West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Kalimpong profile: Trinamool Congress faces powerful BJP-GNLF alliance

The Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency of Kalimpong is located in the Darjeeling district of West Bengal. It falls under the Darjeeling Lok Sabha constituency. The constituency has 2,03,485 electors and 261 polling stations. Voter turnout in previous election The voter turnout in Kalimpong in the previous Assembly election was 71.45 percent. Past election results and winners In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, Sarita Rai of the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) won the Kalimpong seat, securing 67,693 votes. GJM leader Binay Tamang had come up with his own faction in the Morcha in 2017 and allied with the Trinamool Congress. This year, his faction will be fielding candidates from Kalimpong seat, in the election crucial given the faction’s loss in two consecutive polls last year Gorkha leader Bimal Gurung too remerged in January, years after he went underground following the 2017 Gorkhaland agitation and dared BJP leaders to come to the Hills for poll campaigning. TMC played peacemaker between the Grung and Tamang factions, even as it faces the powerful BJP-GNLF alliance in the district. As per the estimates of 2011 Census, out of total 2,51,642-strong population, of which 77.67 percent is rural and 22.33 percent is urban. The Kalimpong 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).