West Bengal: TMC Fields Dr. Nirmal Chandra Roy From Jalpaiguri (image-X/DrNirmalCh34802)

Nirmal Chandra Roy is Trinamool Congress (TMC) party’s nominee from the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seat.

Following the filing of his nomination, Prof Roy said that BJP MP Jayanta Roy had failed to any significant efforts to get central funds for social welfare schemes. He also stated that TMC’s steady progress is expected to increase. The party had won last year’s Panchayat polls in Jalpaiguri as well as the Nirmal Roy’s victory in the Dhupguri Assembly seat in the bypoll elections in 2022.

The first-time MLA made his way to parliamentary elections months after his debut into politics. The TMC claims its main adversary to be the BJP. Meanwhile, Congress has backed the CPI(M) candidate Debraj Barman.

Nirmal Roy, who belongs from the Rajbongshi community, did his graduation from A.C. College in Jalpaiguri in 1983. In 1985, he finished his masters in history from North Bengal University. And in 2017, he received his doctorate. Roy works as a professor at Dhupguri Girls College.

The Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal is reserved for Scheduled Castes (SC). The constituency comprises Mekliganj, Dhupguri, Maynaguri, Rajganj,Dabgram-Phulbari and Mal. While Mal is reserved for Scheduled Tribes (STs), the rest of the vidhan sabhas are reserved for SCs.

The Lok Sabha seat has been won by Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). The latter secured the seat from 1980 till 2009. The long record of the CPI(M) was broken by TMC candidate Bijoy Chandra Barman who secured 4.9 lakh votes, beating CPI(M)’s Mahendra Kumar Roy who won 4.2 lakh votes. Before TMC could reclaim the Jalpaiguri seat, BJP’s Jayanta Kumar Roy won it with a significant majority. Roy’s 7.6 lakh votes were followed by Barman’s 5.7 lakh votes.

The Jalpaiguri constituency has over 49.4 percent SCs, 7.6 percent STs, and 14.8 percent Muslims, as per data from the 2011 census.