West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Alipurduar profile: Parties look to woo voters in tribal-dominated constituency

The Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency of Alipurduar is located in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. It falls under the Alipurduars (ST) Lok Sabha constituency.

The constituency, reserved for Scheduled Tribes candidates, has 2,49,064 electors and 277 polling stations.

Voter turnout in previous election

The voter turnout in Alipurduar in the previous Assembly election was 86.23 percent.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, Sourav Chakraborty of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) won the Alipurduar seat. RSP’s Nirmal Das held the seats from 1991 till 2011, while Congress’ Debaprasad Roy won from the constituency in 2011.

As per the estimates of the 2011 Census, out of the total 3,10,131-strong population, 59.08 percent is rural and 40.92 percent is urban.

As per orders of the Delimitation Commission, Alipurduar (Vidhan Sabha constituency) covers Alipurduar municipality, Alipurduar Railway Junction, Banchukamari, Chakowakheti, Mathura, Parorpar, Patlakhawa, Shalkumar I, Shalkumar II, Tapsikhata, Vivekananda II, Vivekananda I gram panchayats of Alipurduar I community development block, and Chaporerpar I, Chaporerpar II, and Tatpara II gram panchayats of Alipurduar II community development block.

Alipurduar is among the constituencies in North Bengal which will also see candidates from the Shiv Sena and Hemant Soren-led JMM. Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), led by Bimal Gurung, recently joined hands with the TMC, in addition to the GJM’s Binay Tamang faction, which has been an ally of the ruling party.

Tension was witnessed in Alipurduar when stones were hurled and black flags were shown to BJP state president Dilip Ghosh's convoy in the Jaigaon area in November last year. GJM activists were seen raising slogans, asking the leader to leave.

The Jalpaiguri district was bifurcated on 25 June, 2014, making Alipurduar the 20th district of the state. The district is also one of the few areas that is home to a major concentration of the state’s tribal population.

The Alipurduar Assembly constituency is expected to go to polls in April or May 2021, as part of the West Bengal Assembly election 2021.

The West Bengal Assembly polls will be held to elect a total of 294 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

February 20, 2021 at 11:57PM