BGPM Announces Candidates for Hill Constituencies Ahead of Bengal Assembly Polls

Amitava Banerjee, MP, March 16, 2026, Darjeeling: Hours after the official announcement of the schedule for the forthcoming West Bengal assembly election, Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), an ally of the TMC, announced its candidates for Kalimpong, Darjeeling and Kurseong constituencies.

At around 7:30 pm on Sunday, a press release by BGPM President Anit Thapa made the list public. “To strengthen the voice of regionalism in the upcoming West Bengal Legislative Assembly election scheduled for April 23, 2026, the official candidates of the BGPM will be as follows: Kalimpong – Ruden Sada Lepcha; Darjeeling – Vijay Kumar Rai; and Kurseong – Amar Lama.”

Though the announcement was made public on Sunday, BGPM has been projecting the trio and had started a campaign earlier, holding meetings especially in rural belts. In this way, they have managed to get a head start, with the stance of other parties not being made public yet.

Incidentally, Ruden Sada Lepcha is the sitting MLA from BGPM in the Kalimpong constituency. This is the second time he is contesting the Assembly elections from Kalimpong. Vijay Rai is an academician, while Amar Lama is a lawyer by profession and a seasoned politician.

In the last assembly elections, the BJP had bagged the Darjeeling and Kurseong seats, while the BGPM had bagged the Kalimpong seat. GNLF General Secretary Niraj Zimba had contested under the BJP’s banner, backed by other hill political outfits (GJM, GNLF, CPRM), and emerged victorious. In Kurseong, the BJP candidate B.P. Sharma had won, though a few weeks ago he left the BJP and joined the TMC.

The BGPM, the party in power in the hills, has issued a clarion call to hill political outfits to unite in order to safeguard regionalism and regional politics. The party has alleged that the BJP is attempting to end regionalism in the hills.

The BGPM claims that the TMC has respected regional politics by allowing the BGPM to decide on its candidates. Meanwhile, talks continue about some hill political parties potentially coming together to forge a separate alliance excluding both TMC and BJP, with the Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) leading this initiative.

Courtesy & source- Millennium Post