West Bengal Assembly elections 2026 | 'Shortcut for BJP is by defeating Mamata': Amit Shah lowers BJP's target to 170

Kolkata: The Bharatiya Janata Party will come to power in West Bengal by winning 170 of the 294 assembly seats, although a victory against ruling Trinamool Congress’s supremo, Mamata Banerjee, in her home constituency Bhabanipur will provide “a shortcut” for the saffron party, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in Kolkata on Thursday.

His comment signalled a climbdown from the BJP’s publicly articulated prediction of winning 220 seats in West Bengal.

Shah led a high-octane roadshow that marked filing of nomination papers by Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur, where the BJP fielded its West Bengal heavyweight against the chief minister of the state’s TMC government.

The BJP workers, who participated in the roadshow, had a slogan shouting match with the TMC supporters near the residence of Mamata. The police personnel made a human wall between the two groups to prevent the face-off from escalating into violent clashes.

“We will win one seat after another and our tally will reach the 170 seats mark, and, only then, the change will come to West Bengal,” Shah said as he addressed the BJP workers and supporters during the rally. “I have a shortcut, though. If the people of Bhabanipur vote for the BJP, and help us win in this constituency, the change will happen automatically.”

Suvendu, the Leader of Opposition in the outgoing legislative assembly of West Bengal, had once a few weeks predicted that if the Hindus of West Bengal united and rallied behind the BJP, the party would surely win 220 assembly seats.

Shah, however, lowered the projection for the BJP to 170 seats.

The BJP’s seats in the 294-member West Bengal assembly had gone up from just three in 2016 to 77 in 2021, with the vote share rising from 10.16% to 38.14%. The TMC had secured 48.02% votes and won 215 seats in 2021 – three more than its score in 2016.

Mamata recently said that the TMC would surely win at least 226 seats this time. Her nephew and heir apparent, Abhishek Banerjee, said that the BJP would win less than 50 seats.

Shah on Thursday projected Suvendu’s electoral battle against Mamata in Bhabanipur as the centrepiece of the BJP’s campaign to oust the TMC from power in West Bengal.

Suvendu, a frontrunner for the BJP’s chief ministerial face in West Bengal, is also contesting from Nandigram, where he beat Mamata, his former political mentor, in 2021.

“Suvendu Da wanted to contest from Nandigram. I told him that not just Nandigram, he would have to defeat Mamata Banerjee in her home-turf, too,” the Union Home Minister said. “The change will happen in West Bengal. But shouldn’t there be a change in Bhabanipur, too?” Shah asked the BJP supporters and received a loud response from the cheering crowd: “Yes”.

He urged the people of Bhabanipur to ensure a massive victory for Suvendu and, thus, free the entire state from the misrule of the TMC.