The urban Dum Dum Uttar Assembly constituency, perched on Kolkata’s northern fringes and represented by senior Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, no longer appears the assured TMC bastion it once was in the years following the party’s ascent to power in 2011.

A perceptible shift in political currents has rendered the seat far more competitive, with the ruling party confronting challenges both structural and symbolic.

At one level lies the steady rise of the BJP in the area over the past decade, a surge that has unsettled the TMC’s traditional dominance. At another, persistent opposition attacks over fraying civic infrastructure — waterlogging, open drains, cratered roads, encroached waterbodies, and allegations of illegal construction involving some TMC leaders — have compounded public disquiet.

– PTI