THINNER ROLL, THICKER CONTEST

All eyes on crucial Kolkata seats as BJP targets to make a dent in Mamata Banerjee’s fief

- SUBHENDU MAITI @Kolkata

UNION Home Minister Amit Shah on December 31, 2025, set an ambitious target for the West Bengal BJP unit, asking it to win at least 20 out of 28 Assembly seats under four Lok Sabha constituencies—Dum Dum, Kolkata North, Kolkata South and Jadavpur—in elections scheduled in two phases on April 23 and 29.

The BJP has not won a single Assembly seat in these constituencies in the last two Assembly polls since 2016.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the BJP managed marginal leads in only two Assembly segments—Jorashanko and Shyampukur—both under Kolkata North—while trailing the ruling Trinamool Congress in the remaining 26 seats.

However, following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, the deletion of around 91 lakh voters, including more than 63 lakh marked as absent, shifted, dead or duplicate (ASDD) and 27 lakh listed as “under adjudication,” has altered the electoral landscape, improving the BJP’s prospects in some seats under Kolkata North and Kolkata South.