2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

Legislative Assembly elections for 294 seats of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly are scheduled to be held in 2021.[1]

2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
April – May 2021
294 of the 295 seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly
148 seats needed for a majority
 
Leader Mamata Banerjee Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury Sujan Chakraborty
Party AITC INC LDF
Leader since 2011 2020 2016
Leader's seat Bhabanipur Jadavpur
Last election votes:44.91%
seats :211		 votes:12.25%
seats:44		 votes:19.75%
seats:28
Current seats 209[lower-alpha 1] 23[lower-alpha 1] 23[lower-alpha 1]
 
Leader Dilip Ghosh
Party BJP
Leader since 2016
Last election votes:10.16%
seats:3
Current seats 27[lower-alpha 1]
Incumbent Chief Minister

Mamata Banerjee
AITC

Background

In the previous elections in 2016, the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) retained its majority in the Legislative Assembly with 211 seats. The Indian National Congress won 44 seats and the Left Front won 33 seats fighting within an alliance. While the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha each managed to win only 3 of the 294 seats.[2] However, in the 2019 general elections TMC won 22 and the BJP won 18 of the 42 Lok Sabha seats in West Bengal.[3] Bagging 40 percent of the vote share, an increase from the previous time and in by-elections from 2016 to 2021, BJP had also increased their seats in the legislative assembly by 15 as of 2020.[4]

Issues

In 2019, the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union Government passed the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, 2019 (CAA) in the Indian Parliament, promising citizenship to Hindu immigrants from Bangladesh and hoping to provide them with habilitation.[4][5] The BJP's Bengali booklet released in January 2020 claimed that the National Register of Citizens will be implemented to identify the undocumented migrants, but Hindus, Sikhs, and other non-Muslims will be "shielded" by the Citizenship Amendment Act "They have their homelands secured".[6][7]

The COVID-19 pandemic also became an election issue.[8][9] The Government of West Bengal was accused of "fudging" with the number of Coronavirus disease 2019 positive patients and death tolls by the opposition.[10]

In May 2020, Cyclone Amphan hit the state a year before elections.[11][8] After the passing away of the cyclone, widespread allegations of mismanagement[12] and relief scam were seen.[13][14] Protest broke out in various district of the state over these allegations.[15][16] The opposition made it an election issue ahead of the Assembly polls.[17][18] Rebellion and dissatisfaction of many Trinamool leaders are also likely to impact the elections.[19]

Parties and alliances

  Federal Front
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. All India Trinamool Congress
Mamata Banerjee TBD
2. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha[20] Bimal Gurung TBD
3. Rashtriya Janata Dal[21] Tejashwi Yadav TBD
4. Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar TBD

  Mahajot
No. Party Flag Symbol Photo Leader Seats contested
1. Indian National Congress Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury TBD
2. Communist Party of India (Marxist) Surya Kanta Mishra TBD
3. Communist Party of India Swapan Banerjee TBD
4. Revolutionary Socialist Party Manoj Bhattacharya TBD
5. All India Forward Bloc Ali Imran Ramz TBD
6. Democratic Socialist Party Hrishikesh Paria TBD
7. Loktantrik Janata Dal Sharad Yadav TBD

  National Democratic Alliance
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. Bharatiya Janata Party Dilip Ghosh TBD
2. Gorkha National Liberation Front[22] Mann Ghising TBD

  Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist)[23] Dipankar Bhattacharya 12[24]

  All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen[25] Zameerul Hasan TBD

  Shiv Sena
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. Shiv Sena[26] 100

  Jharkhand Mukti Morcha
No. Party Flag Symbol PhotoLeader Seats contested
1. Jharkhand Mukti Morcha[27] 40

Election

These elections will be conducted amid the COVID-19 pandemic so the necessary guidelines will be issued by the Election Commission of India.[28]

Constituencies

District wise seats
District wise map of West Bengal District Total Seats
Cooch Behar 9
Alipurduar 5
Jalpaiguri 8
Bankura 12
Paschim Bardhaman 10
Purba Bardhaman 16
Birbhum 11
Darjeeling 5
Uttar Dinajpur 10
Dakshin Dinajpur 6
Hooghly 18
Howrah 16
Jhargram 4
Kolkata 11
Kalimpong 1
Malda 12
Paschim Medinipur 15
Purba Medinipur 16
Murshidabad 22
Nadia 17
North 24 Parganas 33
South 24 Parganas 31
Purulia 9


See also

References

Notes
  1. includes MLAs defected from/to other parties and elected in by-elections from 2016 to present.

