West Bengal Assembly election 2021, Khanakul profile: TMC’s Iqbal Ahmed currently represents constituency

Representational image. PTI

Khanakul is an Assembly/Vidhan Sabha constituency in the Hooghly district of West Bengal. It falls under the Arambagh Lok Sabha constituency.

In the 2016 West Bengal Assembly election, the constituency had a total of 1,97,817 registered voters.

As per orders of the Delimitation Commission, Khanakul constituency is composed of – Khanakul II community development block, and Ghoshpur, Khanakul I, Khanakul II, Kishorpur I, Kishorpur II, Pole II, Thakuranichak I, and Thakuranichak II gram panchayats of Khanakul I community development block.

Voter turnout in previous election

The voter turnout in Khanakul in the previous Assembly election was 78.90 percent.

Past election results and winners

In the 2016 Assembly polls, Iqbal Ahmed of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) was declared the winner from Khanakul seat. Ahmed received 1,06,878 votes as against 63,391 votes garnered by Islam Ali Khan of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

In 2011 as well, the TMC retained the seat. Ahmed was fielded against Subhra Parui of the CPM. Parui was the runner up after losing the electoral battle by a margin of 27,879 votes or 15.12 percent.

On 26 February, the Election Commission announced the schedule for Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, West Bengal and Puducherry.

The voting will begin on 27 March, with Bengal having the maximum eight phases continuing till 29 April, the poll body had said.

The election will be held to elect a total of 294 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

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.