Who is Rathindra Bose? Bengal BJP picks first-time MLA for Assembly Speaker
The Statesman | 14 May 2026
On Thursday morning, West Bengal Chief Minister and Leader of the House in the state Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, announced that Rathindra Bose, a first-time BJP legislator, would be the party’s nominee for the post of Speaker of the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
The announcement came via a social media statement from the Chief Minister: “Shri Rathindra Bose; Bharatiya Janata Party MLA of the Cooch Behar Dakshin (South) Constituency has been nominated as our Candidate for the Post of Hon’ble Speaker of the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly. I hope that his Candidature is supported by one and all and he gets elected unanimously.”
Political observers and party insiders had widely anticipated that Tapas Roy, the seniormost BJP legislator by legislative experience and the current pro-tem Speaker administering oaths to newly elected members, would be named to the permanent post. Bose’s nomination upended those expectations entirely.
Rathindra Bose is a first-time Member of the Legislative Assembly, elected from the Cooch Behar Dakshin (South) constituency in Cooch Behar district in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections. He defeated Trinamool Congress candidate Avijit De Bhowmik by a margin of over 23,000 votes.
Despite his lack of experience in parliamentary politics, Bose is not newcomer to the BJP’s organisational machinery. He has served as the state vice-president of the BJP in West Bengal and currently holds the position of convener of the party’s North Bengal division. He has long-standing associations with both the BJP and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
If no opposition party, including the Trinamool Congress, puts up a rival candidate for the post, Bose wins unanimously. That would make him the first Speaker of the West Bengal Assembly to represent a constituency from North Bengal.
North Bengal has been a stronghold for BJP since 2019.
Following the announcement, Bose addressed the media. He characterised himself as a loyal party worker ready to discharge whatever responsibility the party assigned him.
“Being an obedient and trusted soldier in his party, he would perform to the best of his ability,” he said.
Bose also used the occasion to draw a contrast with the previous Trinamool Congress government’s conduct in the Assembly. “During the previous Trinamool Congress regime, there was no space for the opposition to speak on the floor of the Assembly. But the BJP does not believe in this theory. We believe in democracy,” he said.
The election for the Speaker’s post is likely to take place in the early sessions of the 18th West Bengal Legislative Assembly.