It’s Mamata vs. Suvendu again; Trinamool to contest 291 seats in Bengal polls
The Hindu
TMC to contest 291 seats in Bengal polls, confident of winning over 226, announces Mamata Banerjee amid fierce competition.
Trinamool Congress supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee will fight her protege turned bitter rival, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, from the Bhabanipur seat in Kolkata in the 2026 Assembly elections.
In the 2021 election, Mr. Adhikari defeated Ms. Banerjee in Nandigram by 1,956 votes, following which the Chief Minister had to shift to the Bhabanipur seat from where she won a bypoll and which she currently represents.
Asked about the challenge Mr. Adhikari, who was named the BJP candidate on Monday, will pose, Ms. Banerjee said, “We will win with the maximum number of votes from Bhabanipur.”
The Trinamool Congress on Tuesday (March 17, 2026) announced its list of candidates for the elections, with Ms. Banerjee declaring that the party will contest 291 of the 294 seats in the State.
Addressing a press conference in Kolkata, Ms. Banerjee said the remaining three seats in the Darjeeling hills will be contested by Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM).
“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,” Ms. Banerjee said, while announcing the names of candidates, flanked by the party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and state president Subrata Bakshi.
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