Kamal Ghorui
In the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026, Dr. Pranat Tudu of the Bharatiya Janata Party registered a clear victory in Binpur (Assembly Constituency 237), defeating Trinamool Congress candidate Birbaha Hansda by a margin of 22,977 votes.Tudu secured 1,07,238 votes after all 22 rounds of counting, while Hansda polled 84,261 votes.Binpur (ST), Assembly Constituency No. 237, lies in the Jhargram sub-division of Paschim Medinipur district in South Bengal’s deep Jangalmahal region, bordering Jharkhand to the west and Odisha to the south. The constituency encompasses Binpur I and II community development blocks covering densely forested, hilly terrain with sal forests, the Subarnarekha river basin, and scattered tribal settlements. The population of around 216,000 electors is predominantly Santhal, Munda, Ho, and other Scheduled Tribe communities with a subsistence agrarian and forest-based economy.Key voter concerns include land rights under the Forest Rights Act, MGNREGA implementation, drinking water access, tribal-specific welfare schemes, road connectivity in remote forest zones, and resolution of displacement grievances from the Jangalmahal conflict period. A classic Jangalmahal-sensitive constituency: once Maoist-disturbed, now stabilised under TMC. High-turnout (85.6per cent) deeply bipolar TMC-BJP-Left contest. In 2021, TMC’s Debnath Hansda won by 39,494 votes (~21.3per cent margin from 185,493 total votes)—an overwhelming margin.The large margin makes Binpur a safe TMC seat and the most decisive TMC win in the Jangalmahal belt; acts as a barometer of tribal consolidation under TMC in Jhargram Lok Sabha.
