West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Medinipur profile: TMC fields Bengali actor June Maliah to regain seat

Medinipur Assembly constituency is located in Paschim Medinipur district and comes under the Medinipur Lok Sabha constituency. The Assembly seat has been vacant since TMC MLA Mrigendra Nath Maiti’s death in December 2020.

Medinipur was a CPM stronghold till Maiti won the seat in 2011, defeating then sitting MLA Santosh Rana by 28,220 votes.

The Assembly segment comprises Medinipur municipality; Chandra, Dherua, Monidaha and Tantigeria gram panchayats of Medinipur community development block; and Bankibandh, Garhmal, Karnagarh, Kashijora and Shatpati gram panchayats of Salbani community development block.

In the upcoming 2021 Assembly polls, TMC has decided to field Bengali actor June Maliah, while the BJP has given a ticket to Shamit Dash. The alliance of Left Front, Congress and Indian Secular Front is yet to announce their nominee for the seat.

Polling for the Medinipur 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.

Voter turnout in previous election
Medinipur recorded a voter turnout of 84.95 percent in the 2016 election, when 2,13,344 voters exercised their franchise. At the time, the constituency had 296 polling stations for its electorate of 2,51,148.

Past election results and winners
In the 2016 election, TMC’s Mrigendra Nath Maiti retained the seat by garnering 1,06,774 votes. His CPI rival Santosh Rana polled 73,787 votes, while BJP nominee Tushar Mukherjee got 22,567 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.