West Bengal Assembly Elections: TMC drops 75 MLAs, hopes to win 226 seats

Kolkata: As many as 75 sitting legislators have been dropped from the list as Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee announced party candidates for 291 of the 294 West Bengal assembly seats on Tuesday for the 2026 assembly polls. Expressing confidence, Banerjee said the party would win 226 seats and return to power. The 75 legislators were dropped based on their performance and perceived lack of connection with the grassroots, people in the know told ET. However, a large number of senior leaders have been retained. Two ministers - Sashi Panja and Golam Rabbani - whose names feature on the list, are currently on an adjudicated list.

Banerjee will contest from Bhabanipur in south Kolkata, where she will face BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, who is also the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal assembly. This will be the second electoral contest between the two leaders.

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Of the 291 candidates announced, Trinamool has fielded 52 women, including Banerjee, accounting for 18% of the total. The list also includes 95 candidates from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (78 SC and 17 ST) and 47 minority candidates. Party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee said the selection reflects representation across age groups and adequate reservation for SC-ST communities. Three seats in the hills have been left for the Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha, led by Anit Thapa. Banerjee also clarified that the party is not contesting the three seats in Darjeeling. In terms of age distribution, four candidates (1%) are below 31 years, while 38 candidates (13%) fall in the 31-40 age group. The largest segments are in the 41-50 and 51-60 brackets, with 88 (31%) and 89 (32%) candidates respectively. Additionally, 23 candidates (8%) are aged between 71 and 80, and two candidates (1%) fall in the 81-90 age group.

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Jyotipriya Mallick, who was arrested in connection with a multi-crore PDS distribution case, is the only leader to be re-nominated from his previous constituency, Habra in North 24 Parganas district. Banerjee also criticised the Election Commission of India, accusing it of making frequent administrative changes. "Come and join the campaign directly using a political platform. Please remember, whatever rejig you do, they are all our officers," she said. She further criticised the ECI over issues related to voter list revisions, alleging that no supplementary list had been published despite a Supreme Court order, and objected to continued bureaucratic and police reshuffles.