The BJP has directed its West Bengal leadership not to finalise candidates for the Kolkata and Howrah municipal elections through unilateral decisions, with party leaders instructed to follow a multi-stage selection process before the final list is announced, Sangbad Pratidin reported on Thursday.
The direction was issued at a closed-door meeting held at the BJP office in Salt Lake on Wednesday. The meeting focused on candidate selection, organisational preparations and the party’s electoral strategy for the two municipal corporations. The elections are expected to be held towards the end of November, although the report does not cite a formal election notification.
According to the report, BJP national general secretary Sunil Bansal told state leaders that candidate names should first emerge from the ground level. These names will then be examined by district-level election core committees and subsequently reviewed at the state level before the party announces its final candidates.
The process is intended to reduce discontent within the party over candidate selection. Ward-level lists have already reached the state leadership, with as many as 10 claimants reportedly seeking the ticket in some wards. The party is also accepting applications from members of the public through a drop box installed at its office on Muralidhar Sen Lane.
The meeting was attended by Bansal, West Bengal BJP president Shamik Bhattacharya, Union minister Sukanta Majumdar, who is responsible for the Kolkata municipal election, and MP Rahul Sinha, who is handling the Howrah municipal election. State BJP organisational general secretary Amitabh Chakraborty, legislators Sanjay Singh and Rudranil Ghosh, and other state general secretaries were also present.
The party plans to complete the candidate lists for Kolkata and Howrah by October, after which the first phase of names will be released. Discussions on the applications and the initial screening process are expected to begin after Lakshmi Puja, while the final names are to be settled by Kali Puja, according to the report.
The selection process places internal party organisation at the centre of the BJP’s municipal election preparations. Unlike a state or parliamentary contest, municipal elections require candidates to contest individual wards, making local networks, neighbourhood-level visibility and ward-specific organisation important parts of the process. The report, however, does not provide details of the criteria that will be used to assess applicants or how the party will resolve competing claims in wards with multiple aspirants.
The meeting also discussed steps to strengthen the organisation before the election and the party’s broader strategy for the municipal contest. Saudan Singh, who has recently been assigned responsibility for overseeing the West Bengal BJP organisation by the central leadership, attended the meeting and was introduced to senior state leaders.
The next reported milestones are the review of applications after Lakshmi Puja, the completion of the candidate list by Kali Puja and the subsequent release of the first set of names. The final election schedule and nomination timetable were not specified in the report.
