Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released its first list of 144 candidates for the West Bengal Assembly elections on Monday (16 March 2026). The party has fielded Leader of Opposition Subhendu Adhikari from Bhawanipur, Kolkata, the seat of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. Shubhendu will also contest from his current seat Nandigram. The announcement made by BJP in Delhi indicates that the main opposition party of West Bengal will try to shape the election discourse around Mamata Banerjee versus Subhendu Adhikari.
BJP expressed confidence in 41 sitting MLAs
The BJP is largely retaining its existing MLAs ahead of the elections and is inducting candidates from different professional backgrounds to broaden its social reach. The party giving tickets to 41 sitting MLAs and three former MLAs indicates that it is relying on existing political networks rather than making a large-scale reshuffle. These include Agnimitra Paul from Asansol South, Chandana Bauri from Saltora and Shikha Chatterjee from Dabgram-Phulbari.
Mamta Banerjee vs Subhendu Adhikari
Nandigram has political importance in the sense that it was the center of the 2007 anti-land acquisition movement. The same movement played an important role in CM Mamata Banerjee coming to power, but it also witnessed one of the most dramatic election battles in 2021 when Shubhendu Adhikari defeated Chief Minister Mamata by about 1,900 votes. Bhawanipur is considered the political stronghold of Mamata Banerjee. She returned to the Assembly in 2021 by winning the by-election from this seat by a margin of more than 58,000 votes.
BJP expressed confidence in women and youth
BJP has also given tickets to 11 women and expressing confidence in the youth, has fielded candidates below 40 years of age on 36 seats. Similarly, the age of 72 candidates is between 41 to 55 years while 32 candidates are between 56 to 70 years. Four candidates are above 70 years of age. Of the party’s 144 candidates, 57 are from fields like teaching, law, doctors, social workers and armed forces. The party has nominated maximum 23 teachers as its candidates.
Apart from this, the party has nominated 8 social workers, 6 lawyers, 5 doctors, 3 journalists, 3 spiritual leaders, 3 retired soldiers, 1 person associated with social movements, 1 cricketer, 1 retired administrative officer, 1 folk singer. Soumitra Chattopadhyay, belonging to the family of Vande Mataram writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, has been made the BJP candidate from Naihati.
