West Bengal Assembly elections: BJP ‘trapped’ Mamata in her seat by nominating Suvendu from Bhabanipur, says Dilip Ghosh

BJP's Dilip Ghosh claims Mamata Banerjee is trapped in Bhabanipur, facing tough election challenges from Suvendu Adhikari.

Senior BJP leader Dilip Ghosh said the party has "trapped" TMC chief Mamata Banerjee in her constituency, Bhabanipur, by fielding leader of opposition Suvendu Adhikari from the seat in south Kolkata.

He asserted that the move has removed the elbow room the Chief Minister usually keeps to cover her bases across West Bengal during her poll campaigns for the Trinamool Congress.

Speaking to PTI in an interview, Mr. Ghosh said, "The biggest surprise in the TMC's candidate list this time is that it doesn't have any surprises." The candidate list of the TMC was announced by Ms. Banerjee on Tuesday (March 17, 2026).

"I think that by pitting Suvendu Adhikari against Mamata Banerjee in Bhabanipur, we have managed to trap the TMC supremo in one corner. She will now have to focus on the seat to ensure her win there. Minister Firhad Hakim began his election campaign from there and that surely means something. It's a tough challenge for her. She is in considerable tension. We pinned her down there," Mr. Ghosh said.

Commenting on his party's prospects in Bhabanipur, Mr. Ghosh said the SIR deletions have given BJP the required edge in that seat and stressed that Ms. Banerjee's defeat in Nandigram in 2021 showed she isn't invincible.

"We have already defeated Mamata Banerjee once, and we can do it again. She had gone there (Nandigram) and lost. This time, we will come to her seat and win. Over 50,000 voter names have been deleted in her constituency post SIR screening. That's almost equal to her winning margin. So yes, there's definitely a chance," Mr. Ghosh said.