HM Amit Shah to chair BJP meeting to decide Bengal Chief Minister

NEW DELHI: Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be in Kolkata on Friday to chair a crucial meeting of the BJP’s newly elected MLAs to decide the party’s chief minister for West Bengal, in a key step ahead of government formation in the state.

The meeting of the BJP legislature party will determine the leader of the house, a process that will effectively finalise the next Chief Minister. Senior central leaders are overseeing the selection process as the party moves to form its first government in the state.

The development comes at a politically significant moment after the formal tenure of the previous West Bengal government ended on Thursday. The Governor issued a notification dissolving the 17th West Bengal Legislative Assembly, officially bringing the Assembly’s existence to a close as of May 7.

Despite the dissolution, outgoing Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has retained her “Chief Minister of West Bengal” designation on social media platforms, continuing to describe herself as the incumbent across Facebook, Instagram and X.

The election outcome has also drawn attention due to intense constituency-level shifts. Of the 95 BJP victories where deletion numbers exceeded winning margins, 80 were seats the party had not previously held. The BJP retained all 77 seats it won in 2021 and added 130 new seats overall.