West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File | Photo credit: PTI
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday (March 29, 2026) urged voters to have faith in her, saying people should consider her as a candidate contesting all 294 seats of West Bengal.
“Mothers and sisters, will you vote for us or not? Forget who is your candidate, I am the candidate everywhere. We will be the ones to form the government,” the Trinamool Congress president said at a rally in Purulia district.
It was for the first time during the 2026 election campaign that Ms. Banerjee declared herself as a candidate in all 294 parliamentary seats. Almost 10 years ago, before the 2016 parliamentary polls, when several Trinamool leaders, including ministers, were caught on camera accepting cash for party funds in Narada videos, the chief minister made similar remarks that she was a candidate for all seats.
Ms Banerjee is the heart and soul of the Trinamool Congress and the party’s campaign is centered around her. The 2021 assembly in West Bengal, where the Trinamool Congress successfully resisted the onslaught of the Bharatiya Janata Party, was built on the campaign of “Banglar Nijer Mein Ki Chai (Bengal wants its own daughter).
The Trinamool Congress fielded candidates in 291 of the 294 seats, leaving three seats for its ally Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha. Ms Banerjee is contesting from Bhabanipur in Kolkata, a constituency she has represented since 2011.
During her speech at Manbazar in Purulia, Ms Banerjee was responding to Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s remarks on Friday when he said the Chief Minister had always played the “victim card”. “Sometimes she talks about her injury; sometimes she abuses the Election Commission. But people in West Bengal now understand her victim card politics very well,” Mr Shah said.
The chief minister said she repeatedly came back from the brink of death and wondered if BJP leaders wanted her dead.
“They say I’m walking around with a bandage on the election. I’ve come back from the brink of death repeatedly. Go look at the medical report… Did you intentionally injure my leg during the 2021 election? I campaigned in a wheelchair. Are you planning to kill me?” said Ms. Banerjee.
Shout slogans
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee faced some sloganeering from the crowd at a rally in Nowda in Murshidabad district. Some in the crowd were angry at the renomination of sitting MLA Sahina Mumtaz Begum, saying she failed to deliver during her tenure.
Warning party supporters that indiscipline will not be tolerated, Mr. Banerjee said if party supporters did not like a candidate, they should believe that he is the candidate.
“If anyone is unhappy with the candidate, then they think that I, Abhishek Banerjee, am running from here,” said the Diamond Harbor MP.
Published – 29 March 2026 19:16 IST
