New Delhi: The Congress on Thursday announced that it will contest every one of West Bengal’s 294 assembly seats independently in the 2026 elections, thus ending months of speculations if it will go with the ruling Trinamool Congress or the left parties in the state.
The decision was announced after a high-stakes meeting in the national capital at the residence of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, which was also attended by Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress General Secretary (Organisation) KC Venugopal, state incharge Ghulam Ahmed Mir, state president Subhankar Sarkar, senior leaders like Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Isha Khan, mausam Noor and others joining virtually that included BK Hariprasad, Deepa Dasmunshi.
The declaration to go solo in West Bengal signals a reset after past flops in the state, prioritising cadre morale over coalitions.
Post-meeting, Mir spoke to the media and said, “Congress will fight the Bengal polls alone.”
He cited that this decision was made in the feedback from the state leaders, workers and cadres in the state.
Mir said, “The meeting featured important strategic discussions related to the elections to be held in West Bengal, in which everyone shared their suggestions. After discussions with everyone, it has been decided that the Congress will contest all 294 seats independently in West Bengal.”
He also stated that we e will make preparations keeping this in mind.
Mir added that forming an alliance in the state in the past had demoralised Congress workers at the grassroots level.
In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly polls, the Congress had formed an alliance with the Left Front and failed to win a single seat.
Last time the party went solo in Assembly elections in the state was in 2006, when it had won 21 seats.
In 2011 it had joined hands with the Trinamool Congress and managed to win 42 seats. In 2016, it had won 44 seats.
This declaration marks and end to the ongoing speculations if the grand old party will join hands with the ruling Trinamool Congress or the Left parties in the state where the elections are due in April-May this year.
