KOLKATA: Congress on Sunday declared candidates for 284 seats for the Bengal assembly polls. While former leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has been fielded from Behrampore, former Malda North MP Mausam Benazir Noor will contest from Malatipur in Malda.The 2026 elections mark the first time in three decades Congress will be fighting an assembly poll in Bengal alone.
The party’s central election committee — comprising president Mallikarjun Kharge, leader of opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and party secretary K C Venugopal — met key state functionaries, including Bengal in-charge Ghulam Ahmed Mir and Pradesh Congress president Subhankar Sarkar, before the list was announced.Congress sources said more than 2,500 applications were submitted for the 294 seats. “We will announce the nominees for the remaining 10 seats soon,” said a functionary, while hinting that a few prominent faces would join the party in the next few days.The Congress high command declared last month that the party would contest all 294 seats in Bengal alone. In the 2021 assembly elections, the party bagged merely 3% votes, while its alliance partner CPM got 4.7% votes. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Congress got 4.7% votes and won one seat — Malda South.While CPM’s vote share was higher than Congress in the 2024 polls, the party decided to fight it alone in 2026 hoping to rise from zero. Congress, which is focused on Murshidabad, Malda and North Dinajpur, has reposed faith in Chowdhury, who last contested an assembly poll in 1996.Mausam Benazir Noor, niece of former railway minister ABA Ghani Khan Chowdhury, joined TMC in 2019 after her proposal to form an alliance with CM Mamata Banerjee’s party was turned down by Congress leadership. Noor rejoined Congress in Jan and will be contesting from Malatipur.Nepal Mahato will contest from Baghmundi, while Mohit Sengupta has been fielded from Raiganj. Ali Imran Ramz (Victor) has been nominated from Chakulia. Pradip Prasad has been pitted against CM Banerjee and BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari in Bhowanipore. Former Pradesh Congress president Somen Mitra’s son Rohan Mitra will contest from Ballygunge. Former TMC MLA Amal Acharya will contest from Itahar.
