The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up its election campaign for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 by releasing a fourth list of 13 candidates on Tuesday. The latest announcement by the BJP takes the total number of candidates announced by the party for the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 to 287 out of a total of 294 seats. The previous lists announced by the party consisted of 144, 111, and 19 candidates respectively.
Among the notable additions in this round is Dalim Roy, who has been drafted in to replace Kaushik Roy for the Maynaguri (SC) constituency. The list also features a mix of regional figures, including Ashutosh Barma in Sitai, Soma Thakur in Bagda, and Santosh Pathak, who will contest the Chowrangee seat. Other candidates named include Debashish Dhar for Sonarpur Uttar and Arijit Roy for Barabani, as the party attempts to finalise its front against the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC).
This follows a highly charged third list released on March 28, which most notably included Ratna Debnath — the mother of the victim in the RG Kar Medical College case — as the candidate for Panihati. Her candidacy is seen by many as a focal point of the BJP’s challenge to the current administration's record on safety and governance.
The electoral clock is now ticking loudly, with the state set to vote in two phases on April 23-29 . According to the Election Commission of India, the deadline for nominations for the first phase is April 6, with scrutiny taking place the following day. For the second phase, which covers 142 constituencies, the formal notification will be issued this Thursday, April 2, allowing candidates until April 9 to file their papers. All eyes will eventually turn to May 4, when the votes for both phases are scheduled to be counted.
Also read: TMC trying to make it Bengal versus Gujarat
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