Mamata retains ‘chief minister’ tag online after Bengal assembly dissolution

The dissolution of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly by governor R.N. Ravi has formally brought an end to the Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee, making her officially a former chief minister after 15 years in power.

The announcement, made on Thursday evening, also marked the automatic dissolution of the state Cabinet. Despite the constitutional development, Banerjee continues to identify herself as the “Honourable chief minister, West Bengal” on her official social media accounts, including X and Facebook as a mark of protest against the conduct of the BJP and Election Commission during the recent polls.

The “about” sections of both profiles still describe her as the founder chairperson of the All India Trinamool Congress and the serving Chief Minister of the state.

Banerjee’s decision to retain the designation is consistent with the stand she adopted after the results of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly election, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party secured a sweeping victory and ended the Trinamool Congress’ 15-year rule.

Addressing the media on 5 May, a day after the election results, Banerjee said she would not follow convention by submitting her resignation to the governor. She argued that the declared results did not reflect the true mandate of the people and made clear she did not accept either her party’s defeat or her personal loss from the Bhabanipur constituency.

Banerjee was defeated in Bhabanipur by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, the outgoing Leader of the Opposition, by a margin of more than 15,000 votes.

The developments have drawn comparisons with the conduct of former chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at the end of the Left Front era in 2011.

On 13 May that year, with trends clearly indicating the collapse of the 34-year Left Front government, Bhattacharjee travelled to Raj Bhavan and tendered his resignation to the then governor, M.K. Narayanan, even before the final declaration of results.

After stepping down, Bhattacharjee reportedly declined to continue using the state-provided official vehicle and instead left in a car arranged by the CPI(M). He also thanked his security personnel for their service and requested that they no longer remain assigned to him.

Union minister of state and former West Bengal BJP president Sukanta Majumdar invoked that episode while criticising Banerjee’s present stance.

Majumdar said there could be no comparison between Bhattacharjee and Banerjee, describing the late Left leader as a politician of “impeccable honesty and integrity” who, according to him, was never driven by a desire to cling to power.

With IANS inputs