{"id":212358,"date":"2026-03-31T11:47:44","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:17:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsfed.in\/english\/?p=212358"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:47:45","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T06:17:45","slug":"bjp-releases-4th-candidate-list-for-bengal-polls-shantanu-thakurs-wife-santosh-pathak-set-to-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsfed.in\/english\/bjp-releases-4th-candidate-list-for-bengal-polls-shantanu-thakurs-wife-santosh-pathak-set-to-contest\/","title":{"rendered":"BJP Releases 4th Candidate List for Bengal Polls, Shantanu Thakur\u2019s Wife &amp; Santosh Pathak Set to Contest!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up its gear for the upcoming 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections by releasing its fourth list of candidates this Tuesday. With the announcement of 13 more names, the saffron party has now finalized candidates for almost all major constituencies, setting the stage for a high-voltage clash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Significant names in this list include Soma Thakur, wife of Union Minister of State Shantanu Thakur, who will contest from Bagdah. Another highlight is Santosh Pathak, who recently defected from the Congress and has been fielded from the Chowringhee seat. Former IPS officer Debasish Dhar has been nominated for Sonarpur North, while Girija Shankar Ray will contest from Natabari. Other key candidates include Ashutosh Barma (Sitai), Piyush Kanti Das (Chandipur), and Manab Guha (Memari).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a tactical move, the party replaced its previously announced candidate for Maynaguri, swapping Kaushik Ray with Dalim Ray. While the TMC has already declared candidates for all 294 seats, the BJP is now inches away from completing its lineup. Voting across the state is scheduled for April 23 and 29, with the final results to be declared on May 4.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up its gear for the upcoming 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections by releasing its fourth list of candidates this Tuesday. With the announcement of 13 more names, the saffron party has now finalized candidates for almost all major constituencies, setting the stage for a high-voltage clash. Significant names [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":212359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-212358","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest-news"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>BJP Releases 4th Candidate List for Bengal Polls, Shantanu Thakur\u2019s Wife &amp; Santosh Pathak Set to Contest! - Ekjhalak English<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/newsfed.in\/english\/bjp-releases-4th-candidate-list-for-bengal-polls-shantanu-thakurs-wife-santosh-pathak-set-to-contest\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BJP Releases 4th Candidate List for Bengal Polls, Shantanu Thakur\u2019s Wife &amp; Santosh Pathak Set to Contest! - Ekjhalak English\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has stepped up its gear for the upcoming 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections by releasing its fourth list of candidates this Tuesday. With the announcement of 13 more names, the saffron party has now finalized candidates for almost all major constituencies, setting the stage for a high-voltage clash. 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