West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Kumargram profile: RSP, CPM aim for return in constituency reserved under ST category

The Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency of Kumargram is located in the Jalpaiguri district of West Bengal. It falls under the Alipuardars (ST) Lok Sabha constituency. The constituency, reserved under the Scheduled Tribes category, has 2,61,775 electors and 298 polling stations.

Voter turnout in previous election

The voter turnout in Kumargram in the previous Assembly election was 85.64 percent.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, James Kujur of the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) had won the Kumargram seat. The TMC and BJP got 37.27 percent and 21.66 percent votes, respectively in the 2016 polls. RSP held the seat from 1977 till 2016, preceded by Congress candidates since 1977. Dasrath Tirkey, who had joined TMC from RSP in 2014 and was elected MP from Alipurduar, had switched camps to the BJP last year. He was the PWD minister during the Left Front rule in the state. In 2019, Kumargram was among the areas where CPM offices reopened, apart from areas like Dinhata in Coochbehar, Mahesh and Goghat in Hooghly, Duttapukur and Habra in North 24 Parganas. A report claimed the BJP reportedly helped the CPM in regaining its offices that were grabbed by the TMC following its 2011 win. As per the estimates of the 2011 Census, out of the total 3,35,933-strong population, 89.97 percent in the Assembly constituency is rural and 10.03 percent is urban. The Kumargram 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).