West Bengal: Five BJP leaders take oath as ministers as Suvendu Adhikari sworn in as first BJP CM

KOLKATA: Five BJP leaders — Dilip Ghosh, Agnimitra Paul, Ashok Kirtania, Kshudiram Tudu and Nisith Pramanik —  took oath as ministers in the West Bengal cabinet as Suvendu Adhikari was sworn in as the state’s first BJP Chief Minister.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah attended the grand swearing-in ceremony held in Kolkata. Rajnath Singh, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan, along with Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha and Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Delhi CM Rekha Gupta, Uttarakhand CM Pushkar Dhami, and other leaders also attended the swearing-in ceremony.

BJP leaders on Friday extended their wishes to Suvendu Adhikari after he was named the Leader of the BJP Legislature Party in West Bengal. Earlier, on May 4, Suvendu Adhikari established a dominant position in two of West Bengal’s most-watched constituencies, Bhabanipur and Nandigram, winning them both.

WB swearing-in ceremony: Dilip Ghosh and Agnimitra Paul takes oath as minister.@DilipGhoshBJP @paulagnimitra1 pic.twitter.com/ZZX2iMV6VB

— Oxomiya Jiyori (@SouleFacts) May 9, 2026

Figures from the Election Commission of India (ECI) following the 20th and final round of counting in Bhabanipur showed Adhikari winning against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a substantial margin of 15,105 votes. Simultaneously, he also won the Nandigram assembly seat. According to the data displayed on the ECI official website. Suvendu Adhikari secured 1,27,301 votes at the conclusion of the 19th and final round.

BJP won 207 seats in the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, while the Trinamool Congress (TMC) secured 80 seats after ruling the state for 15 years. West Bengal recorded the highest-ever voter turnout since independence with an impressive 91.66 per cent polling in Phase II of the Assembly elections. In phase I, the poll participation was 93.19 per cent, taking the combined poll percentage to 92.4 per cent.

The 2026 West Bengal Assembly election results have led to a dramatic political shift, ending Mamata Banerjee’s long dominance and bringing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power with a commanding 206 seats. This marks a major blow to the All India Trinamool Congress (TMC), which secured only 80 seats — a steep decline. (ANI)