Advocates swap courtrooms for campaign trail in elections

Kolkata: As Bengal braces for the 2026 Assembly elections, an intriguing trend is unfolding across party lines — practising advocates are swapping courtrooms for campaign trails as candidates, bringing with them legal finesse and the need for political instinct.

TMC has published its final list, while the Left Front and the BJP announced one list each, which shows a noticeable presence of lawyers preparing an out-of-court battle. Among the three major players, the CPI(M) leads with four advocates in the fray, followed by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) and one by the BJP.

The CPI(M)’s most prominent legal face is senior advocate Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya, contesting from Jadavpur. A heavyweight in both the Supreme Court and the Calcutta High Court, Bhattacharya is no stranger to electoral politics. The party has also fielded younger advocates — Soumyajit Raha from Bidhannagar, Sayan Banerjee from Maheshtala, and Imteaz Ahmed from Howrah (Madhya). Banerjee had earlier contested the 2024 Lok Sabha polls from Tamluk. For Raha and Ahmed, however, this marks a first-of-its-kind entry into the political arena.

In Uttarpara, the TMC has fielded Sirsanya Bandopadhyay, a senior advocate at the Calcutta High Court and a senior standing counsel for the West Bengal government. He comes with a political lineage — his father, Kalyan Banerjee, is a four-time Lok Sabha MP and a senior advocate at the same court. The party has also fielded advocate and former Rajya Sabha MP Subhasish Chakraborty from Behala East.

The BJP, in its first list, has fielded advocate Biraj Biswas from Karandighi. A young face and a High Court lawyer, Biswas represents the party’s early bet on legal professionals.