West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee
Indian political party
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC), formerly known as the Bengal Provincial Congress Committee in Colonial India, is the unit of the Indian National Congress for the state of West Bengal. It is responsible for the organization and management of the party's activities and campaigns in the state, as well as selecting candidates for local, state, and national elections.
PresidentSubhankar Sarkar
Founded19 June 1966
HeadquartersBidhan Bhavan, Sealdah, Entally, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700014
West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee পশ্চিমবঙ্গ প্রদেশ কংগ্রেস কমিটি | |
|---|---|
 | |
| President | Subhankar Sarkar |
| Chairman | Julfikar Ali |
| Founded | 19 June 1966 |
| Headquarters | Bidhan Bhavan, Sealdah, Entally, Kolkata, West Bengal, 700014 |
| Newspaper | Andolon.in |
| Student wing | West Bengal State Chhatra Parishad |
| Ideology | |
| Political position | Centre-left |
| ECI status | A State Unit of Indian National Congress |
| Alliance | Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (National level) |
| Seats in Rajya Sabha | 0 / 16
|
| Seats in Lok Sabha | 1 / 42
|
| Seats in West Bengal Legislative Assembly | 2 / 294
|
| Seats in Gorkhaland Territorial Administration | 0 / 62
|
| Election symbol | |
 | |
| Website | |
| wbpcc | |
Structure and composition
| S.no | Name | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | Prakash Joshi | AICC State Incharge AICC General Secretary |
| 2. | Amba Prasad | AICC State Co Incharge AICC Secretary |
| 3. | Shashi Panna | State Incharge West Bengal Adivasi Congress & National Coordinator All India Adivasi Congress, AICC |
| 4. | Subhankar Sarkar | President West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee |
| 5. | State Incharge Rajiv Gandhi Panchayati Raj Sangathan | |
| 6. | Eshan Ahmed Khan | State Incharge West Bengal Pradesh Youth Congress |
| 7. | Shrabanti Singh | President West Bengal Pradesh Mahila Congress |
| 8. | Navaneeta Tirkey | Chairperson West Bengal Pradesh Adivasi Congress |
| 9. | Priyanka Choudhary | President West Bengal State Chhatra Parishad NSUI |
| 10. | Rahul Pandey | President West Bengal Pradesh Congress Seva Dal |
List of presidents
| S.no | President | Portrait | Term | Duration | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ananda Gopal Mukherjee |  |
1981 | 1985 | 4 years, 0 days |
| 2 | Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi |  |
1985 | 1989 | 4 years, 0 days |
| 3 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | 1989 | 1992 | 3 years, 0 days | |
| 4 | Somendra Nath Mitra | 1992 | 1998 | 6 years, 0 days | |
| 5 | A. B. A. Ghani Khan Choudhury |  |
20 July 1998 | 22 August 2000 | 2 years, 33 days |
| 6 | Pranab Mukherjee | .jpg) |
22 August 2000 | 17 February 2008 | 7 years, 179 days |
| (2) | Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi | |
17 February 2008 | 23 October 2008 | 249 days |
| 7 | Manas Bhunia |  |
23 October 2008 | 17 January 2011 | 2 years, 86 days |
| 8 | Pradip Bhattacharya |  |
17 January 2011 | 10 February 2014 | 3 years, 24 days |
| 9 | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury | .png) |
11 February 2014 | 22 September 2018 | 4 years, 223 days |
| (4) | Somendra Nath Mitra | 22 September 2018 | 30 July 2020 | 1 year, 312 days | |
| (9) | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury | |
9 September 2020 | 21 September 2024 | 4 years, 12 days |
| 10 | Subhankar Sarkar |
|
21 September 2024 | Incumbent | 1 year, 344 days |
List of chief ministers of West Bengal from Indian National Congress
As of 2025, there have been five chief ministers of West Bengal from the Congress:
| S.no | Name | Portrait | Term | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh |  |
15 August 1947 | 22 January 1948 | 250 days |
| 21 November 1967 | 19 February 1968 | ||||
| 2. | Bidhan Chandra Roy |  |
23 January 1948 | 1 July 1962 | 14 years, 159 days |
| 3. | Prafulla Chandra Sen |  |
9 July 1962 | 28 February 1967 | 4 years, 234 days |
| 4. | Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee |  |
2 April 1971 | 28 June 1971 | 87 days |
| 5. | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | 20 March 1972 | 30 April 1977 | 5 years, 41 days | |
Political history
The Indian National Congress was popular in West Bengal from India's independence in 1947 till the late 1970s. The party was voted out of power in 1977 due to the Emergency. After that, they played the role of the opposition during the Left Front regime. The party suffered a big blow when Mamata Banerjee left the Congress and founded the breakaway party of Trinamool Congress (TMC) in 1998. This led to exodus of the party members to the TMC and demise of the Congress Party in West Bengal. The party further declined due to the rise of the Bharatiya Janata Party in West Bengal in the mid 2010s, relegating the party to a mere fourth-party status in the state. In the Legislative Assembly election in 2021, the party drew blank for the first time and failed to win a single seat in the assembly.
