BJP appoints 7 party in-charges for 2026 polls in Asansol
The Statesman | 24 April 2025
The Asansol district committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) today announced the names of the party in-charges for each Assembly segment in the West Burdwan district.
Debtanu Bhattacharya, president of the BJP’s Asansol district unit, released the list of in-charges for the seven Assembly constituencies under its jurisdiction: Pandaveswar, Raniganj, Jamuria, Barabani, Asansol South, Asansol North, and Kulti.
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The appointed in-charges are as follows: Madhumita Chatterjee (Pandaveswar), MLA Keshav Poddar (Raniganj), Shampa Roy (Jamuria), Ram Adhikari (Barabani), Asha Sharma (Asansol South), Kakali Ghosh (Asansol North), and Prashanta Chakraborty (Kulti).
Elections for these seven Assembly seats are scheduled to take place in mid-2026. Currently, the BJP holds two of these constituencies: Asansol South and Kulti.
The BJP has set an ambitious target to secure more than half of the Assembly seats in the 2026 West Bengal state elections, as directed by Union home minister Amit Shah and BJP national president Jagat Prakash Nadda.
Following the departure of Babul Supriyo, the two-time MP from Asansol Lok Sabha constituency, the BJP’s organisational structure in the region has weakened significantly. The party lost the Asansol Lok Sabha seat in a by-election and again in the 2024 general election to Shatrughan Sinha, Trinamul Congress (TMC) candidate, by a significant margin.
Subsequently, the party also lost the Durgapur–Bardhaman seat to Kirti Azad of the TMC. Once considered a BJP stronghold, Asansol – part of the industrial and coal belt – is now a key battleground for the party as it seeks to reclaim ground in the upcoming elections.
“We want to put up a strong fight in the 2026 polls, and these in-charges will play a crucial role in strengthening the party base in these seven Assembly constituencies,” said Debtanu Bhattacharya.
Bhattacharya himself contested the 2024 general election from Birbhum district but was unsuccessful. He was later appointed as the president of the BJP’s Asansol district unit in an effort to regain the party’s former stronghold in the region.