13 Falakata (Alipurduar), SC reserved

Overview
Geographical: Falakata is an assembly constituency in Alipurduar district in the Indian state of West Bengal. The
seat is reserved for scheduled castes.As per orders of the Delimitation Commission, Falakata assembely covers
Falakata community development block and Purba Kanthalbari gram panchayat of Alipurduar I community
development block. This Vidhan Sabha constituency is part of Alipurduars , a ST rserved Lok Sabha constituency.
There are 262 Polling booths. There are 13 Gram panchayat in which 12 gram panchayat comes under Falakata
block and 1 gram panchayat comes under Alipurduars -1 Block.

Economical: Main livelihood of this assembly is Agriculture. Tourism is also one of the major economic growth
here. There are approximately 6 tea gardens and also have a agricultural area of 3136sq km. Some of the tribes like
Boro,Mech, Toto,Santhal exists in this assembly. Some of the important establishments are Kunjanagar Eco
Tourism Centre, Falakata Community Hall, Leopard Centre, Khowchandpara Picnic Spot.

Cultural: People of Falakata mainly belong to Bengali community. People from other religion and caste also reside
in this assembly. All the festivals are celebrated with great pomp like Holi, Navaratri etc. Holi and Navaratri are the
main two festivals in Falakata. Rice, seafood, sweets and vegetables form an integral part in the cuisine of Falakata.
Falakata has many tourist places nearby such as Darjeeling, Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary, Gangtok, which, one
can easily reach by trains as well as personal vehicle. In Alipurduar, whenever there is a cultural program related to
tribal and rajbanshi, most people go from Falkata. The people of Salkumar and Devgaon panchayats have also been
active in the Kamatapuri movement. Some people have come here from Assam, Bhutan and Bangladesh, but now
they have joined the culture here.

Demography
As per the estimates of 2011 census, out of total 314062 population 85.17% are rural and 14.83% are urban
population. The Scheduled castes and Scheduled tribes ratios are 41.98 and 15.54 respectively out of total
population. The main occupation of the people (75-80 %) of this assembely is farming.(Dhan and Vegetables ). 10
% Population of this AC are daily wage worker in Eeet bhattha ,small company and tea bagan and 10- 15% people
have small shops and Jobs. It has a high number of SC's (42% ) caste population in this AC which contains maximum
rajvanshi.

General &
Population Electorate Rural: Urban SC ST Literacy Rate
OBC
314,062 227,176 15% : 85% 42.27% 42.00% 15.53% 76%
Top Castes and Voter Groups
Party Inclinations Leaders,
Locations Where
Population Organizations,
They Are
Name of Voter Group in Nos. and Occupations (1st Choice and 2nd and Influencers
Dominant Within
Percentage Choice) who Impact
the AC
Them
Rajbanshi -AITC-70%,
BJP-30%
1- Rajbanshi - 1- Naamshudra- BJP- 70%
SC (Rajbanshi(70%) Agriculture -80 ,AITC-30%( They came 1- Santosh
(Borman ,Rai % Business-20 from bangladesh. They 1- Gvabar nagar borman
,Adhikari)> 45-50% % are anti muslim. they 2- Falakta-1 3- (Rajbanshi)
Naamshudra(30%) 2- Naamshudra think that mamata Falkata-2, 2- Subhas rai
(Das, Mondal, biswas) - maximum banerji ispro muslim . (Rajbanshi)
Agriculture but after NRC ,some
peoples are changing
his views))

2- Shalkumar, 3-
1- Farming 2-
OBC (A- Muslims(70- A- - AITC-90 % 2- CPM- deogaon, 4-
Dailywase Abdul Mannan ,
75%) , B- Gop ,Ghosh) 30-35% 10%,B- BJP-30%,AITC- Gvabar nagar, 1-
labour (In ply Ruas Latif
(20-25%) 70% meiradanga(All
stores )
are GPs)

1- Daily wage
ST (Urau >Mumrmu, labour (Tea 1- Dalgao GP , 2- Sachin Urau
Munda, Tirki, Mahato bagan + 1- BJP 50% 2- AITC- Falakata-2 3- (Falakata
10-17%
, Baksala, Khervar, Dailywage ) -95 50% (Swing voters) Shalkumar - panchayat
Bhuiya,kshetri ) % 2- Shops and Nepali ST member)
Jobs -10%

Generl (Tiwari , 1- BJP -70%(Hindutva Suresh lala,

1- Agriculture
Upadhyaya, biswas 5-7 % ,no any gen leader) 2- Falakata-1 Meenal rai
2- Business
,das) AITC -30%(EX Inc) (CPM)

