Bengal polls: BJP releases 6th list, fields Rakesh Singh from Kolkata Port

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday released its sixth list of candidates for the 2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly elections.

As per the list approved by the Central Election Committee, Rakesh Singh has been fielded from Kolkata Port.

The announcement comes amid intensified campaigning ahead of the two-phase elections scheduled for April 23 and April 29, with counting of votes on May 4.

Earlier, on April 4, the BJP released their fifth list of candidates for the 2026 assembly elections.

As per the list approved by the Central Election Committee, Taraknath Chatterjee has been fielded from Krishnanagar Uttar, Anupam Biswas from Kalyani (SC), Saurav Sikdar from Dum Dum Uttar, Anindya Raju Banerjee from Madhyamgram, and Rudraprasad Banerjee from Uluberia Purba.

 

The party also announced key changes in its earlier announced candidates. Kaushik Sidharth will now contest from Basirhat Uttar instead of Narayan Chandra Mondal, Abhijit Sardar has replaced Viswajit Khan in Bishnupur (SC), and Shankar Sikdar will contest from Behala Purba in place of Sunil Maharaj.

In the 4th released list, Ashutosh Barma has been fielded from Sitai (SC), Girija Shankar Roy from Natabari, Soma Thakur from Bagda (SC), Uttam Kumar Banik from Magrahat Purba, Debangshu Panda from Falta, Debashish Dhar from Sonarpur Uttar, Santosh Pathak from Chowrangee, Shyamal Hati from Howrah Dakshin, Ranjan Kumar Pual from Panchla, Piyush Kantil Das from Chandipur, Pradeep Lodha from Garbeta, Manav Guha from Memari, and Arijit Roy from Barabani.

Dalim Roy replaced Kaushik Roy from the Mayanguri (SC) Assembly constituency.

In the last assembly election in the state, held in eight phases in 2021, the Trinamool Congress recorded a landslide victory with 213 seats amid an intense contest with the BJP, which jumped to 77 seats. Congress and Left Front drew a blank in the last state polls.