The Tollygunj Assembly constituency in West Bengal, long regarded as the stronghold of TMC minister Aroop Biswas, is facing its most competitive electoral contest in years as the state prepares to vote in April.
The constituency will witness a triangular fight between four-time MLA and minister Aroop Biswas of the TMC, BJP candidate and actor Papiya Adhikari, and CPI(M) candidate Partha Pratim Biswas.
Aroop Biswas has served as the minister for Power and Housing in the Government of West Bengal. He has won the seat in the 2006, 2011, 2016, and 2021 Legislative Assembly elections. His political journey in Tollygunj began in 2006 with a victory over veteran leader Pankaj Banerjee, marking a significant political shift.
In the 2016 elections, Biswas secured 90,603 votes to defeat CPI(M)’s Madhuja Sen Roy, who received 80,707 votes, a margin of lesser than 10,000 votes, indicating that the Left remained a strong contender. The 2021 election results were more decisive, with Biswas obtaining 101,440 votes compared to BJP’s Babul Supriyo, who polled 51,360 votes.
However, Biswas’s standing has been challenged between 2021 and 2026. In December 2025, he resigned as Minister for Sports and Youth Affairs following criticism of his handling of a Lionel Messi event at Kolkata’s Salt Lake Stadium. The event experienced logistical and crowd management failures, provoking public and political criticism. In his resignation letter to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Biswas stated his intention to ensure an “unbiased investigation”.
The upcoming election will test whether Biswas can maintain his commanding position amid a campaign influenced by voter roll deletions, the fallout from the Messi event, and a united opposition front comprising the AIADMK and BJP. West Bengal will hold its assembly polls in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with vote counting scheduled for May 4.
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