Retrospective Analysis
During 1957-1972, INC was the strongest party under the Jagadananda Roy (4 times MLA) in this AC till the
emergency was imposed in India till 1977. Post INCs rule in Falakata, this AC had been bastion for CPM under the
leadership of Jogendra Nath Singha Roy (3 times MLA 1977,1982 ,1987) and Jogesh Chandra Borman (4 times MLA
1982-2006) who are the prominent leaders in this AC . However since 2006 AE, AITC has emerged as the strongest
party as AITC candidate Anil Adhikari won in both 2011 and 2016 AE. During 1957 to 2001 , INC and CPM were the
major parties of the assembely. After 2001 - 2016, AITC and CPM are the major party. Now, BJP is emerging and
CPM is shifting towards BJP. Currently AITC, BJP, CPI(M) are the major parties in the assembly.
 a) Assembly Elections Data

AE 2011 AE 2016
Candidate Party Vote Share Candidate Party Vote Share
Anil Adhikari AITC 44.60%
Anil Adhikari AITC 47.40%
Kshitish
Rabindra Nath CPI(M) 36.00%
CPI(M) 42.50% Chandra Ray
Barman Narayan
Manik Chandra Chandra BJP 15.80%
BJP 6.00%
Saha Mondal
Hemanta Chunaram
IND 2.30% IND 1.60%
Kumar Ray Saren
Ashok Kumar Paritosh Ch.
SJP 1.80% IND 1.00%
Roybir Roy

b) General Elections Data

GE 2019
GE 2014 Candidate Party Vote Share
John Barla
Candidate Party Vote Share
BJP 52.25%
Dasrath Tirkey AITC 41.3%
Dasrath
Manohar
RSP 33.6% Tirkey AITC 39.31%
Tirkey
Birendra Bara
BJP 17.9% Mili Oraon
(ORAON) RSP 4.90%
Joseph Munda INC 3.7% None Of The
Eliash Above NOTA 1.31%
BSP 0.8%
Narjinary

Party Analysis
1. The ex MLA – Anil Adhikari of AITC died of cancer in October, 2019. He was a Rajbanshi and was praised
by all, along with the opposition for his strong ground presence. He had a great electoral experience and
was well known for his cheerful personality and good behavior. Good part about Anil Adhikary was that
he won on his own face value and was not riding on the goodwill of the party.
2. Because of the tremendous work done by Anil Adhikary, people are now averted towards AITC as they
feel that a similar leader would be here in his place.
3. Out of the 13 GPs, 11 GPs have AITC Pradhans and Banirampur – I and Jateshwar – I GPs have BJP
Pradhans. 10 UP-Pradhan also fall under the AITC leadership while the remaining 3, namely, Banirampur
– I, Jateshwar – I and Dalgaon have BJP leadership.
4. The popular faces of AITC after the death of Anil Adhikary are:
a) Santosh Barman (9832313927) – He is a 69 year old man who is currently the Block
Committee Working President and the Zilla Parishad Sabhapati. He closely worked with Anil
Adhikary and was the only face available every time the MLA was in Kolkata for work. He has
 great electoral experience. The problem with giving him a ticket is that he is aged and at
times has behavioral issues. A few also accuse him of the cut money issue.
b) Subhas Rai (8145805893) – He has been the Gautam Nagar GP Pradhan for the last 10 years.
But he lost in the 2018 Panchayat elections because of which a sense of negativity rose for
him. But we need to note that he did not contest from the Part he was supposed to. The
other leader who contested from Subhas Rai’s part won the seat on his name. Subhas Rai
has great organizational skills and has a charming and pleasing personality. He is a regular
participant in the social service activities which is why he is also more popular in the AC.
c) Shefali Barman – Shefali joined AITC in 1998 as Anachal sabha netri, Block committee mahila
secretry - 2008-2013, 2013 – 2018 - Umacharanpur Gram panchayat member, 2018 till now-
Jila Parishad education kardakhya. This woman is very active. She has won the seat of the
district council in difficult times, but the only electorally negative point is that she is only
confined to three or four gram panchayats and does not have the image of a mass leader.
She is not very popular but if found the opportunity will do great.

5. Out of Santosh Barman and Subhas Rai, as per the analysis Subhas Rai is a stronger candidate as out of 13
GPs, he has a very strong hold in 8 GPs along with the above mentioned positive points.

Major AC Level Factions

1. Abdul Mamman (9434204969) and Suresh Lala (9734154006) – Abdul is the District Committee Minority
representative and Suresh is the Panchayat Committee Sabhapati. Abdul has a drinking problem and bad
mouths people. Suresh Lala was a victim to Abdul’s habit. Abdul Lala has also been boycotted from the
party for 2 months. On the other hand Suresh Lala is extremely egoistic and thinks highly of himself.
Efforts need to be made so that both are brought to the same page.
2. Santosh Barman and Subhas Rai – This is a friendly faction as these 2 are the major contenders for the
seat.

