With the 2026 Assembly elections round the corner, political parties in West Bengal are busy preparing candidate lists, poll strategies, and manifestos. For the first time, the Opposition BJP has decided to seek inputs from district leaders before finalising candidates.
“When candidate lists are announced, we see that grassroots workers and local leaders in some places are unhappy with the candidate choices. This time, their suggestions are also being taken,” a senior BJP leader said.
The BJP allegedly did not consult or involve its local leaders and grassroots workers in the past on matters like candidate selection for elections.
According to BJP sources, district-level leaders have been asked to submit three candidate names for every constituency. The party’s district presidents, mandal sabhapatis, MLAs, and MPs will submit names.
District leaders have started submitting names to the state leadership, and this exercise will continue over the next 15 days, the sources said.
A senior BJP leader said the party was looking at each Assembly segment individually, focusing on how the party fares there and what its advantages and disadvantages are.
The BJP has also begun the preparation of its election manifesto, sources said. The party has decided to set up drop boxes through which it will collect people’s suggestions for the manifesto.
The BJP has also prepared constituency-specific “chargesheets” targeting Trinamool Congress MLAs. These list allegations of scams and corruption against the leaders of the ruling party, such as central fund diversion under schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, “cut-money” extortion, recruitment scams, breakdown of law and order, civic safety concerns, and issues related to women’s safety.
When contacted, TMC spokesperson Arup Chakraborty said the people would reject whoever the BJP fields. “How the BJP selects their candidates is its internal matter. We have no comment. But what we would like to say is that whoever they select, the people of Bengal will reject them, because they are those who had called Bengali-speaking people Bangladeshi and harassed people by making them stand in SIR hearing queues. Bengal will reject them,” he said.