Kolkata: Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Wednesday took oath as the MLA from Bhabanipur and announced that he would vacate the Nandigram Assembly seat, days after winning from both constituencies in the 2026 Assembly elections.
Adhikari, who led the BJP to its first-ever government in Bengal earlier this month, was administered the oath by pro tem Speaker Tapas Roy at the Assembly. Bhabanipur has emerged as a politically symbolic constituency after Adhikari defeated Mamata Banerjee there in the recent polls.
Speaking after taking oath, Adhikari said he would continue to serve the people of Nandigram despite giving up the seat. “I will not abandon my duty towards the people of Nandigram,” he said, as quoted by PTI. He said constitutional rules required him to vacate one of the two seats within the stipulated period.
Adhikari had won both Bhabanipur and Nandigram in the elections.
The decision to retain Bhabanipur is being viewed as politically significant because the constituency had long been associated with Mamata Banerjee. Nandigram, meanwhile, remains closely tied to Adhikari’s political rise and his anti-land acquisition movement that reshaped Bengal politics in the late 2000s.
