The 2026 Assembly election candidate list of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) has cut 74 sitting MLAs.
Partha Chatterjee, who won consecutive Assembly elections from 2001 to 2021 from the Behala Paschim (West) seat, was suspended by the party after his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in the School Service Commission (SSC) scam, which came to light in July 2022. Chatterjee is currently out on bail.
Ratna Chatterjee, former mayor Sovan Chatterjee’s estranged wife, is contesting from this seat. In the 2021 Assembly elections, Ratna had won from Sovan’s erstwhile constituency of Behala Purba (East). Sovan returned to the TMC after 8 years in 2025 after switching to the BJP from 2019 to 2021. Sovan currently stands as the Chairman of the Newtown Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA).
Three-time MLA Paresh Pal who won from Beleghata, makes way for TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh. For Pal, the announcement comes as a surprise, though he has taken the decision in his stride. Another three-time MLA of the Chinsurah constituency, Asit Majumdar, however is not happy with being denied a ticket and hints at stepping away from active politics.
Meanwhile, Ghosh has been a Rajya Sabha MP in the past, and it will be a test to see how he fares while contesting his first election.
“The party supremo has considered all aspects and has announced candidates for 294 seats,” said Kunal Ghosh.
“We are all soldiers of the party—who is a candidate and who isn’t is not the big question. Some will fight in the role of a candidate and some as a party leader. Our aim is one, to fight for the people, development, and bringing Mamata for a fourth term.”
Vivek Gupta, who has contested from the Jorasanko constituency, has also been a Rajya Sabha MP. His name does not feature in the candidate list this time, with another candidate Vijay Upadhyay who is contesting instead.
“No I did not know this from before, we are loyal soldiers of the party. Whatever the party expects from us, we do,” said Vivek Gupta.
“This does not define my relationship with the party. The party has so many candidates and the best eligible candidate is given a ticket. The others are given other responsibilities. I am president of the TMC Hindi Cell where there are 25 Hindi-speaking constituencies; there are 9 Hindi-speaking candidates. So I have a much larger role and a larger responsibility to fulfill also.”
Another surprise is former cricketer Manoj Tiwari who is the incumbent Shibpur MLA, who has not been given a ticket this time. Dr Rana Chatterjee is standing from this constituency instead, who is the incumbent MLA of the Bally constituency in the same district of Howrah.
Kanchan Mullick, who is a part of the Bengali film fraternity and the incumbent MLA from Uttarpara constituency, has been left out this time from the TMC candidate list.
The TMC is taking no chances with the BJP giving them a tough fight, and instead is choosing to field candidates not on basis of whether they are incumbent MLAs or celebrities, but on basis of who walks the talk.
This also means that with several names being replaced in various constituencies, the attempt is to make way for fresh faces that make a difference in the way voters perceive the TMC and its candidates.
Mamata Banerjee said while announcing the candidate list on Tuesday that those who are not in the list this time, will contribute to the party in other ways.
The challenge for the TMC will now be to keep the party intact without many switching over to the saffron party for more prominence—which they might lose out on in the TMC.
