Jharkhand's JLKM sets sights on 2026 Bengal polls, focus on Jangalmahal tribal pockets

Kolkata, Nov 3 (IANS) The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM), a party primarily based in Jharkhand, announced its decision to contest the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, focusing specifically on the erstwhile Maoist-dominated Jangalmahal tribal area.

Jairam Kumar Mahato, JLKM founder and the party's legislator from Jharkhand's Dumri Assembly constituency in Bokaro district, addressed the party’s inaugural political conference in West Bengal on Sunday evening. He instructed party workers to initiate groundwork for contesting seats in the 2026 polls.

Mahato subsequently told the media that the party will concentrate on tribal-dominated constituencies in the Jangalmahal zone, which comprises four districts, namely, Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore, and Jhargram.

"The exact number of seats our party will contest in the 2026 polls will be finalised only after a detailed survey in this belt is completed. The survey is already underway," Mahato confirmed.

He launched a pointed criticism against the state government and the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) for neglecting the tribal belts in Jangalmahal for an extended period.

“Our movement is not just political. It is social in nature, too. Our movement is to establish the rights of people from the tribal community on the land, forest, and water in their own soil,” Mahato said.

From 1977 onwards, the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Front held an almost undisputed electoral hold over the tribal-dominated Jangalmahal region. Around 2000, the Maoists gradually gained influence in the area by winning the confidence of the tribal communities and drawing upon their grievances against the then Left Front government.

Since 2011, the Trinamool Congress has established a strong electoral hold over the region. This dominance was challenged for the first time in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, when Bharatiya Janata Party candidates won all the parliamentary seats in the area.

The BJP maintained its advantage in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections as well. However, in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, the TMC regained significant support in the tribal-dominated pockets of Jangalmahal, except for Purulia.

--IANS

src/snj/skp