TMC list out: Mamata Banerjee vs Suvendu Adhikari battle shifts to Bhabanipur; what this means

Banerjee will contest the 2026 Assembly polls from Bhabanipur, setting the stage for a renewed battle with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari

• Mamata Banerjee to face Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur
• Trinamool Congress announces 291 candidates for 2026 polls
• TMC to skip three Darjeeling seats in seat-sharing deal

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West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee will lock horns with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur, in a closely watched contest in the 2026 Assembly polls.

The ruling Trinamool Congress on Tuesday announced its list of candidates for the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections, with party supremo Banerjee declaring that the party will contest 291 of the 294 seats in the state.

Banerjee, along with her nephew and Trinamool general secretary Abhishek Banerjee, announced 291 candidates for the two-phase elections scheduled on April 23 and April 29.

She added that the Trinamool Congress will not contest three seats in Darjeeling under an arrangement with the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha.

Mamata vs Suvendu in Bhabanipur

Banerjee will contest the 2026 Assembly polls from Bhabanipur, setting the stage for a renewed battle with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who had defeated her in Nandigram in 2021 by a little less than 2,000 votes. She later returned to the Assembly through a Bhabanipur bypoll.

The BJP has fielded Adhikari from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram, strengthening buzz around him as the party’s CM face. Banerjee featured in the candidate list she unveiled on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, in Nandigram, the TMC has nominated Pabitra Kar, a former BJP leader and Adhikari aide, who switched back to the party shortly before the announcement.

Why the Bhabanipur contest matters?

The BJP’s move to field Suvendu Adhikari, a one-time loyalist of Mamata, from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur is more than a tactical decision -- it signals a political statement. Even without officially naming a chief ministerial candidate, the party appears to be positioning Adhikari as the face of its campaign. Nandigram, his political stronghold, reinforces his dominance at the grassroots level.

But Bhabanipur tells a larger story. As the constituency of Mamata Banerjee and part of her long-held South Kolkata base, it represents her enduring influence. By sending Adhikari into this arena, the BJP is attempting to elevate him as a leader capable of cutting across rural and urban divides.

It is also an unmistakable challenge to Banerjee’s authority. She has held sway over South Kolkata for decades, winning the Lok Sabha seat six times even before Trinamool’s rise. Today, as chief minister, the region remains her bastion -- making this face-off arguably the most significant contest of the election.