Live : Balurghat Assembly Election 2021

Balurghat Lok Sabha seat was earlier reserved for the scheduled castes initially, however from 2009 it was declared as an open seat. The constituency has 7 seats-Itahar, Kushmandi, Kumarganj, Balurghat, Tapan, Gangarampur and Harirampur. The place is well known for its theatre and is the birth place of Natyacharya Manmatha Ray. In the 17th Lok Sabha election, Balurghat will go to polls in the third phase of the general elections on April 23. 

This time, Trinamool Congress (TMC) candidate Arpita Ghosh will contest from Balurghat. Ms Ghosh is the sitting parliamentarian. A theatre artist as well, Ms Ghosh had garnered 4,09,641 votes in 2014 general election whereas RSP contender Bimalendu Sarkar had got 3,02,677 seats.

Ronen Burman will contest from the constituency on Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) ticket. While Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) has fielded Sukanta Majumdar, INC's Abdus Sadeq Sarkar will also contest from Balurghat seat.

In 2014, BJP candidate Bishwapriya Roychowdhury got 20.98% votes (2,23,014 votes) and was the second runner-up among the contenders. Congress had garnered 7.59%.

From 1977 till 2014 the constituency seat was held by the RSP, whereas till 1977 Congress had its hegemony on the seat. In 1962-67, Sarkar Murmu of CPI had won the seat.