Who Is Pratikur Rahaman? From Left’s Young Comrade To TMC’s Newest Minority Face, Meet The Former CPI(M) Leader In News Ahead Of West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026

West Bengal, the recurrent hotbed of Indian politics, is slated for the assembly polls next month in two phases.

Earlier, the Election Commission of India announced the poll dates for 294 Members of the Legislative Assembly of the state.

The state will undergo polls in two phases — first phase on April 23 and the second phase on April 29.

With the ECI poll schedule announcement, the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) also became effective in the state and the focus has now shifted to the major parties in the fray.

While the Trinamool Congress holds a comfortable majority under the leadership of CM Mamata Banerjee, the Bharatiya Janata Party also eyes an electoral miracle in the eastern state.

With the poll announcement, focus has also shifted to the political baton-holders of both the parties in West Bengal.

While leaders such as Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari remain at the core of this high-voltage political drama, several other leaders also feature in the news frequently.

One such name is Trinamool’s Pratikur Rahman.

Who is Pratikur Rahman?

Pratik Ur Rahaman is an Indian politician from West Bengal whose career arc — from student activist to CPI(M) state leader to Trinamool Congress recruit — reflects the shifting fault lines of Bengal’s left politics.

A graduate in Political Science with honours from Fakir Chand College in Diamond Harbour, Rahaman cut his teeth in politics through the Students’ Federation of India (SFI), the student wing of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

He rose through its ranks to become the state secretary of SFI in West Bengal.

The Comrade Who Wasn’t

His student-politics credentials earned him a place in the CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee, where he was regarded as part of a younger generation tasked with reinvigorating the party’s organisational structure in a state where the Left has been steadily losing ground since 2011.

2024 Lok Sabha Election

Rahaman’s most high-profile moment came during the 2024 Indian general election, when CPI(M) fielded him from the Diamond Harbour Lok Sabha constituency — a seat dominated by Trinamool Congress heavyweight Abhishek Banerjee, nephew of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

Rahaman contested the seat but he failed to gain the trust of the public against the Banerjee scion.

Resignation from CPI(M)

In February 2026, Rahaman resigned from the CPI(M) State Committee and gave up his primary party membership over ideological differences with the Left leadership.

The resignation quickly became the talk of the town within Bengal’s political circles.

Joining Trinamool Congress

Weeks after his exit from CPI(M), Rahaman made a decisive turn — joining the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the presence of senior party leaders.

The move, timed ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, was widely seen as a significant political development given his stature as a former Left organizational leader.

Political pundits suggest that while Rahaman’s entry into the TMC fold gave little electoral advantage to the Mamata-led party, his induction reinforced the idea that she is the only viable anti-BJP force in the state.

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