Mamata unveils TMC candidate list for Bengal polls; to face Suvendu in Bhabanipur

Banerjee announced the candidates at her Kalighat residence on Tuesday evening.

The party will contest 291 seats, while the remaining three hill constituencies—Kurseong, Kalimpong and Darjeeling—have been left for the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) led by Anit Thapa.

The announcement came a day after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) intensified the contest by fielding Adhikari from Bhabanipur, a cosmopolitan pocket of Kolkata.

Banerjee declined to comment directly on Adhikari’s candidature. When pressed, she said, “I have unwavering faith in the people. I serve them year-round—this isn’t a one-day battle for me.”

"We will win from Bhabanipur by a bigger margin. It's just one of the 294 constituencies for us," the Chief Minister added.

Adhikari will also contest from his existing seat, Nandigram, where he had defeated Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly elections.

Following her defeat in Nandigram, Banerjee had contested from her home turf Bhabanipur, winning the bypoll to continue as Chief Minister.

In a surprise move, the TMC has fielded former BJP panchayat chief and Adhikari loyalist Pabitra Kar from Nandigram, hours after inducting him into the party.

The Bhabanipur constituency has since drawn significant political attention, with Adhikari repeatedly asserting he would replicate his Nandigram victory against Banerjee.

Adding to the stakes, over 47,000 names were reportedly deleted from the electoral roll in Bhabanipur during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), raising concerns among analysts ahead of the polls.

However, projecting confidence, Banerjee has maintained she would win from Bhabanipur “even by a single vote”, dismissing concerns over voter deletions, which her party has strongly opposed.

Among other key candidates, Firhad Hakim will contest from Kolkata Port, Sovandeb Chatterjee from Ballygunge, and Bratya Basu from Dum Dum.

TMC MLA from Behala Purba, Ratna Chatterjee, has been shifted to Behala Paschim, a seat earlier won in 2021 by former Education Minister Partha Chatterjee.

Although her name is currently under adjudication in the SIR list, Bengal minister Shashi Panja has been fielded from Shyampukur.

In the entertainment crossover, actor Soham Chakraborty will contest from Karimpur, actress Sayantika Banerjee from Baranagar, and filmmaker Raj Chakraborty from Barrackpore.

(Photos: Avishek Mitra/IBNS)