State BJP names first-time MLA as candidate for Speaker
The Statesman | 15 May 2026
The BJP state Legislature party today picked Rathindra Basu, a first-time MLA from north Bengal and an RSS minder as the candidate for the Speaker’s job, who is likely to take oath on Friday, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari in a post said on the social media platform.
“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,” a social media statement issued by the Chief Minister in the morning read.
Initially, it was perceived that the senior most party MLA in terms of legislative experience, Tapas Roy, who is currently the Pro-Tem Speaker of the new Assembly administering oaths to all elected legislators, would be named as the permanent Speaker.
Unless any opposition party, including the Trinamul Congress, fields any candidates for the Speaker’s post, Bose, a first-time legislator, will be unanimously elected as the first Speaker from any Assembly constituency in North Bengal.
The election for the speaker post is slated for tomorrow. If the entire Opposition would take part in tomorrow’s election is not known.
Bose got elected from Cooch Behar (Dakshin) Assembly constituency this time after defeating the Trinamul Congress candidate Avijit De Bhowmik by a margin of over 23,000 votes.
After his name was announced as the BJP nominee for the post of Speaker, Bose told a media person that, being an “obedient and trusted soldier in his party, he would perform to the best of his ability” and deliver on the responsibilities entrusted to him by his party.
As the BJP’s state vice-president in West Bengal, Bose had handled organisational activities for the party in north Bengal, a strong base of the BJP since 2019.