BJP names Pradhan as poll in-charge for Bihar, Bhupender Yadav for Bengal
Our correspondent
New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Thursday announced key appointments for upcoming Assembly elections in three states, assigning senior leaders with proven track records in managing campaigns.
Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan has been named in-charge for Bihar, while Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav will oversee preparations in West Bengal. Both leaders belong to the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), a demographic central to the BJP’s electoral strategy.
A party statement also confirmed that BJP national vice-president Baijayant “Jay” Panda will lead efforts in Tamil Nadu, where the party is a junior partner to the AIADMK. Elections in Bihar are expected this November, while West Bengal and Tamil Nadu are likely to go to polls in March–April 2026.
To support the campaign in Bihar, Gujarat BJP chief and Union minister C R Paatil, along with Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya, have been named co-incharges. In West Bengal, former Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb will serve as co-incharge, while Union minister Murlidhar Mohol will play the same role in Tamil Nadu. “These appointments reflect the party’s strategy of combining experienced election managers with leaders who have strong community and regional connections,” the BJP statement said.
Pradhan and Yadav have previously led major state campaigns. Pradhan managed the BJP’s successful bid in Haryana in 2024 and has earlier overseen elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Karnataka. His association with Bihar politics goes back to 2010, when he was co-incharge during the BJP–JD(U) alliance’s most emphatic victory. Yadav, meanwhile, guided the party’s campaign in Maharashtra in 2024, as well as earlier elections in Gujarat and Bihar. Maurya’s OBC background and Deb’s Bengali identity are seen as politically significant in their respective states. The BJP hopes these factors will bolster outreach efforts on the ground, where election in-charges function as the national leadership’s bridge with state units and implement key campaign strategies.
In Bihar, the BJP faces the immediate task of negotiating seat-sharing arrangements with allies ahead of the 243-member Assembly polls. While the BJP and Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) are expected to contest nearly equal numbers of seats, smaller partners such as Union ministers Chirag Paswan and Jitam Ram Manjhi, as well as former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, have been pressing for larger shares. Observers note that OBC communities, along with extremely backward classes and sections of Scheduled Castes, are expected to play a decisive role in Bihar. Pradhan’s challenge will be to balance these social dynamics while keeping the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) partners aligned.
In West Bengal, the BJP continues its push to challenge Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress, which will complete 15 years in power by the next election. The party, which has emerged as the main opposition force, is counting on Yadav and Deb to coordinate efforts to expand its reach.
Tamil Nadu presents a different challenge, where the BJP remains a marginal player. Panda, who earlier managed the party’s campaign in Delhi, has been tasked with consolidating the AIADMK-led alliance to take on the ruling DMK.
Alongside West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, Assembly elections in Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry are also scheduled for next year.
