamool Congress.Bardhaman Dakshin (General), Assembly Constituency No. 261, officially known as Burdwan Dakshin, covers the southern part of Bardhaman town, the district headquarters of Purba Bardhaman in South Bengal. The main candidates in the fray also included Gourab Samaddar of the Indian National Congress and Sudipta Gupta of the CPI(M).The Damodar river runs to the north, and the constituency covers southern Bardhaman municipal wards alongside adjacent agricultural blocks. With 248,000+ electors from a mixed urban-rural composition—government employees, traders, teachers, professionals, and surrounding agrarian communities—Bardhaman Dakshin has a politically articulate middle-class urban character.Key voter issues include urban infrastructure, municipal governance, healthcare at Bardhaman Medical College, employment, communal harmony (there is a significant Muslim minority), and anti-corruption sentiment. The minority vote bloc is a key TMC coalition anchor. Historically a Left stronghold (Bardhaman was a CPI(M) citadel), this seat has been in TMC hands since 2011.TMC-BJP bipolar contest with relatively moderate turnout (81.1%) under Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha. In 2021, TMC's Khokan Das won by 8,105 votes (~4.0% of 201,638 total votes), a moderate margin. A comfortably marginal TMC seat underpinned by urban and minority voter consolidation. As the district headquarters constituency, Bardhaman Dakshin carries symbolic political weight and sets the tone for the Bardhaman-Durgapur Lok Sabha narrative.