Trinamool versus Congress battle heats up in central Bengal

The battle intensifies in central Bengal as Congress leaders Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Mausam Noor challenge Trinamool dominance.

Veteran Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury’s campaign for the Berhampore Assembly seat in West Bengal faced repeated disruptions by Trinamool Congress supporters over the weekend. On Sunday (April 5, 2026), protesters raised the Trinamool flag and shouted slogans at the five-time former Congress MP until Central forces intervened to bring the situation under control.

Assembly elections: Follow LIVE updates on April 5, 2026

He faced opposition from the ruling party’s workers while campaigning in Berhampore town on Saturday (April 4, 2026) as well, but insisted that such protests would not deter him from reaching out to voters.

“We are conducting our election campaign programmes every day. All programmes are being carried out with the permission and knowledge of the Election Commission, yet the miscreants of the Trinamool are repeatedly trying to obstruct them. We will not stop — we will do it this evening too, and tomorrow as well,” Mr. Chowdhury had said on Saturday (April 4, 2026).

This Assembly election is a prestige fight for the Congress leader. Until a few years ago, his influence was felt across Murshidabad district, and he served as the leader of the party in the Lok Sabha for five years, from 2019 to 2024. In the 2024 Lok Sabha election, however, he lost the Berhampore Lok Sabha seat to cricketer-turned-Trinamool politician Yusuf Pathan, by a margin of 70,000 votes.

In the adjoining Malda district as well, Congress leader Mausam Benazir Noor is posing a challenge to the Trinamool Congress which she had quit at the beginning of the year. Ms. Noor, who was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the TMC, has returned to her roots in the Congress and is now contesting the Assembly election from the Malatipur seat.