Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader and Rajya Sabha MP Samik Bhattacharya has been officially named the new president of the party's West Bengal unit. The announcement was made on Thursday during a grand felicitation ceremony held at Science City in Kolkata.
The official declaration was made in the presence of senior BJP leader and former Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who handed over the certificate of election to Bhattacharya amidst loud cheers and applause from party workers and supporters. Prasad was the national returning officer for the election of the West Bengal BJP president.
Bhattacharya to steer 2026 battle
61-year-old Bhattacharya was elected unopposed as no other contender submitted a nomination by the stipulated deadline on Wednesday afternoon. "Only one nomination was submitted for the post of president of West Bengal and that is Samik Bhattacharya's. I congratulate him," Prasad said, handing him the certificate.
Bhattacharya had submitted his nomination papers at the BJP's state headquarters in Salt Lake on Wednesday afternoon, accompanied by outgoing president Sukanta Majumdar and Leader of the Opposition in the state assembly, Suvendu Adhikari. Bhattacharya now takes over at a crucial juncture, with the West Bengal assembly elections due in less than a year's time.
Who is Samik Bhattacharya?
Samik Bhattacharya was born on November 5, 1963, and is currently a Rajya Sabha MP from West Bengal. He took oath as a new Rajya Sabha member on April 4, 2024. It is worth mentioning that from 2014 to 2016, Samik Bhattacharya served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) from the Basirhat South constituency in West Bengal. Not only that, he was also actively serving as the chief spokesperson of the West Bengal BJP from 2020 to 2024. In 2024, the BJP nominated him as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections.
(With PTI inputs)
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