West Bengal Legislative Assembly election
| Year | Assembly | Leader | Seats contested | Seats won | (+/-) in seats | % of votes | Vote swing | Popular vote | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1952 | 1st | Bidhan Chandra Roy | 236 | 150 / 238 |
 |
38.82% | |
28,89,994 | Government |
| 1957 | 2nd | 251 | 152 / 252 |
 2 |
46.14% | 7.32 |
48,30,992 | Government | |
| 1962 | 3rd | Prafulla Chandra Sen | 252 | 157 / 252 |
5 |
47.29% | 1.15 |
45,22,476 | Government |
| 1967 | 4th | 280 | 127 / 280 |
 30 |
41.13% | 6.16 |
52,07,930 | Opposition | |
| 1969 | 5th | 280 | 55 / 280 |
72 |
41.32% | 0.19 |
55,38,622 | Opposition | |
| 1971 | 6th | Abdus Sattar | 239 | 105 / 280 |
50 |
29.19% | 12.13 |
37,67,314 | Government |
| 1972 | 7th | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | 238 | 216 / 280 |
111 |
49.08% | 19.89 |
65,43,251 | Government |
| 1977 | 8th | Purabi Mukhopadhyay | 290 | 20 / 294 |
196 |
23.02% | 26.06 |
32,98,063 | Opposition |
| 1982 | 9th | Ananda Gopal Mukherjee | 250 | 49 / 294 |
29 |
35.73% | 12.71 |
80,35,272 | Opposition |
| 1987 | 10th | Priya Ranjan Dasmunsi | 294 | 40 / 294 |
9 |
41.81% | 6.08 |
1,09,89,520 | Opposition |
| 1991 | 11th | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | 284 | 43 / 294 |
3 |
35.12% | 6.69 |
1,08,75,834 | Opposition |
| 1996 | 12th | Somen Mitra | 288 | 82 / 294 |
39 |
39.48% | 4.36 |
1,45,23,964 | Opposition |
| 2001 | 13th | Pranab Mukherjee | 60 | 26 / 294 |
56 |
7.98% | 31.50 |
29,21,151 | Opposition |
| 2006 | 14th | 262 | 21 / 294 |
5 |
14.71% | 6.73 |
58,05,398 | Opposition | |
| 2011 | 15th | Pradip Bhattacharya | 66 | 42 / 294 |
21 |
9.09% | 5.62 |
43,30,580 | Government |
| 2016 | 16th | Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury | 92 | 44 / 294 |
2 |
12.25% | 3.16 |
67,00,938 | Opposition |
| 2021 | 17th | 92 | 0 / 294 |
44 |
3.03% | 9.22 |
18,27,169 | Lost | |
| 2026 | 18th | Subhankar Sarkar | 293 | 2 / 294 |
2 |
2.97% | 0.06 |
19,00,942 | Opposition |
Performance in General Elections
| Year | Lok Sabha | Seats contested | Seats won | (+/-) in seats | % of votes | Vote swing | Popular vote | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1951 | 1st | 34 | 24 / 34 |
24 |
42.10% | |
32,05,162 | Government |
| 1957 | 2nd | 35 | 23 / 36 |
1 |
48.20% | 6.10 |
50,31,696 | Government |
| 1962 | 3rd | 36 | 22 / 36 |
1 |
46.79% | 1.41 |
45,53,677 | Government |
| 1967 | 4th | 40 | 14 / 40 |
8 |
39.69% | 7.10 |
51,05,170 | Government |
| 1971 | 5th | 31 | 13 / 42 |
1 |
28.20% | 11.49 |
36,87,665 | Government |
| 1977 | 6th | 34 | 3 / 42 |
10 |
29.37% | 1.17 |
43,12,418 | Opposition |
| 1980 | 7th | 41 | 4 / 42 |
1 |
36.51% | 7.14 |
75,00,578 | Government |
| 1984 | 8th | 42 | 16 / 42 |
12 |
48.16% | 11.65 |
1,22,27,863 | Government |
| 1989 | 9th | 41 | 4 / 42 |
12 |
41.38% | 6.78 |
1,31,00,945 | Opposition |
| 1991 | 10th | 39 | 5 / 42 |
1 |
34.86% | 6.52 |
1,08,34,675 | Government |
| 1996 | 11th | 42 | 9 / 42 |
4 |
40.09% | 5.23 |
1,47,11,538 | Opposition |
| 1998 | 12th | 39 | 1 / 42 |
8 |
15.20% | 24.89 |
55,51,456 | Opposition |
| 1999 | 13th | 41 | 3 / 42 |
2 |
13.29% | 1.91 |
46,88,932 | Opposition |
| 2004 | 14th | 37 | 6 / 42 |
3 |
14.56% | 1.27 |
53,85,754 | Government |
| 2009 | 15th | 14 | 6 / 42 |
 |
13.45% | 1.11 |
57,49,051 | Government |
| 2014 | 16th | 42 | 4 / 42 |
2 |
9.58% | 3.87 |
49,46,911 | Opposition |
| 2019 | 17th | 40 | 2 / 42 |
2 |
5.61% | 3.97 |
32,10,491 | Opposition |
| 2024 | 18th | 12 | 1 / 42 |
1 |
4.70% | 0.91 |
28,27,055 | Opposition |
