Bengal 2026 polls: Left Front releases first list of 192 candidates

Kolkata: The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front in West Bengal on Monday released its first list of candidates for the forthcoming two-phase Assembly elections in the state scheduled next month.

In the first list, announced by veteran CPI-M leader and chairman of the West Bengal Left Front Biman Bose on Monday afternoon, the names of candidates for 192 Assembly constituencies were declared. The total number of constituencies in West Bengal is 294.

Of the 192 candidates announced by the Left Front on Monday, only 20 are women, while the remaining candidates are men. The majority of the candidates are from the leading constituent of the Front, the CPI-M.

The list of candidates declared on Monday features a combination of “old guards” and “fresh faces”.

One of the most significant names in the list is Sabina Yasmin, the mother of Tamanna Khatun, who was killed in a crude bomb attack allegedly by activists of the ruling Trinamool Congress on June 23, 2025, at Kaliganj in Nadia district.

She was killed when crude bombs were hurled at her residence during a victory procession taken out by the Trinamool Congress after the party’s candidate Alifa Ahmed won the by-election for the Kaliganj Assembly constituency.

Another prominent name in the list is former Rajya Sabha member and senior advocate Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya, also a former Mayor of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, who has been fielded from the Jadavpur constituency in South 24 Parganas district.

As predicted earlier, CPI-M Politburo member and the party’s state secretary in West Bengal Md Salim, and former leader of the Left legislative parties in the West Bengal Assembly Sujan Chakraborty, have refrained from contesting the polls this time.

Instead, both leaders have decided to travel across the state to campaign for other candidates.

The national face of the CPI-M’s student wing, the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), Dipshita Dhar has been fielded from the Dum Dum (Uttar) Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas district.

Another prominent tribal face of the party, Debalina Hembram, a former legislator and minister in the previous Left Front government in West Bengal, has been fielded from the Ranibandh constituency in Bankura district.

The two-phase Assembly elections in West Bengal will be held on April 23 and April 29.

In the first phase, polling will be held for 152 constituencies, while in the second phase, polling will take place for 142 constituencies.

IANS