West Bengal SIR: A total of 20 lakh names to be adjudicated by today; everyday 1.5-2 lakh names being adjudicated, says CEO Manoj Agarwal

Probably, this is the first time, TMC is not the first party to announce its list of candidates for West Bengal polls. BJP and Left Front have already announced their first list of candidates. TMC most likely to announce it tomorrow.

What's different between BJP's 2021 and 2026 campaign for West Bengal polls is it's visible trust on old war horses, shunning turncoats from TMC, and not getting any celebrities. At least that's what seems from the first list of 144 candidates.

Bhabanipur is among most cosmopolitan areas of Kolkata. It has significant no of Sikhs, Gujaratis, Marwaris, Biharis. However, middle-class Bengalis dominate it. Among its notable residents were Netaji, Syama Prasad Mukherjee, Satyajit Ray, Uttam Kumar, Guru Dutt, Hemant Kumar

Dissatisfied with party's candidate list for West Bengal polls, BJP members vandalise party office in Alipurduar district

These are slippers of class 4 student Tamanna Khatun. She was returning home from school when splinter from a bomb hurled following TMC's victory in last year's Kaliganj bypoll allegedly killed her. Today, CPM has nominated her mother Sabina Yasmin as it's candidate from Kaliganj

That's 2.48 lakh central forces personnel, if one company has around 100 personnel. This far exceeds the total no of state police personnel. As per official records, West Bengal Police has 79,024 personnel, and Kolkata Police has another 37,400 personnel.

West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee to announce TMC's list of candidates for West Bengal polls at 3.15 pm

CM Mamata Banerjee to fight elections from Bhabanipur

What stands out in TMC's 2026 candidate list is its focus more on old war horses and grassroots leaders than star power. A lot of analysts are saying it lacks the spark of previous elections, but sometimes the “boring” choice is the most strategic.

TMC has dropped 74 sitting MLAs. Among them are chief whip Nirmal Ghosh, ministers Biplab Roychowdhury, Manoj Tiwari, Tajmul Hossain, Partha Chatterjee, veteran leaders like Rabindranath Ghosh, Abdul Karim Chowdhury, Sabitri Mitra, Krishnendu Narayan Chowdhury, Tapan Dasgupta.

TMC has fielded sons & daughters of several senior leaders this time. Among them are Shrreya Pande, Sandipan Saha, Tirthankar Ghosh, Shirshanya Banerjee, Subhashish Das, Rituparna Adhya, besides there is Vasundhara Goswami (daughter of RSP's Kshiti Goswami).

Watched Dhurandar 2 at a single-screen in south Kolkata for night show, it was housefull. Want to share a titbit. There's a scene in which PM Modi appears, audience goes unimaginably crazy with applause -- clappings, whistlings, what not. Hard to ignore in a poll season.

Election Commission transfers 43 senior officers in 72 hours, in an unprecedented shake up in West Bengal's bureaucracy and police ranks. Among them are DGP, Chief Secy, DIGs, SPs, DMs. Also, 15 IPS officers have been sent to other states as observers.

Bharat Sevashram Sangha expels Utpal Maharaj, BJP's Kaliaganj candidate "If one is influenced or tempted by a political party, their spiritual life is completely destroyed, pulling them away from glory of renunciation and drags them into worldly attachment," says the letter.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has ordered the additional deployment of 1,920 companies of CAPFs/SAPs/IR Battalions for General Election to the Legislative Assembly of West Bengal, 2026. Forces to be deployed from different states and UTs including J&K and Manipur.