The Leader of the Opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is the politician who leads the official opposition in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly.
Eligibility Official Opposition is a term used in West Bengal Legislative Assembly to designate the political party which has secured the second largest number of seats in the assembly. In order to get formal recognition, the party must have at least 10% of total membership of the Legislative Assembly. A single party has to meet the 10% seat criterion, not an alliance. Many of the other Indian state legislatures also follow this 10% rule, while the rest prefer single largest opposition party according to the rules of their respective houses.
List of leaders of the opposition
No Name Constituency Term Assembly Party 1 Jyoti Basu Baranagar 1957 1962 years 2nd Communist Party of India 1962 1967 years 3rd 2 Khagendra Nath Dasgupta Jalpaiguri 1967 1969 years 4th Indian National Congress 3 Siddhartha Shankar Ray Chowranghee 1969 1971 years 5th (1) Jyoti Basu Baranagar 1971 1972 years 6th Communist Party of India (Marxist) 4 Biswanath Mukherjee Midnapore 1972 1977 years 7th Communist Party of India – Vacant 1977 1982 years 8th N/A 5 Abdus Sattar Lalgola 1982 1987 years 9th Indian National Congress 1987 1990 years 10th (3) Siddharth Shankar Ray 1991 1993 years 6 Zainal Abedin Itahar 1994 1996 years 11th 7 Atish Chandra Sinha Kandi 1996 2001 years 12th 8 Pankaj Kumar Banerjee Tollygunge 14 June 2001 12 May 2006 13th Trinamool Congress 9 Partha Chatterjee Behala Paschim 21 September 2006 13 May 2011 14th 10 Surjya Kanta Mishra Narayangarh 1 June 2011 25 May 2016 15th Communist Party of India (Marxist) 11 Abdul Mannan Champdani 2 June 2016 3 May 2021 16th Indian National Congress 12 Suvendu Adhikari Nandigram 13 May 2021 6 May 2026 17th Bharatiya Janata Party 13 Ritabrata Banerjee Uluberia Purba 3 June 2026 Incumbent 18th Democratic Trinamool Congress
List of deputy opposition leaders
Name Term PartyAmbica Banerjee1996–2006 Indian National Congress All India Trinamool Congress Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury2006–2009Indian National Congress Manas Bhunia2009–2011 Subhas Naskar2011–2016 Revolutionary Socialist Party Nepal Mahata 2016–2021 Indian National Congress Mihir Goswami 2021–2026 Bharatiya Janata Party 9 May 2026 - 2 June 2026 All India Trinamool Congress 3 June 2026–Incumbent Democratic Trinamool Congress
References