BJP Releases First List Of 144 Candidates For West Bengal Assembly Election 2026

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday unveiled its first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election 2026.

Authorities will conduct polling for the 294 Assembly constituencies in two phases on April 23 and April 29.

Among the most prominent candidates is Suvendu Adhikari, the current Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

The party has nominated him from two constituencies, Nandigram in East Midnapore district and Bhabanipur in South Kolkata.

Bhabanipur currently represents the constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

If CM Banerjee contests again from the seat, it will set the stage for another electoral confrontation between the two leaders, similar to the contest during the 2021 Assembly election.

Adhikari had then secured victory in Nandigram by defeating Banerjee.

The BJP also named senior leader Dilip Ghosh as its candidate from Kharagpur Sadar in West Midnapore district.

Ghosh previously won the seat in the 2016 Assembly election but later resigned after securing election to the Lok Sabha from the Medinipur constituency in 2019.

Former Rajya Sabha member and political commentator Swapan Dasgupta will contest from Rashbehari in south Kolkata.

Meanwhile, actor-turned-politician Rudranil Ghosh will represent the party from Shibpur in Howrah district.

The list also includes several sitting legislators who have received re-nominations. Among them are Agnimitra Paul from Asansol Dakshin, Chandana Bauri from Saltora, and Shikha Chattopadhyay from Dabgram–Phulbari.

However, the party did not renominate former Chief Economic Adviser Ashok Kumar Lahiri from Balurghat. Instead, the BJP has fielded Vidyut Roy from the constituency.

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