Suvendu Adhikari named Bengal CM by BJP, oath ceremony on Saturday
SUVENDU Adhikari was on Friday elected as Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) legislature party leader in West Bengal, which paved the way for him to take oath as the first BJP chief minister of the state.
The oath-taking ceremony for the newly elected BJP MLAs is scheduled for May 9 and will take place at the Brigade Parade Ground.
The key meeting to pick the next chief minister of West Bengal was chaired by Home Minister Amit Shah in Kolkata.
Addressing the party leaders at the meet, Amit Shah congratulated the elected MLAs and Suvendu Adhikari, saying that people put their faith in the BJP in the Bengal polls despite there being many incidents of violence and threats.
"The atmosphere that had been created since the Communist era was deepened by Mamata Banerjee, and it was almost impossible to cast your vote there... I am very thankful for the huge victory that the people of Bengal have given us by trusting the BJP and our leader, Narendra Modi," said Amit Shah.
The BJP secured a historic victory in the recently concluded West Bengal assembly elections, ending the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress's (TMC) 15-year.
Bengal governor RN Ravi dissolved the state assembly on Thursday, paving the way for the formation of the new government.
Who is Suvendu Adhikari?
Suvendu Adhikari is a former Trinamool Congress leader and ex-close aide of Mamata Banerjee who joined the BJP ahead of the 2021 West Bengal elections, turning the mentor-protégé relationship inside the TMC into one of Indian politics’ most personal and symbolic electoral battles.
Suvendu Adhikari fought the 2021 Bengal elections from Bhabanipur against Mamata Banerjee and defeated her. He won again from the constituency in the 2026 elections against Mamata Banerjee, and also bagged the Nandigram seat.
Voting for the West Bengal assembly elections took place in two phases, first on April 23 and second on April 29. The votes were counted by the Election Commission of India on May 4, alongside those of Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
Suvendu Adhikari is attributed for BJP's rise in West Bengal, where its tally went from zero in 2011 to a whopping 207 in the 2026 state elections.
The party restricted the TMC to 80 seats in the elections in West Bengal, where the majority mark in the 294-member assembly is 148. Counting of votes took place for 293 seats on May 4 due to the repolling ordered in the Falta constituency later this month.
