Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee addresses the media as she announces the party’s candidate list for the upcoming legislative assembly elections, in Kolkata on March 17, 2026.
| Photo Credit: AFP
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) on Tuesday (March 17, 2026) announced the names of 291 candidates for the 294 Assembly seats of West Bengal for the upcoming election. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will contest from Bhabanipur, the constituency she has been representing since 2011, where she will take on Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Suvendu Adhikari.
Including Ms. Banerjee, the Trinamool has fielded 52 women candidates; 95 candidates from the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities; and 47 candidates from minority communities.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) released a list of 152 candidates on Monday (March 16, 2026). The list did not feature a single Muslim candidate.
Facing anti-incumbency after three consecutive terms, the Trinamool has retained 135 sitting MLAs, dropped around 74 legislators, and shifted another 15 to different constituencies.
While the BJP was audacious in announcing Mr. Adhikari’s candidature from two seats (Nandigram and Bhabanipur), the Trinamool was conservative in its approach, with the party chairperson contesting from Bhabanipur. Ms. Banerjee did not risk any new faces from the television and film industry, as she did in previous elections.
The Trinamool Congress did not show any faith in former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee, who spent over two years behind bars for his alleged role in the school recruitment scam, but the party has re-nominated Jyotipriyo Mullick from Habra in North 24 Parganas. Mr. Mullick was arrested in the Public Distribution System scam from Habra in North 24 Parganas.
Ms. Banerjee has put in the names of almost all the members of the outgoing Cabinet, and has renominated Firhad Hakim from Kolkata Port; Udayan Guha from Dinhata in Cooch Behar district; Bratya Basu from Dumdum; Chandrima Bhattacharya from Dumdum Uttar; Sashi Panja from Shyampukur in Kolkata; Siddiqullah Chowdhury from Monteshwar Assembly in Bardhaman; and Manas Ranjan Bhuniya from Sabang. Minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay will contest from Ballygunge in Kolkata.
The most significant inclusion in the Trinamool list is party spokesperson Kunal Ghosh from Beleghata Assembly seat, and former journalist Devdeep Purohit from the Khardah Assembly seat.
In the selection of candidates, the Trinamool has tried to strike a balance between the old guard and new entrants. The younger faces include Shreya Pandey, daughter of the late former Minister Sadhan Pande from Maniktala in Kolkata; and Sirsanya Banerjee, son of MP Kalyan Banerjee, from Uttarpara in Hooghly district.
The party has placed its faith in former sportspersons, including former Bengal cricketer Shib Shankar Paul, who will contest from Tufanganj constituency in Cooch Behar district, and Asian Games gold medallist Swapna Barman from Raiganj in Uttar Dinajpur.
Dropping 74 MLAs and shifting 15 MLAs from the seat is unprecedented in the Trinamool’s history.
Sitting MLAs who have been dropped from their respective constituencies include celebrated Dalit writer Manoranjan Byapari from Balagarh in Hooghly; Savitri Mitra from Manikchak in Howrah; Soumen Mahapatra from Tamluk in Purba Medinipur; Kanchan Mallick from Uttarpara in Hooghly; Manju Basu from Noapara in North 24 Parganas; Nirmal Ghosh from Panihati in North 24 Parganas; and Asit Majumdar from Chinsurah in Hooghly.
Manik Bhattacharya, the MLA from Palashipara who was arrested in the teacher recruitment scam, and Jibankrishna Saha from Burwan, who remains behind bars, have also been dropped from the Trinamool candidates’ list.
“In the 2026 Assembly election, we will win by securing more than 226 seats. This is our firm belief,” the Chief Minister said at the press conference, while announcing the names of candidates. Ms. Banerjee urged the electorate to “boycott the BJP”, and promoted the slogan “no vote for BJP”. Flanked by her nephew and party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee by her side, the Trinamool chairperson also appealed to other political parties to “vote for Bangla”.
There are 294 seats in the West Bengal Assembly. In three seats in the Darjeeling hills — Darjeeling, Kalimpong and Kurseong — the Trinamool has not fielded candidates. The party’s ally, the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, will put up candidates in the Darjeeling hills.
The Assembly election in West Bengal will be held in two phases, on April 23 and 29, and votes will be counted on May 4.
Published – March 17, 2026 04:28 pm IST