In 2016, halfway through the West Bengal elections, the Left-Congress alliance declared Surjya Mishra their Chief Minister candidate.

In 2016, Surjya Kant Mishra, CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit secretary, became the Chief Minister candidate for the Left Front -Congress alliance.

In 2016, Surjya Kant Mishra, CPI(M)'s West Bengal unit secretary, became the Chief Minister candidate for the Left Front -Congress alliance.In the light of the ongoing 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, a blogger named Agnivo Niyogi tweeted that in 2016 Surjya Kant Mishra was declared the next chief minister halfway through the elections. He further added that Whatsapp was full of text messages claiming the next possible cabinet.

West Bengal 2016 legislative assembly election was held for 294 seats in six phases. The All India Trinamool Congress(TMC), led by Mamata Banerjee, was re-elected with a majority, winning 211 seats.

In the opposition, Communist Party of India(Marxist)-led Left Front, Surjya Kant Mishra was the chief minister candidate in the 2016 elections. The alliance declared Mishra's candidature halfway through the elections. Former state Congress president, Manas Bhunia, said that if the Left democratic force came to power in 2016, Surjya Kanta Mishra would be its leader. Mishra contested the polls from the Narayangarh constituency and was among the 43 candidates who won for the Left Front.

Although his candidature was not announced at the beginning of the election, he was the united opposition's face in the latter part of the elections.