Congress to contest all 294 seats in West Bengal assembly polls: Ghulam Ahmad Mir

New Delhi [India], February 5 (ANI): The Indian National Congress on Thursday confirmed that it will contest all 294 Assembly seats in the upcoming 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections and not enter into an alliance with the Left front.
Speaking after a Congress meeting on the elections, West Bengal Congress in-charge Ghulam Ahmad Mir said, "A meeting was held today and everyone was present in it. The topic was what the party leaders think about the upcoming elections in West Bengal, how to move forward. All leaders gave their opinions...everyone's views were heard...The leadership's view was that this time we will contest the elections in West Bengal alone."
Mir further emphasised that the decision to contest independently was backed by the national leadership, adding, "This time in West Bengal, our workers and cadre want that we should contest alone on 294 seats in the state. The national leadership stands with the decision made by the state leadership."
The Congress move comes amid a high-stakes political battle in West Bengal, where the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) is expected to face stiff competition from both Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
In parallel, the BJP has been consolidating its preparations for the elections. Party National President Nitin Nabin held a strategic meeting with West Bengal MPs at Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar's residence in New Delhi on Tuesday to discuss organisational matters and constituency-specific concerns.
After the meeting, BJP MP Raju Bista said that Nitin Nabin lent his guidance to the MPs and discussed their issues.
"All our MPs from West Bengal, from Lok Sabha, Rajya Sabha, and first-time MPs as well. We had the opportunity to spend more than two hours with the National President to discuss our concerns. This was purely an organisational meeting, and it was our first time meeting with him, so we received many suggestions and a lot of guidance. That's why I consider the Bharatiya Janata Party different from other parties. We met with the National President in a family-like atmosphere, and all the MPs presented their respective issues," Raju Bista told reporters.
Earlier last month, BJP West Bengal State President Samik Bhattacharya appointed in-charges for the respective assembly constituencies for the 2026 Legislative Assembly elections. Bhattacharya announced the Assembly in-charges on all 294 seats.
The BJP has appointed Manash Ray as the in-charge for the Nandigram seat, where Suvendu Adhikari defeated Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in the 2021 Assembly polls. The party appointed Debasish Dey in Siliguri, Binod Moktan in Darjeeling, Sujit Kr Das in Malda, Kaberi Chatterjee in Asansol Dakshin, Dayamoy Chakraborty in Asansol Uttar and Asish Travedi on Kolkata Port seat.
On January 24, the BJP announced the State Sankalp Patra Committee comprising 11 members, with party leader Tapas Roy serving as the Chairman. (ANI)