CrystleBreinl34 at 15:21, 16 March 2026

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{{Short description|Indian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=December 2015}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya
| image =
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1951|11|27|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Kolkata]], [[West Bengal]]
| office = [[Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha]]
| term_start = 3 April 2020
| term_end = 2 April 2026
| predecessor = [[Ritabrata Banerjee]]
| successor = [[Rahul Sinha (politician)|Rahul Sinha]]
| president =
*[[Ramnath Kovind]]
*[[Droupadi Murmu]]
| 1blankname = [[Rajya Sabha|Chairman of the House]]
| 1namedata =
*[[Venkaiah Naidu]]
*[[Jagdeep Dhankhar]]
*[[C. P. Radhakrishnan]]
| constituency = [[List of Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal|West Bengal]]
| office1 = 36th [[Mayors of Kolkata|Mayor of Kolkata]]
| term_start1 = 5 July 2005
| term_end1 = 16 June 2010
| predecessor1 = [[Subrata Mukherjee]]
| deputy1 = [[Kalyan Mukherjee (politician)|Kalyan Mukherjee]]
| successor1 = [[Sovan Chatterjee]]
| constituency1 = [[Ward No. 100, Kolkata Municipal Corporation|Ward No. 100]]
| spouse =
| party = [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]]
| alma_mater = [[Asutosh College]]<br>([[Bachelor of Science|B.Sc.]])<br>[[University of Calcutta]]<br>([[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B]])
| profession = Politician, Lawyer
| website =
| footnotes =
}}

'''Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya''' ({{langx|bn|বিকাশ রঞ্জন ভট্টাচার্য}}; born 27 November 1951) is an Indian politician and lawyer. He served as a [[Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha]] from the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]].<ref>{{cite news|title=The CPI(M) leader who tripped party boss Sitaram Yechury to enter Rajya Sabha|url=https://theprint.in/politics/the-cpim-leader-who-tripped-party-boss-sitaram-yechury-to-enter-rajya-sabha/384789/|date=20 March 2020|first1=Madhuparna|last1=Das|publisher=The Print|access-date=21 March 2020|archive-date=26 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200426062801/https://theprint.in/politics/the-cpim-leader-who-tripped-party-boss-sitaram-yechury-to-enter-rajya-sabha/384789/|url-status=live}}</ref> He served as the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|CPI(M)]] parliamentary party leader in [[Rajya Sabha]] from 3 July 2024 until 3 May 2025. He served as [[Mayors of Kolkata|Mayor of Kolkata]] from 2005 to 2010, heading the [[Kolkata Municipal Corporation]], led by the [[Left Front (West Bengal)|Left Front]] in the state of [[West Bengal]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/ex-mayor-and-noted-lawyer-bikash-bhattacharya-to-contest-bengal-rs-seat-as-left-congress-candidate/story-QzP4hDlRzJeYCmnuAwmvKI.html|title=Ex-mayor and noted lawyer Bikash Bhattacharya to contest Bengal RS seat as Left-Congress candidate|work=Hindustan Times |date=10 March 2020|access-date=29 March 2020|archive-date=14 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200914012156/https://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/ex-mayor-and-noted-lawyer-bikash-bhattacharya-to-contest-bengal-rs-seat-as-left-congress-candidate/story-QzP4hDlRzJeYCmnuAwmvKI.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

==Early life==
Bhattacharya hails from the [[Kalighat]] region of [[Kolkata]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/calcutta-times/the-chosen-one-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya/articleshow/1401656.cms|title=The Chosen One Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya|last=Konar|first=Debasish|date=5 February 2006|work=The Times of India|publisher=Bennett Coleman & Co. Ltd|access-date=2008-07-15|archive-date=15 February 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215032543/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/calcutta-times/the-chosen-one-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya/articleshow/1401656.cms|url-status=live}}</ref> He was born into a [[Bengali Brahmin]] [[East Bengali refugees|refugee]] family to Nityaranjan Bhattacharyya and Avarani Bhattacharyya. He went to Kalighat High School, and then joined [[Asutosh College|Asutosh College]] for his Bachelor of Science degree. He completed his [[Bachelor of Laws|LL.B]]. from [[University of Calcutta]]. He was later recruited as a school teacher, however, he left that job to join the legal profession.<ref name="auto">{{cite news | url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/calcutta-times/the-chosen-one-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya/articleshow/1401656.cms | title=The Chosen One Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya | newspaper=The Times of India | date=5 February 2006 | access-date=18 March 2023 | archive-date=15 February 2019 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190215032543/https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/calcutta-times/the-chosen-one-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya/articleshow/1401656.cms | url-status=live }}</ref>

==Legal career==
Bhattacharya is a Senior Advocate and leads various notable cases like "[[Saradha Group financial scandal|Saradha]]", "[[Narada sting operation]]", "[[West Bengal School Service Commission recruitment scam|Teachers Recruitment Scam]]" among other cases. He is practicing in [[Supreme Court of India]], [[Calcutta High Court]] and other courts.

He has served as the [[Advocate general|Advocate General]] of [[Tripura]] for 5 years between 1998 and 2003.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://sansad.in/rs|title=Digital Sansad|first=National Informatics|last=Centre|website=Digital Sansad|access-date=19 May 2023|archive-date=27 October 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231027094108/https://sansad.in/rs|url-status=live}}</ref> He was once offered the position of a justice at [[Calcutta High Court]] but he passed on that appointment.

