Suvendu Adhikari, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, submitted his nomination for the West Bengal elections on April 2. He was accompanied by Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP West Bengal President Samik Bhattacharya during the process.
Adhikari is contesting the two-phase West Bengal assembly elections on a BJP ticket from both Bhabanipur and Nandigram constituencies. He will face a contest against Trinamool Congress Chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for the Bhabanipur seat, while also attempting to retain Nandigram.
Mamata Banerjee lost the Nandigram seat to Adhikari in the 2021 assembly elections but later secured victory in the Bhabanipur by-election against Priyanka Tibrewal.
Earlier on the same day, Amit Shah held a large roadshow in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, encouraging voters to support the BJP ahead of the West Bengal Assembly elections. The rally attracted numerous party workers and supporters, signalling significant backing for the BJP in this crucial constituency.
Speaking at the nomination filing event, Shah cited various issues impacting the state, including corruption, extortion, youth unemployment, and illegal infiltration. He stated, “Today, all of Bengal is distressed–distressed by extortion, distressed by the hooliganism of Trinamool Congress workers, distressed by the lack of security for women, and distressed by the changing demography of Bengal due to unchecked infiltration. People are distressed by frequent bomb blasts and gunfire, by youth unemployment, and by the record-breaking corruption set by Mamata ji.”
He added, “The entire population of Bengal is demanding a change in this great state. Under the leadership of PM Modi, a BJP government must be formed here. We must seal the borders of West Bengal and pick out and expel every infiltrator from Bengal and across the country.”
Outlining the party’s vision for a prosperous state, Shah said, “We want to build the ‘Sonar Bangla’ envisioned by Vivekananda, Poet-Guru Tagore, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, and Syama Prasad Mukherjee. That is why this change is necessary.”
The polling for West Bengal’s 294-member Assembly will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, with vote counting scheduled for May 4.
In the previous assembly election held in 2021 over eight phases, the Trinamool Congress secured a landslide victory with 213 seats amid a strong contest from the BJP, which increased its tally to 77 seats. The Congress and Left Front failed to win any seats in that election.