West Bengal polls: BJP's Bhupender Yadav, Biplab Deb review ground situation

Kolkata: Barely days after Durga Puja festivities ended, the BJP on Thursday began its groundwork for the 2026 West Bengal assembly polls, with Union minister Bhupender Yadav and former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb holding a crucial organisational review meeting here.

The two central observers, tasked with overseeing the BJP's election preparedness in West Bengal, arrived in Kolkata on Wednesday night and on Thursday, chaired an extended session with the party's state leadership and frontal organisation heads at a city office here.

According to party insiders, the meeting focused on assessing the BJP's organisational strength at the booth level, identifying weak links, and drawing up an initial roadmap for the run-up to the 2026 polls.

"This was a comprehensive review of our organisational structure and preparedness. The central observers want a realistic picture of where we stand, both in terms of reach and efficiency," a senior BJP leader told PTI.

State party president Samik Bhattacharya, Leader of the Opposition in the assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, former state party chief Sukanta Majumdar and several other key functionaries were present in the meeting.

Sources said discussions also covered the Election Commission's upcoming special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, which has sparked sharp reactions in the state.

The BJP leadership instructed its cadres to remain active during the voter list revision process, which is expected to be announced later this month.

"SIR is crucial. Our workers must ensure genuine voters are not left out and that the process is transparent," a senior functionary said.

Thursday's meeting was the second formal session chaired by Yadav and Deb after being assigned to West Bengal as central observers. Both leaders have been holding back-to-back meetings since taking charge, aiming to strengthen the party's base in areas where the organisation has shown signs of weakness.

Party insiders said the central leadership has already begun preliminary groundwork for candidate selection and constituency mapping, though final decisions will be made closer to the polls.

"A draft list of potential candidates is being prepared, but it's far from final. The focus right now is on organisational mobilisation," the source said.

The BJP, which had won 77 seats in the 2021 assembly elections, was ahead in around 90 assembly segments based on the 2024 Lok Sabha vote share. The party had led in 121 assembly segments in 2019, a benchmark it now aims to surpass. The magic figure in the 294-member strong West Bengal Assembly is 148.

With the ruling TMC launching its post-poll outreach through 'Bijoya Sampark Abhiyan', the BJP, too, is preparing a series of mass contact programmes through October and November, to be followed by an intensified campaign from January 2026.

"After puja, our focus is on 2026 polls. The observers are reviewing ground realities, and booth-level strengthening is our top priority," another state leader said.

Political analysts say the early resumption of strategy sessions underlines the BJP's determination to avoid the organisational inertia that hurt its performance in 2021.