Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday (March 16) released its first list of 144 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026. The saffron
party fielded Suvendu Adhikari, the Leader of Opposition in the state assembly, from Bhabanipur in Kolkata. Notably, the Bhabanipur seat is currently being held by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Notably, in the 2021 assembly polls, Adhikari had defeated Banerjee from the Nandigram seat. The party hinted that Adhikari would also be fielded from Nadigram, apart from Bhabanipur. Our Leader of Opposition, Shri Suvendu Adhikari, will contest from Nandigram, where he defeated Mamata Banerjee in 2021, and from Bhabanipur, the constituency she currently represents as an MLA,” the BJP said, as quoted by News18.
Once Adhikari was among the prominent leaders of Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress. However, he joined the BJP in 2021. As per reports, the reason for Adhikari quitting the TMC was the rising prominence of the West Bengal CM’s nephew, Abhishek Banerjee, among the party ranks.
Bhabanipur is the assembly constituency located in the Kolkata district. Mamata Banerjee was elected from this seat in by-polls. Under the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) around 47,000 voters’ names were deleted from the list in the constituency, reported moneycontrol.
Also Read: Assembly Elections 2026 Highlights: BJP, TMC Hail EC Declaration to Hold two-phase Polls in Bengal
Other Key Candidates Named In The First BJP List:
Apart from Adhikari, the BJP also fielded Dilip Ghosh from Kharagpur Sadar and Biman Mahto from Salboni. Both these seats are located in Paschim Medinipur district, while Swapan Dasgupta will contest the Rasbehari seat in south Kolkata. Sumita Sinha will contest from Kanthi Uttar in Purba Medinipur district, Biman Ghosh from Pursurah in Hooghly district, Anima Datta from Palashipara in Nadia district, while Madhavi Mahalder has been fielded from Kultali in South 24 Parganas district. The saffron party has also fielded Lakshikant Sahu from Jhargram.
Also Read: Assembly Elections 2026 Highlights: BJP, TMC Hail EC Declaration to Hold two-phase Polls in Bengal
West Bengal Poll Schedule:
The assembly election in West Bengal for 294 seats will be held in two phases—April 23 and April 29. The votes will be counted on May 4, and on the same day, results will be declared. The main competition in the state will be between the BJP and the ruling TMC.
In the 2021 polls, the TMC registered a landslide victory for the second consecutive time, while the BJP could manage to bag only 77 seats out of 294.
