Left Front releases second list of 32 candidates for West Bengal Assembly election

The Left Front released a fresh list of 32 candidates on Thursday (March 19, 2026) for the West Bengal Assembly election. This is the Left Front’s second list of candidates, after 192 names were released on Monday (March 16, 2026). 

The second list includes the nomination of Partha Pratim Biswas, Professor, Department of Construction Engineering, Jadavpur University, who has been fielded from Tollygunge by the CPI(M). 

The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) has fielded nominees in key constituencies across south Bengal, including Tollygunge, Ballygunge, and Diamond Harbour. 

For the politically important seat of Nandigram, the CPI has fielded Shanti Giri, who will be standing against the Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly, the BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, and Pavitra Kar from the TMC. 

‘Abhaya’s’ mother

Amidst speculation that the the mother of the R.G. Medical College and Hospital rape and murder victim (referred to as Abhaya) would be contesting in the forthcoming West Bengal Assembly election on a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ticket, CPI(M) State secretary Mohammad Salim urged her to not join any political party.  

“We have never asked the victim’s parents to be [with the] CPI(M). We have only tried to stand beside them… We had no gain in helping the family, but the Trinamool Congress and BJP have their vested interests,” Mr. Salim said on Thursday. 

She may fight the election from her home constituency in Panihati as a BJP candidate, Abhaya’s mother said on Thursday. The CPI(M) helped the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in destroying the law and order in Bengal, she alleged at the time of making her announcement.

The BJP has not yet announced her candidature officially.

“Can the BJP-RSS (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh) bring justice to the rape and murder victim of R.G. Kar [Hospital] when they themselves were linked to the Hathras rape case?” Mr. Salim said, questioning the BJP’s intention in offering an election ticket to the victim’s mother. The victim’s parents were speaking a version taught to them by the BJP, he alleged. 

The CPI(M) was the first to come out in support of the victim’s parents, without even knowing their identity, right after the victim passed away, the senior Left leader said. “We stood beside the helpless family. No TMC or BJP were there,” he added. While the BJP may be fielding her as a candidate, party leaders could not arrange a meeting of the victim’s parents with the Prime Minister or Home Minister, he said.  

“We tried to help the victim and her parents get justice, looking beyond party colours,” CPI(M) Central Committee member and Uttarpara candidate Minakshi Mukherjee said.

“Did we force them to be [with the] CPI(M) when we stopped the hearse van carrying the victim? The political party they want to be a part of is their personal matter,” Ms. Mukherjee said, in a reference to an earlier protest during which she and other Left leaders had stopped the hearse van, demanding proper investigation, and justice, on August 9, 2024, soon after the victim’s body was discovered inside the hospital premises.