Who'll be West Bengal's first BJP CM? Suvendu Adhikari, Samik Bhattacharya or a surprise

Who will be West Bengal's chief minister if the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) wins the state elections in 2026? As the counting of votes for the West Bengal Assembly polls was underway on Monday, 4 May, early trends by the Election Commission showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in a comfortable lead over the incumbent Trinamool Congress (TMC).

Even as final results were awaited, social media and political circles were abuzz with the names of a few BJP leaders who may be chosen to replace Mamata Banerjee as West Bengal's chief minister if the BJP wins the polls.

Here's a list of the top 5 BJP leaders whose names were doing the rounds for the next Bengal CM race:

1. Suvendu Adhikari

Suvendu Adhikari, who was once Mamata Banerjee's key aide, has emerged as her main rival. He defeated the TMC chief in Nandigram in the 2021 West Bengal Elections by around 2,000 votes.

This year, he is contesting from two assembly constituencies — Nandigram and Bhabanipur — with an eye on defeating Banerjee, this time, from Bhabanipur.

Suvendu Adhikari is the Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Assembly and is seen as a key contender for the CM post. A former TMC leader, Adhikari, is among the few key faces of the BJP in the state.

He has been a three-time MLA from West Bengal and has twice been the Lok Sabha MP from the Tamluk parliamentary constituency. He was earlier a cabinet minister in the Mamata Banerjee-led government.

In 2020, Adhikari and several others from the TMC jumped ship and joined the BJP. This came just ahead of the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections, when Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee in a close contest in Nandigram.

2. Samik Bhattacharya

Samik Bhattacharya is currently the president of the West Bengal unit of the BJP. He is also a Member of Parliament in the Rajya Sabha representing West Bengal since 2024, and a former MLA from Basirhat Dakshin.

He was elected from the Basirhat Dakshin Assembly constituency in the 2014 by-election by a margin of 1,586 and served as a Member of West Bengal Legislative Assembly.

He lost the 2016 elections to his rival, Dipendu Biswas, of the Trinamool Congress.

He was the second member from the BJP to be elected in the assembly's history, the first being in 1999. He was also defeated in the Dum Dum Lok Sabha constituency in the 2019 general election.

According to the Times of India, Bhattacharya began his political journey with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh in 1971. He served for over 10 years as state general secretary of the BJP’s youth wing (BJYM) and was instrumental in maintaining coordination between the RSS and the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a senior BJP functionary had told TOI.

3. Dilip Ghosh

Dilip Ghosh was the West Bengal BJP chief from 2015 to 2021. He played a key role in the party’s rise in Bengal during the 2019 Lok Sabha and 2021 Assembly elections.

He was in charge of the RSS in Andaman and Nicobar Islands and even worked as an assistant to former RSS chief KS Sudarshan. He was earlier appointed as West Bengal State General Secretary.

Dilip Ghosh was a Member of Parliament from Medinipur. He also served as one of the national vice presidents of the BJP from 2021 to 2023.

His electoral career started when he defeated veteran Congress leader Gyan Singh Sohanlal in the Kharagpur Sadar constituency in West Medinipur district in the 2016 West Bengal Assembly elections.

In the 2026 West Bengal Elections, Dilip Ghosh contested against TMC's Pradip Sarkar from the Kharagpur Assembly constituency.

4. Agnimitra Paul

From a fashion designer to becoming a key face of the Bengal BJP, Agnimitra Paul won the Asansol Dakshin Assembly constituency in the 2026 West Bengal Elections.

She is the general secretary of the West Bengal BJP and also served as the head of the BJP Mahila Morcha.

Born on 25 November 1974 in Asansol into a family of prominent academics and doctors, Agnimitra Paul holds a Bachelor of Science (1994) from Banwarilal Bhalotia College and a diploma in Fashion Designing (1997), the Hindustan Times reported.

Before entering politics in 2019, she was a renowned Kolkata-based fashion designer who created wardrobes for Bollywood icons like Sridevi and Mithun Chakraborty. Her transition to politics was swift, seeing her rise from the president of the BJP Mahila Morcha to the party general secretary. She is married to entrepreneur Partha Paul, and the couple has two sons.

5. A new face

Even though the BJP is winning the West Bengal Elections 2026 with a thumping majority, its CM choice remains a surprise. Unlike the ruling TMC, the party contested this year's poll without a CM face, with PM Modi being the central figure.

The BJP has a history of choosing a less prominent leader or a first-time MLA as the chief minister. This could be reflected in the BJP's CM choice in states/UTs such as Delhi (Rekha Gupta), Rajasthan (Bhajan Lal Sharma), Madhya Pradesh (Mohan Yadav) and Chhattisgarh (Vishnu Deo Sai).