New Delhi: The West Bengal Assembly elections are just round the corner, and the political parties and their heavyweight candidates in fray are giving
the final push to attract voters. The election will take place in two phase on April 23 and April 29 to elect 294 members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The votes will be counted and the results will be declared on May 4.
Key candidates in the Bengal elections
Mamata Banerjee
She is undoubtedly the biggest name in this list. Since May 2011, she is serving as the state’s Chief Minister and is the first woman to hold the office. She led to the TMC 15 years ago to bring the 34-year-old regime of the Left Front government to an end. The founder of the TMC, she is eyeing to take oath as the CM for the fourth consecutive time. She is contesting from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, her home turf in the 2026 election.
Suvendu Adhikari
Suvendu Adhikari is the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Assembly and is arguably the BJP’s most prominent face in the state. He is the son of Sisir Adhikari, the former Union Minister of State for Rural Development in the Manmohan Singh-led UPA government. Adhikari was in the TMC and rose through the ranks to become a prominent leader before switching to the BJP ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections. Infact, in that election, he defeated Mamata Banerjee in the Nandigram seat by a margin of 1,956 votes.
Kunal Ghosh
Kunal Ghosh is a member of the TMC and a former MP. A Rajya Sabha member, Ghosh is also a journalist and a prominent face of the party being its official spokesperson. He was once arrested by the TMC government for being allegedly involved in the Saradha Group financial scandal. He is contesting from the Beleghata constituency.
Ratna Debnath
Ratna Debnath is the mother of ‘Abhaya’, the 31-year-old female postgraduate resident physician and the victim of the RG Kar rape-murder case on August 9, 2024 in Kolkata. She is the one of the most talked-about new entrants for the BJP. She will be contesting from the Panihati constituency and was named in the saffron party’s third list of 19 candidates.
Madhuparna Thakur
Madhuparna Thakur is a TMC MLA from Bagdah. She was elected at the age of 25, making her the youngest MLA in the state’s history at the time of her election. She is the daughter of daughter of Rajya Sabha member Mamata Bala Thakur and is an important candidate for the Matua votes.
Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury
The heavyweight and veteran Congress leader is contesting from the Baharampur constituency. He was the the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha from 2019 to 2024. Also, he was an MP from Berhampore from 1999 to 2024 before being defeated by TMC’s Yusuf Pathan in the last general election.
Mausam Benazir Noor
Mausam Benazir Noor was the President of TMC’s Malda unit and a Lok Sabha PM for Maldaha Uttar from 2009 until 2019. In a significant political move before the assembly elections, she resigned from the TMC and rejoined the Congress on January 3. She is contesting from Malatipur constituency in Malda.
Dipsita Dhar
Dipsita Dhar is the firebrand youth CPI(M) leader in the state. She contested from the Bally constituency in the 2021 Assembly election. She contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Serampore but lost that one as well. She is contesting this time from the Dum Dum Uttar seat.
Sabina Yasmin
The CPI(M) has fielded Sabina Yasmin, the bereaved mother of 10-year-old Tamanna Khatun, who was killed in a bomb attack in Nadia by alleged TMC supporters. She is contesting from Kaliaganj, the same place where in June 2025, the victory celebrations of the TMC nominee from the seat allegedly took the life of Tamanna.
Dilip Ghosh
He is the former president of the BJP Bengal unit and a notable RSS member. Ghosh was instrumental in the rise of the BJP in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections in Bengal. He is contesting from Kharagpur Sadar in the 2026 Bengal Assembly election.