Citations
  1. "BJP preparing blueprint for 2021 West Bengal polls". Economic Times. 9 June 2019.
  2. "West Bangal General Legislative Election 2016". Election Commission of India.
  3. "Election results 2019 West Bengal: TMC wins 22 seats, faces stiff battle from BJP". India Today.
  4. Romita Datta, Why no one will douse the CAA fire in Bengal, India Today, 10 January 2020.
  5. Kaushik Deka, Who is (not) a citizen?, India Today, 10 January 2020.
  6. Amended citizenship law will shield Hindus when NRC will be rolled out, says BJP's Bengali booklet, Scroll, 7 January 2020.
  7. NRC next, says BJP's Bengali booklet on CAA, The Indian Express, 7 January 2020.
  8. "A tale of two disasters: Amphan and COVID-19 have dented Mamata's political dominance in West Bengal". www.timesnownews.com. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  9. Tewari, Ruhi (5 May 2020). "Mamata's Covid politics is benefiting Modi and West Bengal's election isn't that far". ThePrint. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  10. "How can Mamata Banerjee's TMC recover lost political ground after 'fudging' Covid numbers?". ThePrint. 6 May 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  11. Bose, Pratim Ranjan. "How Cyclone Amphan adds a new twist to the West Bengal elections". @businessline. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  12. "Political storm in TMC over post cyclone mismanagement". The Sunday Guardian Live. 30 May 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  13. Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar. "Amphan: Relief as disaster". Frontline. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  14. Das, Madhuparna (30 June 2020). "Mamata govt now in trouble over Amphan relief 'scam', after cut-money and PDS corruption". ThePrint. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  15. "Cyclone 'Amphan': Protests across Kolkata as power, water crisis continues - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  16. "Protests over Cyclone Amphan relief distribution continue in many WB areas". www.outlookindia.com. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  17. "Cyclone Amphan a catalyst for BJP's new poll strategy in Bengal". Hindustan Times. 13 June 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  18. Chattopadhyay, Suhrid Sankar. "Bengal opposition leaders meet Central team, raise concerns over cyclone relief distribution". Frontline. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
  19. Dutta, Prabhash K. (20 November 2020). "Why BJP is not the only challenge Mamata Banerjee faces in Bengal". India Today. Retrieved 20 November 2020.
  20. "Major blow to BJP in West Bengal, Bimal Gurung's Gorkha Janmukti Morcha pulls out of NDA alliance". Zee News. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  21. "আরজেডি–এনসিপির সঙ্গে জোটের পথে তৃণমূল, আসন সমঝোতা নিয়ে হবে কথা". bangla.hindustantimes.com. 3 February 2021. Retrieved 3 February 2021.
  22. "BJP-র হাত ধরল GNLF". eisamay.indiatimes.com. 1 February 2021.
  23. "CPI (ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya Says Party Will Contest 12 Seats Alone". news18.com. 29 January 2021.
  24. "পশ্চিমবঙ্গে বিজেপি-র বিরুদ্ধে লড়াই করবে লিবারেশন, ঘোষণা হল ১২ আসনের তালিকা". anandabazar.com. 28 January 2021.
  25. Pranab Mondal (25 January 2020). "West Bengal politics: Entry of AIMIM may queer Didi's pitch". newindianexpress.com. Kolkata: New Indian Express. Retrieved 24 July 2020.
  26. "West Bengal elections: As Shiv Sena plans to contest 100 seats, here's how party fared in previous polls". www.timesofnews.com. 5 January 2021. Retrieved 8 January 2021.
  27. "Ananda Sakal III: রাজ্যের অন্তত ৪০টি আদিবাসী অধ্যুষিত বিধানসভা কেন্দ্রে প্রার্থী দেবে ঝাড়খণ্ড মুক্তি মোর্চা, লক্ষ্য আদিবাসী ভোটব্যাঙ্ক". bengali.abplive.com. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  28. "Explained: What the EC has said on voting during the Covid-19 pandemic". The Indian Express. 14 September 2020. Retrieved 30 September 2020.
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