JLKM targets Bengal 2026 polls, eyes tribal-dominated Jangalmahal region

Kolkata — The Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM), a Jharkhand-based regional party, has announced plans to contest the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, with a concentrated focus on the tribal-dominated Jangalmahal belt, once a stronghold of Maoist influence.

Addressing the party’s first political conference in West Bengal on Sunday evening, Jairam Kumar Mahato, JLKM founder and MLA from Dumri in Bokaro district, urged party workers to begin groundwork in preparation for the polls.

Mahato told the media that the party would focus on tribal constituencies spread across Bankura, Purulia, West Midnapore, and Jhargram districts. “The final number of seats we will contest will be determined after an ongoing field survey in the region is completed,” he said.

Mahato also criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government for “neglecting the tribal belts of Jangalmahal” and stressed that JLKM’s movement was “both political and social,” aimed at ensuring tribal communities’ rights over land, forest, and water.

Historically, the Jangalmahal region was under the Left Front’s influence from 1977 until the early 2000s, when Maoist activity spread across the area. Since 2011, the TMC has maintained a stronghold, though the BJP made significant inroads in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and again in the 2021 state polls. The 2024 general elections, however, saw the TMC recover much of its lost ground — except in Purulia.

With inputs from IANS