TMC Releases Names of 291 Candidates for the 2026 Assembly Elections, Mamata Says 'We Will Win More Than 226 Seats'

The ruling party in West Bengal, All India Trinamool Congress, led by CM Mamata Banerjee, has released the list of candidates who would be contesting in the upcoming 2026 Assembly Elections. Mamata Banerjee further confirmed that the party will contest from 291 out of 294 seats in the Bengal Assembly, while the other 3 will be contested by Anil Thapa-led BGPM in Darjeeling. Currently, the list includes 52 women, 95 SCs-STs, and 47 minorities.

Mamata is set to contest from Bhabanipur, where she will face BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, while Shashi Panja will represent the party in Shyampukur. The TMC has nominated Soham Chakraborty for the Chandipur seat and also fielded him as their candidate for Tehta. Additionally, Jyotipriya Mallick has been granted a ticket for Habra, whereas Kanai Mandal was excluded from the list. Firhad Hakim remains a key figure with his candidacy in the Kolkata Port constituency.

Madan Mitra, too, has successfully secured his candidacy again and will be running from Kamarhati. The party has also introduced new faces, such as former journalist Devadeep Purohit, in the Khardah constituency. Furthermore, Kalyan Banerjee's son, Prabhat Banerjee, is entering the battle from Uttarpara, and Pavitra Kar has been fielded in the high-profile Nandigram seat, where he too would go against BJP's heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari. Notably, Kunal Ghosh is making his debut in the assembly elections as the TMC candidate for Beleghata.

West Bengal gears up for the battle

As the state of West Bengal gets ready for the 2026 Assembly Elections, the two main parties, BJP and TMC, are putting their best foot forward to woo voters. The BJP had announced its list of candidates on Monday (March 16th, 2026) for 144 seats and has yet to announce the same for the rest of the seats. 

The voting in Bengal will take place in two phases, on 24th and 29th April, 2024 and the counting will be concluded on May 4th.