By Admin 
A big political turn has come in the politics of West Bengal before the 2026 assembly elections. Trinamool Congress (TMC) has created a stir in the organization by canceling the tickets of 74 sitting MLAs in its candidate list. After this decision, while there are reports of dissatisfaction within the party, BJP has made its strategy clear on this occasion, ‘No entry now’.
Dilip Ghosh, BJP candidate from Kharagpur Sadar seat, reacted sharply to TMC’s decision and said, “TMC MLAs and ministers have eaten so much cut money that they have become addicted to it. They have got so many facilities that they will be upset when tickets are cut. Tickets of 74 MLAs have been cut, everyone is angry and half the people are contacting BJP for tickets.”
His statement has come at a time when discussions about internal dissatisfaction and possible defection regarding ticket distribution have intensified in Bengal politics. Political analysts believe that cutting such a large number of tickets could be a part of TMC’s election strategy, which aims to reduce anti-incumbency and give a chance to new faces.
#WATCH | Kharagpur, West Medinipur: On TMC dropping 74 sitting MLAs from its official candidate list for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, BJP candidate from the Kharagpur Sadar assembly constituency, Dilip Ghosh, says, “The TMC, their MLAs and their minister have eaten… pic.twitter.com/DYNnRDzPvd
— ANI (@ANI) March 19, 2026
BJP’s ‘no entry’ message
Dilip Ghosh also gave clear indications about the new strategy of BJP. He said, “Last time we made a mistake, we probably gave tickets to the people who lost and we had to suffer the loss. This time the BJP is not giving entry to anyone.” This statement is being seen as an internal ‘filter mechanism’ of BJP. After not being able to perform as expected in the 2021 elections, the party now seems to be more cautious in candidate selection. BJP’s focus is now on such faces who are organizationally strong and can work at the grassroots level.
Dissatisfaction and changing equation in TMC
In this reshuffle, the party, while retaining 135 of its 209 sitting MLAs, canceled the tickets of 74, while the seats of 15 leaders were changed. Many big names were left out of the list, including leaders like Partha Chatterjee (Behala West), Vivek Gupta (Jorasanko), Paresh Pal (Behala), Asit Majumdar (Chinsura), actor Chiranjeet (Barasat), Kanchan Malik (Uttarpara), Mukutmani Adhikari (Ranaghat South) and Jeevan Krishna Saha (Bardhaman). Apart from this, four ministers Tajmul Hussain, Biplab Roy Chowdhury, Jyotsna Mandi and Manoj Tiwari could not make it to the candidate list, which indicated a large-scale political restructuring within the party.
The possibility of increasing dissatisfaction within TMC cannot be ruled out after the tickets of 74 MLAs were denied. Ticket distribution has always been a sensitive issue in Bengal politics and many times it has also become the reason for defection. BJP claims that many disgruntled leaders are contacting them, but the party currently wants to give a message of organizational discipline by adopting a policy of ‘no entry’. This strategy is being considered as an attempt to move BJP away from the politics of defection and towards ‘organization based elections’.
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