West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Nepal Mahato profile: Four-time Congress MLA to seek another term from Baghmundi

Senior Congress MLA Nepal Mahato will be contesting from Baghmundi Assembly seat in Purulia district in the upcoming West Bengal polls. The deputy leader of the Congress Legislature Party will take on Ashutosh Mahato of the All Jharkhand Students Union (AJSU) on 27 March in the first of the eight-phased Assembly election. AJSU is the sole alliance partner of the BJP in Bengal. The party is contesting on only one seat in the state. AJSU is the only Jharkhand-based party which is contesting in the Assembly polls. The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) decided not to field its candidate after Mamata Banerjee sought Hemant Soren’s support by not fielding his candidates to prevent division of votes. In 2016, Nepal defeated TMC leader Samir Mahato by over 8,000 votes. He had won 88,707 votes while Samir secured 80,120 votes and BJP’s Jyotirmay Singh Mahato could get just 11,219 votes. Nepal had won this seat in 2011 as well, when he defeated Mangal Mahato of All India Forward Bloc. A four-time MLA, Nepal has represented Jhalda (twice) and Baghmundi (twice) in the Assembly polls. A teacher by profession, He is also serving as the Working president in the West Bengal state congress Committee. Baghmundi is an Assembly constituency in the Purulia district of West Bengal. It falls under the Purulia Parliamentary constituency. The voting will begin on 27 March, with Bengal having the maximum eight phases continuing till 29 April. Including Baghmundi, 30 Assembly seats will go to polls in the seventh phase. The results of the election will be declared on 2 May. The state is held by the AITC with an absolute majority, with Mamata Banerjee on her second consecutive term as chief minister. The ruling party is fighting a pitched battle with archrival BJP, while the Congress-led alliance is also a key player in the fray.