West Bengal polls: TMC releases list of 291 candidates; stage set for Suvendu vs Mamata in Bhabanipur

NEW DELHI: The All India Trinamool Congress on Tuesday announced its list of candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections. Party supremo and chief minister Mamata Banerjee declared that the party will contest 291 of the 294 seats in the state. The remaining three seats in the Darjeeling hills will be contested by Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM). Mamata has decided to contest the election from Bhabanipur against BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari. Meanwhile, the TMC has also fielded Adhikari’s former loyalist Pabitra Kar against him in Nandigram. Additionally, Chandrima Bhattacharya has been fielded from the Dum Dum Uttar seat, Madan Mitra from the Kamarhati seat, Firhad Hakim from the Kolkata Port seat, Kunal Ghosh from the Beleghata seat, and Dr Shashi Panja from the Shyampukur seat."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," Banerjee said while announcing the names of candidates, flanked by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi.Among the TMC's 291 candidates for the West Bengal polls, 52 are women, 95 are from SC/ST communities, and 47 are minorities.See full listMamata expressed confidence that the TMC would retain power with a comfortable majority in the 2026 Assembly elections."We will win more than 226 seats in the 2026 Assembly polls," she asserted.The chief minister also sought to reassure party leaders and workers who could not find a place in the candidate list, saying they would be accommodated in the organisation.Earlier on Sunday, the Election Commission announced that the Assembly polls in West Bengal will be held in two phases on April 23 and April 29.While announcing the poll schedule for four states and one Union Territory, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that reducing the number of phases was necessary to make elections convenient for everyone.The counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly elections 2026 will take place on May 4, along with that of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and Tamil Nadu. In the 2021 Bengal elections, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress secured 215 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party became the official opposition with 77 seats.