West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Salboni profile: TMC's Srikanta Mahata seeks third term, faces CPM's Sushanta Ghosh

Salboni Assembly constituency is located in Paschim Medinipur district and comes under the Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency. The Salboni Assembly segment comprises Goaltor, Gohaldanga, Jeerapara, Makli, Patharpara and Pingbani gram panchayats of Garbeta-II community development block; and Bhimpur, Bishnupur, Debgram, Lalgeria and Shalboni gram panchayats of Salbani community development block; and Garbeta-III community development block. Polling for the Salboni Assembly constituency will take place on  27 March , during the first phase of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election. A total of 30 seats are undergoing polling in the first phase. These seats are spread across tribal-dominated Purulia, Bankura, Jhargram, Purba Medinipur (Part 1) and Paschim Medinipur (Part 1) districts which were once considered the citadel of the Left. Campaigning for the first phase  of the West Bengal Assembly elections came to an end at 5 pm on 25 March. Incumbent MLA Srikanta Mahato, who won the seat in 2006 and 2011, will seek a third term in the upcoming polls. The BJP has fielded Rajib Kundu in Salboni, while CPM has given a ticket to Sushanta Ghosh, an accused in the Benachapra skeleton recovery case. Ghosh, a former minister, was arrested in 2011 in connection with the case about the murder of seven TMC supporters and spent six months in jail. He was granted bail by the Supreme Court in 2012. Voter turnout in previous election Salboni recorded a voter turnout of 90.4 percent in the 2016 election when 2,23,623 voters exercised their franchise. At the time, the constituency had 303 polling stations for its electorate of 2,47,363. Past election results and winners In the 2016 elections, TMC’s Srikanta Mahata defeated CPM’s Shyam Sundar Pandey by a whopping 52,902 votes. While Mahata garnered 1,20,485 votes, Pandey received 67,583 votes. As per the final electoral roll published by the Election Commission in January, there are 7,34,07,832 electors in West Bengal. The 2021 West Bengal Assembly election will be held in eight phases. While the first phase will be held on 27 March, the second will be held on 1 April and the third will be held on 6 April. The dates for the remaining phases are: 10, 17, 22, 26 and 29 April. The results will be declared on 2 May.