In a direct challenge to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the BJP on Monday released its first list of 144 candidates for the coming Assembly polls, fielding Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur, the south Kolkata constituency that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) chairperson holds.In 2021, Adhikari defeated Banerjee from Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district, where an anti-land acquisition movement helped propel the TMC to power over a decade and a half ago, by 1,956 votes. Banerjee filed an election petition in the Calcutta High Court in June 2021, challenging the result.AdvertisementSome of the other names on the list are Agnimitra Paul from Asansol Dakshin in Paschim Bardhaman who currently holds the constituency, the party’s chief whip in the Assembly Shankar Ghosh from Siliguri, incumbent MLA and former India cricketer Ashok Dinda from Moyna in Purba Medinipur, actor Rudranil Ghosh from Shibpur in Howrah district, former Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta from Rashbehari in KOlkata (he lost in 2021 from Tarakeswar), Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) councillor Sajal Ghosh from Baranagar, and Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s fifth-generation descendant Sumitra Chattopadhyay from Naihati in North 24 Parganas district.Also Read | ‘List won’t end here’: EC widens scrutiny to lower-level officers to ensure violence-free Bengal pollsFormer Asansol Mayor and ex-MLA Jitendra Tiwari, a strongman politician who started his career with the TMC and joined the BJP in December 2020, will contest from Pandabeswar in Paschim Bardhaman, while incumbent Haringhata MLA and folk singer Ashim Sarkar will look to retain his seat.After moving him from his turf, Medinipur, to Bardhaman-Durgapur for the Lok Sabha polls, former state BJP president Dilip Ghosh has returned to his old constituency Kharagpur Sadar. Ghosh replaces incumbent MLA and actor Hiran Chatterjee, who has not found a space in the first list. The other notable name missing from the first list is former Union MoS for Home Nisith Pramanik.AdvertisementFollowing Ghosh’s loss in the 2024 polls — he blamed rivals within the party for his switch to an unfamiliar seat and defeat, insinuating Adhikari had something to do with it — he had drifted from the party. However, he was brought back into the thick of things during Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s visit to Kolkata in January. During the visit, Shah had instructed party leaders to put an end to internal fights. During the rally at the Brigade Parade Ground in Kolkata on Saturday, Ghosh was seen talking to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Also Read | Bengal Assembly polls 2026: After chief secretary and home secretary, ECI removes DGP, Kolkata CP“I am thankful to senior leaders and my team. They have kept faith in me. This is a big fight … I will go to my people and request them again to vote for me, but the fight is a long one,” said Dinda.Paul told The Indian Express, “I thank my senior leaders. It is completely a team effort. Our intention was and is good, and people know that. We will do more infrastructure work if we come to power, such as a bridge over the Damodar. First, I am a daughter of this place and then an MLA.”“I have my roots in Naihati and I am happy with the chance to represent it,” said Sumitra Chattopadhyay.Reading the listBy fielding Suvendu from both Nandigram in Purba Medinipur and Bhabanipur, the BJP has decided to take the fight to the CM, who is the TMC’s tallest leader, knocking on her doors and attempting to bind her to the seat. The BJP knows that if it has to win Bengal, it has to somehow find a way to end the myth of Mamata. A second straight defeat from Nandigram, and in the best-case scenario from both seats, will ensure just that.Plus, there is the fact that the BJP senses it may be in with a chance in Bhabanipur itself, following the revision of electoral rolls during the SIR process. In the draft voters’ list, more than 44,000 electors (over 20%) were deleted in the constituency. The final rolls raised this figure to around 47,000, with about 14,000 names pending for adjudication. In the 2021 by-election following her loss from Nandigram, Mamata won the seat by over 58,000 votes.you may likeThe deletions drew criticism from the CM who has expressed “shock” over the high number of deletions. In a meeting with party Booth Level Agents (BLAs) and local councillors in January, Mamata alleged that the EC had deleted the names “intentionally”.Also Read | Minutes before EC presser, Mamata announces payement of DA arrears, hike in allowances for priests, muezzinsHowever, the TMC dismissed that Suvendu, a former Mamata lieutenant, would pose a serious challenge. “Suvendu will lose in both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. The entire BJP is uncertain. They will lose and that is why they are using the Election Commission to transfer officers. Dilip Ghosh got his seat only because he had met CM Mamata Banerjee and received the blessings of Lord Jagannath,” said TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh, referring to a meeting between the two leaders last year when Ghosh was sidelined in the BJP.Another feature of the BJP list is that unlike in 2021, when it brought in several former TMC leaders and gave them tickets, this time it has gone with several from its own rank and file, leaders who have proven themselves over a course of time. It also indicates that the BJP’s pool of candidates is not as deep as that of the TMC, which has yet to release a list of candidates and instead is facing the problem of plenty in several constituencies.