Onda assembly polls 2026: Amarnath Shakha of BJP wins against TMC candidate Subrata Dutta (Gopi)

Amarnath Shakha of the Bharatiya Janata Party won the Onda (General) Assembly Constituency No. 255, defeating Subrata Dutta (Gopi) of the All India Trinamool Congress and Asit Baran Sarma of the All India Forward Bloc.The constituency is located in the north-central part of Bankura district in South Bengal, close to the industrial belt of Paschim Bardhaman.Covering Onda community development block and adjacent areas, it lies on the Damodar valley's southern fringe with laterite terrain transitioning toward the river plains. With 244,000+ electors from OBC (Kurmi-Tili-Bagdi), SC, and working-class communities, the constituency has an economy mixing agricultural labour with proximity to the Damodar industrial corridor.Key issues include employment opportunities, coal-belt spillover jobs, agricultural irrigation, healthcare, connectivity, and welfare scheme delivery. The Damodar valley industrial overspill from Durgapur plants gives this seat a working-class political dimension. Once a strong Left Front area due to trade union influence from nearby collieries, now a solid BJP zone post-2019 in the TMC-BJP binary.Very high turnout (90.5per cent) under Bishnupur Lok Sabha. In 2021, BJP's Amarnath Shakha won by 11,551 votes (~5.2per cent of 220,880 total votes), a moderate comfortable margin. A moderate BJP hold reflecting consistent BJP gains in Bankura's industrial-fringe areas. The high turnout and moderate margin indicate an energized but relatively settled BJP constituency. Important in BJP's Bankura-Bardhaman industrial corridor narrative within Bishnupur Lok Sabha.