BJP Unveils Second List for Bengal Polls, Names 111 Candidates

March 19, 2026

Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday released its second list of candidates for the West Bengal Assembly elections, announcing candidates for 111 more seats.

With this, the party has so far announced a total of 255 candidates for the 294-member Assembly. The first list, released on March 14, included candidates for 144 seats. Candidates for the remaining 39 seats are yet to be announced.

However, it is unclear whether the BJP will field its own candidates in the hill seats of Darjeeling, Kalimpong, and Kurseong or leave them to its ally, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM).

Celebrity Faces in the Second List

The second list includes three names from the entertainment industry. Former Rajya Sabha member and actress Roopa Ganguly has been nominated from the Sonarpur (South) seat in South 24 Parganas district, where she will face Lovely Moitra, the Trinamool Congress candidate.

Actor Hiran Chattopadhyay, currently a BJP MLA, has been nominated from the Shyampur seat in Howrah district instead of Kharagpur (Sadar).

The BJP has already announced that former state president Dilip Ghosh will contest from the Kharagpur (Sadar) seat.

The third name is actress-turned-politician Papiya Adhikari, who has been nominated from the Tollygunge seat in South Kolkata.

Tickets for prominent leaders also

Former Barrackpore MP Arjun Singh has been nominated from the Noapara seat in North 24 Parganas. Meanwhile, senior Calcutta High Court lawyer Kaustav Chattopadhyay has been nominated from the Barrackpore assembly seat.

Former Union Minister of State and former MP from Cooch Behar, Nishith Pramanik, has been nominated from the Mathabhanga seat this time.

The party has renominated most of its sitting MLAs in the first and second lists.