Major New Joinings

1) Madhav Borman(SC) - He was the Panchayat samiti chairmain from 2008-2013 from CPM. He belongs to
the SC caste and has great influence in the Deogaon Grampanchayat. Currently, he is the CPM block
committee member. if he will join AITC, party will be benefitted by minimum 5-7k votes. He will pull
CPM’s cadre who are moving towards BJP.

2) Subhas Roy (SC) – He belongs from the Kamtapuri Movement. This movement was initiated by a neutral
leader Panchanan Das for demanding a separate state with Jalpaiguri, Coochbihar and Alipurduars district.
Majority of the people in this assembly are Rajbanshis who took part very actively in that movement. He
made an independent party 'kamatapuri peoples party'. He has great influence in Rajbanshis. If he will
join AITC , we can knock 50- 60k Votes in this assembly.

3) Kshitij Roy (9434601442) (SC) Poitical experience- Runner up in 2016 election, and got 35.27% Vote,In
2013-2018. He was elected as Panchayat samiti sachiv. He is the only well known face of CPM. He is not
 very active but is very popular in CPM’s chunk. He has very good behaviour. People of others parties also
praise him for this. He is CPM’s main face. It is a little difficult to defect him from CPM but a lot can be
gained If this Herculean task is accomplished.

Major Actionable
1) The aanchal committee meetings don’t have a fixed schedule or routine. They are just conducted out of
the blue.
2) The booth committee, GP committee, and block committee do not have a common whatsapp group
which is why coordination at the AC level does not remain at sync.
3) If Santosh Barman is given the ticket for the seat, it has to be made sure that Subhas Rai, Shefali Barman,
Suresh Lala and Abdul Mamman are represented well so as to have no conflicts.
4) The party post and the electoral posts coincide. This has to be taken care of.
5) 1 AC level observer is required for every 10 booths. The presence of the same is negligible as people have
no clue about it.
6) Falakata currently functions as a block. As promised by the CM, the same would be made a municipality.
Efforts have been driven for the same since Anil Adhikary’s time.

Opposition Analysis
The major parties in Falakata apart from AITC are:

1) BJP:
Party has no strong face. But due to the Modi hype in Bengal Lok Sabha election, the party is at number 2
position now. The SC Community (Naamshudra and some percentage of Rajbanshi's) and ST are general
supporters of this party in the AC. They recently conducted the Deep prajavalan program after Ayodhya
verdict in some GP celebrating the decision on ram mandir in GP level. They regularly have internal party
meetings. One face of BJP in this AC can be Narayan Chandra Mondol, but he is not a popular candidate
and belongs to the Naamshudra community which falls in the SC community forming 20-25% of the same.

2) CPI(M)
Earlier CPM had very strong organizational presence in Falakata assembly. But now party is struggling to
maintain their cadre base as most of them are defecting to BJP. Kshitij Chandra Roy is one of the most
famous leaders in CPI (M). He is not very active but a popular figure in the CPM chunk.
Major Neutral Influencers
Party Number of Votes
Name Contact Profession Caste
Inclination they can Influence
Sumal mondal 9732920441 Business man SC Neutral 2000-2500
Ram sevak Ex teacher and
9749941297 OBC Neutral 1.5K-2K
Gupta social worker
Gajendra sarkar 9735078013 Retired WB police General Neutral 2K-2.5K
Puloi sarkar 9384840594 Lawyer General Neutral 2.5k-3k
Gopla sikda 9735074072 Lawyer General BJP 2.5k-3k
Nirmal Fertlizer association
9674571163 Gen Neutral 1000
maheshwari secretry
8348248111 (no of
Raja Chudhari Business man gEN Neutral 2000
his hospital)
Business man and
Nantu talekdar 9434807458 Gen Neutral 1000-1500
sociel worker
Rabindra nath Socile worker and
9382649804 SC(NAMSHUDRA) Neutral 1000
mondal farmer
Neerad roy
9664874038 Ex teacher SC Neutral 1k
borman

Major Activities
1) AITC - Anil Adhikaris shok sabha, Didi k bolo, Anti NRC rally
2) BJP - Celebrating decision on ram mandir at GP level, Internal party meeting
3) CPI (M) - Anti NRC rally, Internal party meeting

Major Issues
1) Need a Municupality for falakata block – From the last 15 years , people of this assembly are demanding
this. A lot of developments are hampered because of this issue . People also protested for this demand.
This would be a strong point for elections.
2) PHE Water issue - All GPs in Falakata block expect Falkata 1 and falakata 2 are affected by this. This
demand is 3 years old. There are a PHE pipe lines but this pipe line but they don’t work.
3) The local leaders have promised jobs in the area and have taken some money to do that work, but
nothing has been done on the job front.