New Delhi: The Indian National Congress on Sunday announced its first list of 284 candidates for the upcoming West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election 2026, signalling its decision to contest the polls independently across the state.
Among the prominent names in the list is former West Bengal Congress chief Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, who has been fielded from the Baharampur constituency. Former All India Trinamool Congress MP Mausam Noor, who recently joined the Congress, has been nominated from Malatipur.
The party also announced several other candidates across key constituencies. These include Madhap Rai from Darjeeling, Abdul Hannan from Sujapur, Susmita Biswas from Dum Dum, Gautam Bhattacharya from Diamond Harbour, Souvik Mukherjee from Asansol Dakshin and Prasenjit Puitandi from Asansol Uttar.
The candidate list was finalised after detailed deliberations by the party leadership during a meeting of the Congress Central Election Committee. The meeting was attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, along with senior leaders and representatives from West Bengal.
Other leaders present at the discussions included AICC general secretary (organisation) K. C. Venugopal and AICC in charge for West Bengal Ghulam Ahmed Mir. Several senior members of the committee such as Ambika Soni, Madhusudan Mistry, Salman Khurshid, T. S. Singhdeo, K. J. George, P. L. Punia and Amee Yajnik were also part of the deliberations.
Party leaders stated that the Congress received around 2,500 applications from aspirants seeking to contest the 294 assembly constituencies. The decision to field candidates in all seats was taken in line with the demand of party workers and grassroots members across the state.
Polling for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly Election 2026 will be conducted in two phases on April 23 and April 29. The counting of votes is scheduled for May 4.