He also acts as the principal legal mind of his party and defends party members implicated in political cases.

==Political career==
He joined the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] as a student and was active [[Students' Federation of India]].

He was arrested in the 1970s for participating in students' movement and spent some time in prison.<ref name="auto"/>

He took over the reins of the [[Kolkata Municipal Corporation]] in 2005 and continued as Mayor of Kolkata in 2010. He was elected from [[Ward No. 100, Kolkata Municipal Corporation]] in 2005, defeating influential [[Trinamool Congress]] leader [[Partha Chatterjee (politician)|Partha Chatterjee]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://wbsec.gov.in/writereaddata/Result_upload/KMC%20ELECS.pdf|title=Election results|website=wbsec.gov.in|access-date=18 March 2023|archive-date=2 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220702173356/http://wbsec.gov.in/writereaddata/Result_upload/KMC%20ELECS.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

As Mayor of Kolkata, he undertook several projects including sewerage systems in the city and took initiative to provide birth certificates to street children. Being a senior advocate he has become the poster-boy of TMC government opposition by his cascading eloquence and fiery oratory.

He fought from the [[Jadavpur Lok Sabha constituency]] in [[2019 Indian general election in West Bengal]] for CPI(M) in which he faced defeat and received third position behind [[Mimi Chakraborty]] of [[Trinamool Congress]] party and [[Anupam Hazra]] of the [[Bharatiya Janata Party]]. He was the only of candidate of his party in West Bengal to retain his security deposit.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.business-standard.com/article/pti-stories/all-but-one-left-front-candidates-set-to-lose-their-security-deposit-in-west-bengal-119052302195_1.html | title=All But One Left Front Candidates Set To Lose Their Security Deposit In West Bengal | access-date=23 May 2019 | website = Business Standard}}</ref>

He had been elected to [[Rajya Sabha]] from [[West Bengal]] in 2020 and took oath on 22 July. Earlier in 2017, he contested for a [[Rajya Sabha]] seat in West Bengal, however, his nomination was disqualified due to technical issues.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.anandabazar.com/west-bengal/nomination-of-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya-to-the-rajya-sabha-got-stuck-because-of-a-confusion-1.650129 | title=টানাপড়েনে ঝুলেই রইলেন বিকাশ | access-date=18 March 2023 | archive-date=18 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318044936/https://www.anandabazar.com/west-bengal/nomination-of-bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya-to-the-rajya-sabha-got-stuck-because-of-a-confusion-1.650129 | url-status=live }}</ref>

He was elected as the President of All India Lawyers' Union, lawyers' organisation of [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)]] in 2017. He currently serves as a special invited member of CPI(M) West Bengal State Committee.

He served as the [[Communist Party of India (Marxist)|CPI(M)]] parliamentary party leader in [[Rajya Sabha]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=ഡെസ്‌ക് |first=വെബ് |title=ബികാഷ് രഞ്ജന്‍ ഭട്ടാചാര്യ രാജ്യസഭയിലെ സി പി എം കക്ഷി നേതാവ് |url=https://www.sirajlive.com/bikash-ranjan-bhattacharya-is-the-cpm-party-leader-in-the-rajya-sabha.html?s |access-date=2024-07-03 |website=Siraj Daily |language=ml}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Bhattacharyya married to Ibha Bhattacharyya on 31 May 1976 and the couple has a son. Ibha Bhattacharyya is a consultant dietician. He has five brothers and one sister.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://myneta.info/rajsab09aff/candidate.php?candidate_id=810 | title=Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharyya(Communist Party of India (Marxist)(CPI(M))):(WEST BENGAL) - Affidavit Information of Candidate | access-date=18 March 2023 | archive-date=18 March 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230318044935/https://myneta.info/rajsab09aff/candidate.php?candidate_id=810 | url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="auto"/> Bhattacharya, in spite of hailing from a [[Brahmin]] family, is an avowed atheist. In 2015, Bhattacharya generated news by publicly consuming [[beef]] in an event held in [[Dharmatala]] to protest the [[2015 Dadri lynching|Dadri lynching incident]].<ref>{{Cite news |date=2015-11-06 |title=CPI(M) leader slammed for participating in ‘beef’ event |url=https://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/kolkata/cpim-leader-slammed-for-participating-in-beef-event/article7852855.ece/ |access-date=2025-04-18 |work=The Hindu |language=en-IN |issn=0971-751X}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Allies' beef ire at Bikash |url=https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/allies-beef-ire-at-bikash/cid/1316302 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327083431/https://www.telegraphindia.com/west-bengal/allies-beef-ire-at-bikash/cid/1316302 |archive-date=27 March 2022 |access-date=2025-04-18 |website=www.telegraphindia.com |url-status=live }}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bhattacharya, Bikash}}
[[Category:1951 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:21st-century mayors of places in India]]
[[Category:Politicians from Kolkata]]
[[Category:Communist Party of India (Marxist) politicians from West Bengal]]
[[Category:University of Calcutta alumni]]
[[Category:Mayors of Kolkata]]
[[Category:Senior advocates in India]]
[[Category:Rajya Sabha members from West Bengal]]
[[Category:Members of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation]]

Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya - Revision history

CrystleBreinl34 at 15:21, 16 March 2026