The Barrackpur constituency stretching from the north western edges of Kolkata metropolis in to the North 24-Parganas district is an industrial area with a difference - "the eastern bank of the Hooghly here, from Barrackpur to Shyamnagar, is an expanse of chimneys that pierce the sky like a cardiogram…Smoke billows from only one or two of them. The Empire Jute Mill is at work on occasional weeks. Loomtex Cotton is shut. Naihati Jute is shut. Gouripore Jute, shut. The ordnance factories, Ishapore Rifle and Metal & Steel, are coping with dwindling orders for guns and bombs but their workers at least have a modicum of government security. Bengal Enamel and Mahaluxmi Cotton, both in Palta, are forgotten, their land having been sold for apartment blocks. Dunbar Cotton has sold its real estate. Lakkhi Cotton does not exist, private residential high-rises having already been built on its land. To the north, the Kakinada Paper Mill is shut, as is the Meghni Mill. Workers of Barrackpur’s sick industries lead measly lives."
More than half of the voters are from the working class and around 35% of them are Hindi-speaking.