In the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Mamoni Bauri secured a decisive victory in the Raghunathpur Assembly Constituency (Number 246), defeating her nearest rival Hazari Bauri of the Trinamool Congress by a substantial margin of 44,059 votes. The final tally after all 16 rounds of counting showed Mamoni Bauri polling 1,27,628 votes, while Hazari Bauri managed 83,569 votes.
Constituency Profile
Raghunathpur (SC), Assembly Constituency No. 246, is located in the Puruliya district of South Bengal. It falls within the Raghunathpur sub-division, which abuts the Jharkhand border and lies in the upper Damodar river valley. The constituency encompasses the Raghunathpur I and II blocks along with the Raghunathpur municipality. With over 248,000 electors, the seat is dominated by Scheduled Caste communities, alongside significant OBC and tribal populations. The region has a mixed industrial-agrarian character, linked to small-scale mining, stone quarrying, and proximity to the coal belt on its northern flank.
Key Issues and Political Dynamics
Key issues in the constituency include employment in the declining local quarrying sector, healthcare, electricity supply, municipal governance quality in Raghunathpur town, drinking water, and land and environmental concerns arising from mining activities. Women's safety and caste-based discrimination remain undercurrent concerns. Historically a CPI(M) stronghold, the seat shifted toward the BJP after 2016, in line with Purulia district's broader political movement. The constituency recorded a high voter turnout of 85.1 percent, with a bipolar TMC-BJP character under the Purulia Lok Sabha segment.
Previous Election Context
In the 2021 assembly elections, BJP's Vivekananda Bauri defeated the TMC candidate by a slim margin of 5,438 votes, representing a 2.6 percent margin from a total of 211,133 votes. That narrow victory made Raghunathpur a highly competitive seat for 2026. The current result represents the BJP's attempt to consolidate SC communities in Purulia against the TMC's welfare-scheme appeal, and it is critical in the broader Purulia Lok Sabha calculus.
This coverage is part of the latest election results 2026, providing live updates, winner lists, constituency-wise results, party-wise trends, and full coverage for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry elections.
