Kolkata: The Kaliganj Assembly constituency, located in West Bengal's Nadia district, is gearing up for bypolls on June 19, alongside four other constituencies.

The counting of votes is scheduled for June 23. The other constituencies participating in the bypolls include Kadi and Visavdar in Gujarat, Ludhiana-West in Punjab, and Nilambur in Kerala.

Candidates must submit their nominations by June 2, with scrutiny taking place on June 3, and the last date for withdrawal of candidatures set for June 5.

These bypolls were prompted by the unexpected passing of Trinamool Congress legislator Nasiruddin Ahmed in February at the age of 70.

Since his death, the seat has remained vacant. Ahmed first won the Kaliganj seat in the 2011 West Bengal elections, which ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front and ushered in the era of Mamata Banerjee and the Trinamool Congress.

However, he faced defeat in the 2016 elections against Congress candidate Hasanazzamn Sheikh. After a five-year hiatus, Ahmed reclaimed his seat in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Prior to 2011, Kaliganj experienced frequent electoral shifts since 1977, primarily between the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Indian National Congress.

In the 2021 elections, Ahmed secured victory over BJP's Abhijit Ghosh by a significant margin of 46,987 votes, while Congress's Abdul Kasem trailed in third with only 25,076 votes.

This upcoming bypoll is viewed as a critical test for the ruling Trinamool Congress and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, especially amid controversies such as the loss of over 25,000 teaching and non-teaching jobs in state-run schools and delays in dearness allowance payments to state employees.

Simultaneously, it poses a challenge for the opposition BJP, as they aim to channel public discontent over these issues to their advantage.

On May 9, the final electoral list for Kaliganj was released, revealing a reduction of more than 2,000 voters compared to the 2021 Assembly elections. The updated list was published following a special summary revision by the Chief Electoral Officer's office in West Bengal.

The total number of voters in Kaliganj now stands at 252,670.