The stage is set for counting of votes for the high-stakes 2026 Assembly elections in West Bengal. Several famous mithai shop owners in Kolkata are just waiting to get the confirmations to give the final colours as the trends and the results will be declared one after another and become a part of the celebrations of victory of democracy in the state.
In the 2026 Assembly elections, the rich culinary heritage has been repeatedly highlighted both by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah during their month long election campaigns in the state giving the Bengal’s gastronomy a new thrust. Prime Minister Modi has highlighted the Bhabra Bhaja, a
popular snack of Purulia and tasted the highest selling street food Jhal Muri in Jhargram, while Amit Shah even announced that after the results will be declared he will give Mihidana and Sitabhoj, legacy sweet items prepared by the Maharaja of Burdwan for the arrival of Lord Curzon, thus again highlighting the most famous sweet delicacies of Rarh Bangla.
Political observers feel that this has been unprecedented compared to the previous elections. They feel that the BJP top central leadership tried to portray Bengal as a sweet state which is loved by the entire country. All the top sweet shop owners in Kolkata have increased their sweet items production as the famous Rasogolla is leading the race clearly way ahead of others only the white colour of ‘chana balls’ will change as when the trends and results will be clear — they will be dipped in hot sugar syrup with the preferred colour of the respective political parties according the growing demands and outcome of the results.
Sweets are part and parcel of the rich cultural and culinary heritage of Bengal and are recognised worldwide. ‘Misthimukh’ is a must for every celebration in Bong culture since centuries.
Sudip Mullick, owner of Balaram Mullick and Radharaman Mullick, a sweet shop started from a modest outlet in Bhawanipur about 130 years ago, said that on the counting day about 20,000 additional quantity of rasgullas will be prepared.
During the elections, they have prepared Sandesh having the symbols of all the political parties with their respective colours and these special pieces have been priced ₹250 each.
And the scenario is almost similar in other famous sweet shops like Bancharam, KC Das, Mithai, Ganguram, Bhim Nag, Nakur, Putiram, Nalin Chandra Das and Sons, Jadab Chandra Dass, Satish Chandra Das and Sons and others.
Satish Chandra Das and Sons, a sweet outlet in Garden Reach which is also popularly known as Satish Moyra’s shop, has prepared the Sandesh items with the famous ‘Khela Hobe’ slogan. Khela Hobe was the slogan of TMC during the 2021 Assembly polls.
Arup Kumar Das of Satish Chandra Das and Sons, a 106-year-old sweets shop in Garden Reach in Kolkata, said they have prepared Sandesh for all the four major political parties – BJP, TMC, Congress and CPM – but the numbers of BJP and TMC will be more than that of the other two political parties. The kora pak Sandesh items will have a
logo and the colour of each of these four political parties.
A 201-year-old outlet, JC DASS or Jadob Chandra Dass in Rash Behari Avenue, which is famous for kora pak Sandesh, is also geared up for the special day with additional productions.
The non Bengali sweet shops like Gupta Sweets, Bikharam Chandmal, Haldiram and others have also planned to increase the production of ladoos for the grand celebrations on Monday. They have a variety of ladoos and these specially prepared ladoos will cost more to the pockets. The procurement of ‘chenas’ has increased in all the sweet outlet kitchen’s for today’s additional productions.
There are more than two lakhs moiras engaged for sweet productions in Kolkata, while some shops have switched over to machine productions shifting from the traditional hand-made sweet productions. The city alone produces more than 70,000 kilograms of sweets daily and the total business volume of misthi annual sales surpasses $200 billion, though the peak season is during the Durga Puja festival which contributes about 70 per cent of the total annual consumption.