West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has returned to the West Bengal Legislative Assembly after being shut out entirely in 2021, winning the Domkal seat in Murshidabad through candidate Mostafijur Rahaman, also known as Rana.
CPI(M) Returns to Bengal Assembly After Being Wiped Out in 2021
For the first time since 2016, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) holds a seat in the 294-member West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The party, which drew a blank in the 2021 elections and faced criticism from both the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has shed what observers called its “zero” tag. The solitary win came from Domkal, a constituency in Murshidabad district with deep historical ties to the Left.
Rahaman defeated TMC nominee Humayun Kabir, a former Indian Police Service officer, by a margin of 16,296 votes. Rahaman secured 107,882 votes and Kabir 91,586.
Who Is Mostafijur Rahaman, the CPI(M) Winner From Domkal?
Rahaman, 45, is a postgraduate and has declared his profession as a social worker. He contested the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections from Domkal as the CPI(M) candidate. His election affidavit lists total assets of ₹3.5 crore, zero liabilities, and an annual income of ₹0. The affidavit also discloses two pending criminal cases, of which three charges are classified as serious in nature.
This is not Rahaman’s first electoral outing in Domkal. He contested the same seat in the 2021 Assembly elections, when Jafikul Islam of the TMC defeated him by a commanding margin of 47,229 votes. In that contest, the TMC polled 56.45% of the vote against the CPI(M)’s 35.57%. The BJP, then a marginal player in the constituency, took 5.46%.
The reversal in 2026 is therefore striking. From a deficit of over 47,000 votes to a winning margin of more than 16,000, Rahaman’s turnaround in Domkal represents one of the more dramatic constituency-level swings in these elections.
Domkal’s Deep Red History: A Constituency That Defined Left Bengal
Domkal is not merely a seat the CPI(M) has reclaimed. It is, in many ways, a seat the party built. Established in 1967, the constituency has gone to the polls 14 times. The CPI(M) has won it 11 times, including nine consecutive victories between 1977 and 2016. The Congress broke that dominance on just two occasions, in 1969 and 1972.
The figure most associated with Domkal’s Left identity is Anisur Rahman, a CPI(M) leader who won the seat six consecutive times between 1991 and 2016.
Yet the cracks were already forming before the 2021 collapse. In both 2011 and 2016, the CPI(M) retained Domkal with relatively thin margins of 3,075 and 6,890 votes respectively, even as the Trinamool systematically expanded its base across the district.
2024 Lok Sabha Data Hinted at a Contest, Not a Foregone Conclusion
The scale of the 2021 defeat suggested Domkal had moved firmly with the TMC. The 2024 Lok Sabha elections, however, offered a different reading. In the Domkal Assembly segment, the CPI(M) reduced the TMC’s lead to 13,471 votes, a figure almost identical to the 13,696-vote advantage the TMC had recorded in the 2019 parliamentary polls. This indicated the constituency had not drifted beyond reach for the Left.
The 2026 Assembly election has now confirmed that assessment. Domkal recorded a voter turnout of 96.43% in 2026, against 84.63% in 2021. Polling was held on 23 April, part of the election’s first phase. Results were announced on 4 May.
Left Front’s Broader 2026 Performance: One Seat, One Ally
The CPI(M) contested 195 constituencies in 2026 as part of a broader Left Front effort spanning over 250 seats. Domkal was the only one the party won outright.
The Left Front’s ally, the Indian Secular Front, retained its Bhangar seat, with Nawsad Siddiqui securing a second consecutive victory since 2021. The Congress, which did not contest Domkal as part of its alliance arrangement with the Left Front, was among the parties that sat out the seat.
The Left Front’s long decline dates to 2011, when the TMC ended 34 years of uninterrupted Left rule in West Bengal. The CPI(M)’s seat tally has fallen in every election since: 40 in 2011, 26 in 2016, zero in 2021. The 2026 result, however modest, breaks that sequence.
Overall voter turnout across the two-phase election stood at 92.47%, among the highest recorded in West Bengal since Independence. Polling was conducted on 23 and 29 April.
13 Candidates, One Outcome: The Full Domkal Field in 2026
Domkal saw a crowded contest in 2026, with 13 candidates on the ballot. The field included Kabir for the TMC, Nandadulal Pal for the BJP, Begam Sahanaj for the Congress, and Rahaman for the CPI(M), alongside candidates from the BLRP, INL, AJUN, MCOI, SUCIC, and four independents.
The result, when it came, was unambiguous. Rahaman’s 107,882 votes placed him well clear of the field, and for the first time since 2016, the red flag flies again over a West Bengal assembly seat.
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