THE JHARKHAND STORY DESK
Kolkata, March 16: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its first list of 144 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections 2026, a day after the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari has been fielded from Bhowanipore, the constituency currently represented by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
Adhikari will also contest from Nandigram, where he had defeated Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly elections.
Polls in Two Phases
The West Bengal Assembly elections will be held in two phases — April 23 and April 29.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said the number of phases for the Bengal polls has been reduced for administrative convenience.
ALSO READ: After chief secretary, EC removes Bengal DGP and Kolkata police chief
Key Names in BJP’s First Candidate List
The BJP’s first list includes several prominent leaders and faces from different districts.
Some key candidates announced include:
- Suvendu Adhikari
- Swapan Dasgupta
- Rudranil Ghosh
- Ashok Dinda
- Dilip Ghosh
- Agnimitra Paul
- Jitendra Kumar Tewari
The party is expected to release additional lists for the remaining constituencies in the coming days.
High-Profile Bhowanipore Contest
The decision to field Suvendu Adhikari against Mamata Banerjee in Bhowanipore is likely to make the constituency one of the most closely watched contests of the 2026 Bengal Assembly elections.
Adhikari had earlier emerged as a key BJP leader in the state after defeating Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram in 2021.
BJP’s First Candidate List for West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 (144 Seats)
- Sukumar Roy
- Savitri Barman
- Ajay Roy
- Malati Rava Roy
- Manoj Kumar Oraon
- Bishal Lama
- Paritosh Das
- Deepak Barman
- Sikha Chatterjee
- Puna Bhengra
- Anandamay Barman
- Shankar Ghosh
- Durga Murmu
- Sarjit Biswas
- Manoj Jain
- Biraj Biswas
- Utpal Maharaj
- Kaushik Chowdhury
- Tapas Chandra Roy
- Suvendu Sarkar
- Bidyut Roy
- Budhrai Tudu
- Satyendra Nath Rai
- Debabrata Majumder
- Joyel Murmu
- Chinmoy Deb Barman
- Ratan Das
- Ashish Das
- Abhishek Singhania
- Gaur Chandra Mandal
- Gopal Chandra Saha
- Nibaran Ghosh
- Abhiraj Chaudhary
- Mahabir Ghosh
- Surjit Poddar
- Amar Kumar Das
- Bhaskar Sarkar
- Gouri Sankar Ghosh
- Bapan Ghosh
- Bharat Kumar Jhawar
- Subrata Maitra
- Tanmoy Biswas
- Rana Mandal
- Nanda Dulal Pal
- Naba Kumar Sarkar
- Samarendranath Ghosh
- Anima Dutta
- Bapan Ghosh
- Parthasarathi Chatterjee
- Ashim Biswas
- Bankim Chandra Ghosh
- Asim Kumar Sarkar
- Sukriti Sarkar
- Arindam Dey
- Sumitro Chatterjee
- Pawan Kumar Singh
- Sajal Ghosh
- Tarun Kanti Ghosh
- Narayan Chandra Mondal
- Bikash Sardar
- Madhabi Mahalder
- Asit Kumar Haldar
- Deepankar Jana
- Palash Rana
- Ashim Sapui
- Dipak Kumar Halder
- Agniswar Naskar
- Tarun Kumar Adak
- Veer Bahadur Singh
- Suvendu Adhikari
- Swapan Dasgupta
- Umesh Rai
- Rudranil Ghosh
- Mangalanand Puri Maharaj
- Amit Samanta
- Gobinda Hazra
- Swaraj Ghosh
- Santu Pan
- Biman Ghosh
- Hemanta Bag
- Prashanta Dighar
- Susanta Ghosh
- Subrata Maity
- Sintu Senapati
- Ashok Dinda
- Subhash Panja
- Suvendu Adhikari
- Tapan Maity
- Sumita Sinha
- Arup Kumar Das
- Chandra Sekhar Mondal
- Ajit Kumar Jana
- Pradip Kumar Bijoli
- Lakshmikant Sahu
- Bhadra Hembrem
- Amiya Kisku
- Rajesh Mahto
- Dilip Ghosh
- Rama Prasad Giri
- Amal Panda
- Tapan Bhuya
- Shubhashish Om
- Tapan Dutta
- Sital Kapat
- Sukanta Dolui
- Biman Mahto
- Suvendu Samanta
- Pranat Tudu
- Labsen Baske
- Jaladhar Mahto
- Moyna Murmu
- Kamalkanta Hansda
- Nadiar Chand Bauri
- Mamoni Bauri
- Chandana Bauri
- Satyanarayan Mukhopadhyay
- Kshudiram Tudu
- Kshetra Mohan Hansda
- Souvik Patra
- Billeshwar Singha
- Amarnath Shakha
- Laxmikanta Majumdar
- Nirmal Kumar Dhara
- Dibakar Gharami
- Subhash Patra
- Arun Halder
- Saikat Panja
- Sanjay Das
- Soumen Karfa
- Anadi Ghosh
- Kalita Maji
- Jitendra Kumar Tewari
- Chandra Shekhar Banerjee
- Lakshman Chandra Ghorui
- Bijan Mukherjee
- Agnimitra Paul
- Krishnendu Mukherjee
- Ajay Kumar Poddar
- Anup Kumar Saha
- Jagannath Chattopadhyay
- Dilip Kumar Ghosh
- Khokan Das
- Dudh Kumar Mondal
- Nikhil Banerjee