Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) supremo Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday announced the party’s candidates for the upcoming Assembly elections from her Kalighat residence, setting the stage for a high-voltage political contest in the state.
Releasing the list in the evening, Banerjee confirmed that the TMC will contest 291 Assembly seats, while the remaining three hill constituencies—Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling—have been allotted to its ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by Anit Thapa.
“We will contest 291 of the 294 seats. The remaining three seats will be contested by our ally, Anit Thapa-led BGPM, in the Darjeeling hills,” Mamata Banerjee said.
The announcement comes amid intensifying political rivalry with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which recently escalated the battle by fielding Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari against Banerjee in the high-profile Bhabanipur constituency of Kolkata.
Expressing confidence in the electorate of Bhabanipur, Banerjee said she is certain of securing victory despite the stiff challenge from Adhikari. The BJP leader, however, is contesting from two seats—Bhabanipur and his traditional stronghold Nandigram, where he had defeated Banerjee in the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Following that defeat in Nandigram, Banerjee had contested the Bhabanipur by-election from her home turf, securing a decisive victory to continue as Chief Minister.
In a surprising political move, the TMC has fielded Pabitra Kar, a former BJP panchayat chief and known loyalist of Suvendu Adhikari, as its candidate from Nandigram. Kar was inducted into the TMC only hours before his candidature was announced, signalling a strategic attempt by the ruling party to challenge Adhikari on his home ground.
Meanwhile, Bhabanipur has emerged as one of the most closely watched battlegrounds of the upcoming polls. Adhikari has repeatedly claimed that he would repeat his Nandigram victory against Banerjee in the Kolkata constituency as well.
Adding to the political tension, reports suggest that more than 47,000 names were removed from the Bhabanipur electoral roll during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process. Political observers believe the development could influence the electoral dynamics in the constituency ahead of the polls.
Despite the controversy, Banerjee dismissed concerns over voter deletions and projected confidence in her victory. The TMC chief asserted that she would win the Bhabanipur seat “even by a single vote,” while her party has strongly opposed the voter list revisions.
