Voting for 152 seats will be held on Thursday (April 23) in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026. These seats cover 16 districts. The TMC has been in power in the state for 15 years. This time, the TMC is facing anti-incumbency in urban areas, while Mamata Banerjee's hold remains strong in rural areas. If the TMC wins the 2026 elections, Mamata Banerjee will become Chief Minister for the fourth consecutive term. There are 10 VIP seats in the first phase of voting that will be closely watched. The fate of VIP candidates like Suvendu Adhikari, Dilip Ghosh, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Tapas Banerjee, and Humayun Kabir will also be decided in this phase. In this article, we are telling you about these 10 VIP seats in Bengal.

1. Nandigram
Nandigram is one of the most prominent and hotly debated seats in West Bengal politics. The primary reason for this is its historic movement, political prestige, and the 2021 assembly elections. It is part of the Purba Medinipur district, which has been a center of power shifts in Bengal. The BJP has fielded star candidate Suvendu Adhikari from here. Adhikari previously left the TMC in 2020 and joined the BJP. In the 2021 assembly elections, he defeated Mamata Banerjee from the Nandigram seat. Suvendu Adhikari is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the Bengal Legislative Assembly. This time, he is contesting from both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. In Nandigram, he faces TMC's Pavitra Kar, while in Bhabanipur, the contest will be Mamata Banerjee versus Suvendu Adhikari.

2. Kharagpur Sadar
Dilip Ghosh has been the West Bengal BJP president for a long time. This time, he is contesting from the Kharagpur Sadar seat. This seat is a general (unreserved) and high-profile seat. The non-Bengali community has significant influence here. Ghosh will face TMC's Pradeep Sarkar in this seat. Dilip Ghosh is known for playing a key role in expanding the party's base in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He has also served as a BJP MP from the Medinipur constituency. He also won the Kharagpur Sadar seat in 2016. In the 2021 elections, BJP's Hiran Chatterjee narrowly won this seat against TMC's Pradeep Sarkar.

3. Baharampur
The Baharampur assembly seat in Murshidabad district is a general category seat with a majority of SC voters. Congress has fielded Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from this seat. Choudhary is a long-time Congress MP and has represented the Baharampur seat a record five times. He was defeated by TMC leader and former cricketer Yusuf Pathan in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Now he is trying to regain his stronghold by contesting the assembly elections from Baharampur against BJP's Subrata Maitra.