It seems even the losing candidates of the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in the 2026 Assembly elections are not ready to back the party supremo, Mamata Banerjee, after an overwhelming majority of them refused to challenge their defeat in the court. They did so despite the former chief minister’s repeated appeals to take legal action.
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Banerjee, who herself lost from her seat to the incumbent chief minister, Suvendu Adhikari, has alleged time and again that the April elections were stolen by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in its favour. She recently appeared before the Calcutta High Court challenging the result in Bhabanipur, the seat in Kolkata that she lost by more than 15,000 votes.
Out of 211 defeated candidates, 203 refused legal action
Records with the court showed that 203 of the TMC’s 211 defeated candidates, which is more than 96 per cent, have not turned up to file election petitions urging to overturn their defeats.
Records available with the Calcutta High Court show that 203 of the 211 defeated Trinamool Congress candidates — more than 96 per cent — have refrained from filing election petitions seeking to overturn their losses, effectively accepting the verdict delivered by voters. Only eight petitions, including that by Mamata, have been filed.
The BJP, which swept the polls by bagging 207 seats, has also submitted a petition over the results in six centres, taking the total number of election-related challenge cases to 14.
The TMC fielded 291 candidates in this election (three were left to its ally in North Bengal) but managed to win only 80. Mamata refused to accept the result and said votes were looted in more than 100 seats. She accused the Election Commission of being the BJP’s agent and vowed to challenge the results in court.
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An election result can be challenged within 45 days of its announcement. June 18 was the deadline. While it was expected that a large number of candidates would respond to Mamata’s call and move the judiciary, the real picture was far from that.
Not enough evidence, feel insiders
One TMC leader said one would need adequate evidence of electoral irregularities to file such petitions, and it is better to accept the public mandate, said reports. Many also feel that at a time when the party itself is struggling for survival, the candidates are not keen to make individual legal efforts. The TMC has seen a massive rebellion, both in Kolkata and New Delhi, as the majority of its elected MLAs and MPs defied the top leadership to chart out their own political journey.
TMC fights for survival
In the Assembly, a splinter group backed expelled TMC MLA Ritabrata Banerjee to become the Leader of Opposition, while in the Lok Sabha, at least 20 of the party’s 28 MPs decided to join a lesser-known Nationalist Citizens Party of India. The party’s finances have also come under the scrutiny with the police freezing three of its bank accounts holding more than Rs 400 crore, after the rebel MLAs questioned the funds’ sources and transactions.
In the Assembly elections held this year, the difference between the vote shares of the BJP and TMC was low in around 50 seats. In around 30 seats, the TMC lost by less than 10,000 votes, said an Ananda Bazaar Patrika report.
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Narendranath Chakraborty, who contested from Pandabeswar constituency and lost by less than 1,400 votes against his BJP opponent, filed the first case among the losing candidates, the ABP report added.
In 2021, too, Mamata had moved the court challenging her loss to Suvendu in Nandigram constituency, by less than 2,000 votes. The case has remained pending in the high court.
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