Bengal Elections 2026: Bhabanipur To Nandigram, 5 Key Seats To Watch Out For

The highly anticipated 2026 Assembly elections in West Bengal are taking place in two phases, with the first one being held on Thursday, followed by the second one on April 29. The counting of votes is scheduled for May 4. 

The polls come in the shadow of the controversial voter list revision exercise, Special Intensive Review (SIR), in the state that deleted 91 lakh people from the electoral rolls. 

Much like the last Assembly polls, it's the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress locking horns with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Let's look at five prominent seats in the polls. 

1. Bhabanipur - The Rematch Of All Rematches

After their high-profile face-off in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee and her former aide, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, are yet again pitted against each other. The venue this time is Bhabanipur, a Trinamool fortress.

Bhabanipur's electoral journey mirrors West Bengal's transformation from Congress dominance to the rise of the TMC. For decades after Independence, this seat in south Kolkata served as a Congress bastion and was the home turf of some of the state's most influential political figures, such as former CM Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Mira Dutta Gupta and Rathin Talukdar.

It witnessed an unusual turn in 1972 when the constituency disappeared from the electoral map following delimitation. It was revived in the 2011 delimitation exercise. Since then, it has voted for the TMC. 

In 2021, senior Trinamool leader Shovandeb Chattopadhyay defeated BJP's pick, actor Rudranil Ghosh. Post her narrow defeat in Nandigram to Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee was required to win a bypoll to remain the CM. 

Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur seat, allowing Banerjee to contest the by-election against BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal.

2. Nandigram - Suvendu Adhikari's honour, TMC's revenge

Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district holds a special place in Bengal's political history since it served as the epicentre of the anti-land acquisition movement in 2007 during the Left Front government. The protests against the proposed chemical hub became a turning point that weakened the Left's three-decade rule in the state, propelling Mamata Banerjee to power.

In the 2021 state polls, Adhikari defeated Banerjee. He first secured a victory here in 2016 on a Trinamool ticket. In the 2026 polls, he is eying a hat-trick from Nandigram and is contesting against Pabitra Kar.

A former BJP panchayat chief, Kar was a close aide of Adhikari and rejoined the Trinamool a few weeks ago. He is a former panchayat pradhan of Boyal-1 in Nandigram.

3. Bhangar - The ISF wildcard

The seat technically falls in the South 24 Parganas district but was brought under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police in 2024. This was due to the sensitivity of the region that has witnessed frequent political clashes between the Trinamool and the Indian Secular Front (ISF).

ISF's Nawsad Siddique, who was the only non-BJP opposition MLA in the state Assembly, won the Bhangar seat in 2021. He is seeking re-election in the 2026 polls and is contesting against Saokat Molla of the Trinamool Congress and Mahabubul Islam of Congress. Jayanta Gayen is representing the BJP.

4. Samsergunj

Samserganj was one of the epicentres of violence during the protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act in the Murshidabad district in April last year.

The violence in Murshidabad resulted in multiple casualties, including a father-son duo who were hacked to death by a mob. The BJP accused the ruling Trinamool of engineering violent agitations in different parts of the district.

In the 2026 elections, Mohammed Nur Alam is contesting from the Samsergan seat on a TMC ticket. Najme Alam has filed his nomination from Congress, while the BJP has given a ticket to Sasti Charan Ghosh. The Samsergunj seat elected Trinamool candidates in 2016 and 2021. 

5. Panihati

Nearly two years after the rape and murder of a young doctor inside Kolkata's state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital that triggered nationwide protests, the BJP has fielded the victim's mother, Ratna Debnath, from the Panihati seat in the 2026 Assembly election. 

Trinamool has picked Tirthankar Ghosh, son of Nirmal Ghosh, a party veteran and current MLA.

BJP is trying to convert the anger and distrust generated by the RG Kar movement into an anti-TMC vote. For the Trinamool, which has held the seat since 2011, Panihati is a major test.