The BJP has decided to field four candidates for the upcoming Rajya Sabha election, which is scheduled for 27 February. BJP state president Sukanta Majumdar, Leader of Opposition in West Bengal Assembly Suvendu Adhikari and organisational secretary Amitava Chakraborty yesterday met the BJP’s central observer Satish Dhond regarding this matter.

Five Rajya Sabha seats from Bengal are up for election. The deadline for filing nomination papers is 15 February. For Bengal, a candidate would need to secure 59 votes to win a seat in the Rajya Sabha. Going by its current numerical strength in the state Assembly, the BJP’s victory is assured in one seat. In last year’s Rajya Sabha election, Ananta Maharaj, a leader from Cooch Behar, won with the support of the BJP.

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The term of TMC MPs Nadimul Haque, Abir Ranjan Biswas, Shubhashis Chakraborty, and Shantanu Sen will end on 2 April. Congress member Abhishek Manu Singhvi, elected from Bengal to the Rajya Sabha, will also complete his term on that day. Voting for these seats will take place on 27 February. The decision about whether TMC will field the same candidate for all four seats is yet to be finalised.

Meanwhile, the state BJP has set up a committee for conducting the Lok Sabha elections, but there is still uncertainty about who will head the election management committee. Despite naming the heads of all other committees, the state BJP has not made a decision on the chairman of the election management committee, causing internal debate and conflict. The new committee has been formed superseding the existing one that had Sukanta Majumdar as its head, who is also the state president.

Amidst discussions, it has been hinted that Jagannath Chatterjee will primarily be responsible for election management tasks. While Suvendu Adhikari, BJP MP Dilip Ghosh, and former national secretary Rahul Sinha have secured positions in various committees, the overall leadership seems to focus on Amitabha Chakraboty and Sathish Dhond. In this election management committee, there is no prominent figure from the state BJP’s general committee, raising questions and discussions within the party.