West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Bandwan profile: TMC’s Rajib Saren won in 2016 by over 20,000 votes, seeks third term

Bandwan Assembly constituency, which comes under the Jhargram Lok Sabha constituency, is located in the Purulia district.

The Assembly segment comprises Barabazar, Manbazar-II, and Bandwan community development blocks.

Polling for the Bandwan Assembly constituency will take place on 27 March, during the first phase of the 2021 West Bengal Assembly election. Incumbent TMC MLA Rajib Lochan Saren is back in the fray. He faces BJP's Parcy Murmu, BSP's Tikarama Hembram, CPM's Besra Susanta Kumar and Independent candidate Sib Sankar Singh.

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

Bandwan recorded a voter turnout of 85.16 percent in the 2016 election, when 2,18,059 voters exercised their franchise. At the time, the constituency had 332 polling stations for its electorate of 2,56,043.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 election, sitting Trinamool Congress MLA Rajib Lochan Saren retained the seat with 1,04,323 votes. CPM nominee Besra Susanta finished second with 84,016 votes.

Saren had won the 2011 election by garnering 87,183 votes against 65,163 votes polled by his CPM rival Sital Chandran Hembram.

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.