The expanded municipal fringes of Kolkata that were once upon a time strongholds of the CPM tilted towards the BJP, the Assembly election votes counting on Monday showed, signalling a shift in longstanding voting patterns.

The saffron party was leading in four key constituencies, Behala Paschim, Behala Purba, Jadavpur and Tollygunge, which together cover nearly 40 municipal wards.

Of the 11 constituencies of Kolkata proper, the Trinamool Congress was leading in six — Bhabanipur, Chowringhee, Entally, Kolkata Port and Beleghata — while the BJP was ahead in Jorasanko, Maniktala, Shyampukur, Rashbehari and Kashipur–Belgachhia as of 5pm on Monday.

On Monday, with more than half the counting completed, the BJP was ahead by 17, 868 votes in Jadavpur, 1,522 in Tollygunge, 16,268 in Behala Paschim and 29,727 in Behala Purba.

These areas were incorporated into the Calcutta Municipal Corporation limits in the late 1980s and early 1990s during the Left Front’s time in power.

The Telegraph Online

These constituencies being brought under the city’s municipal limits helped the CPM consolidate control over the Calcutta civic body. Despite coming to power in the state in 1977, the Left had struggled to secure a clear victory in the 1985 municipal polls and relied on Independent councillor Jhunnu Ansari to stake claim.

The subsequent inclusion of areas such as Jadavpur, Tollygunge and Behala bolstered the Left’s urban base, enabling it to dominate the civic body through the 1990s and again in 2005.

Demographically, these belts saw an influx of refugees from erstwhile East Pakistan after 1971, forming a core support base for the Left for decades. The CPM maintained strong electoral performances here even after losing power in 2011.

Historically, Behala Paschim voted Left in nine of 11 elections while Jadavpur was won by the CPM 13 times, including in 2016 at the height of the Trinamool Congress’s dominance.

In Rashbehari, originally a Congress bastion, a non-Congress or non-TNC candidate has won only once before, in 1977.

Jorasanko, held by the Congress and later the TMC, last fell to any other party during the post-Emergency wave of 1977.

Seats such as Kashipur–Belgachhia, Maniktala and Shyampukur have historically swung between ruling parties, but the BJP’s current lead indicates that the churn among voters has reached Kolkata’s electoral landscape.