In the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, Arun Halder of the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious in the Jamalpur (SC) Assembly Constituency No. 263, defeating Bhutnath Malik of the All India Trinamool Congress. The constituency, located in the Purba Bardhaman district in South Bengal, lies southwest of Bardhaman town and encompasses the Jamalpur community development block.
Constituency Profile
Jamalpur (SC) is a reserved seat situated in the Damodar-Ajoy interfluve alluvial zone. It has a predominantly rural Scheduled Caste community, with over 229,000 electors engaged primarily in paddy and potato cultivation. The area is also known for its proximity to small-scale industries, including textiles and agro-processing, along the Bardhaman-Bankura corridor. Key voter concerns include agricultural wages, irrigation, housing welfare schemes, youth employment, connectivity, and healthcare. Potato cold-storage infrastructure and procurement pricing are constituency-specific issues given the cash crop's importance in this zone.
Political History
Historically, Jamalpur was a Left Front-CPI(M) stronghold before transitioning to the Trinamool Congress after 2011. In the 2021 elections, TMC's Alok Kumar Majhi won by a comfortable margin of 17,971 votes (approximately 8.8% of the 203,825 total votes), reflecting TMC's hold over rural SC communities. The seat has been a comfortably marginal TMC seat, with stable margins attributed to effective welfare scheme delivery.
2026 Election Context
The 2026 election saw a bipolar contest between TMC and BJP, with a high voter turnout of 88.9%. Other key candidates included Rajib Saha of the Indian National Congress. Jamalpur anchors TMC's rural SC bloc in western Purba Bardhaman, contributing to the party's ability to sustain district-level leads against BJP competition. However, this time, BJP's Arun Halder managed to flip the seat, signaling a shift in voter sentiment.
For more details on the 2026 election results, including live updates, winner lists, constituency-wise results, party-wise trends, and full coverage for Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry, follow Times of India.
