The line at booth number 141 at Kanchrapara Municipal Polytechnic High School in North 24 Parganas stretched well before 7 AM. An 85-year-old woman stood in queue in Jalpaiguri under morning sun. Across the state, in the Murshidabad district, a car was being pelted with stones. The 2026 Assembly elections were no different.
Voting for all 294 seats of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly took place in two phases: April 23 and April 29, 2026. Results will be declared on May 4. The tenure of the current Assembly was due to end on May 7, meaning there was no room for delay. The Election Commission of India announced the schedule on March 15, and in the weeks that followed, Bengal turned into what it always does before a state election — a high-decibel, high-stakes political theatre with real consequences.
Phase One: Record Numbers, Real Violence
Phase one on April 23 covered 152 constituencies across 16 districts. What came out of it first was a number that made headlines across the country: West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of 92.35% in the first phase of the Assembly elections, marking one of the highest turnout figures the state has seen in its post-Independence electoral history.
The Chief Electoral Officer described it as the highest voter turnout in West Bengal since Independence. That is a significant claim. Bengal voters have always shown up, but 92% in a state with over 6.8 crore eligible voters is a statement.
The euphoria around the turnout figure was, however, quickly tempered by what happened on the ground.
In Naoda in the Murshidabad district, Aam Janata Unnayan Party founder Humayun Kabir's car was vandalised during stone pelting between TMC and AJUP workers. TMC supporters shouted 'go back' slogans, accusing Kabir of being a BJP agent. Kabir, a rebel TMC leader who won from Bharatpur in the 2021 elections, alleged intimidation by his former party.
In Birbhum, the clashes were also visible. BJP candidate Debashish Ojha's agent was allegedly beaten up by TMC supporters in Labhpur. In Murarai, two Congress workers were injured in clashes with TMC. In Dubrajpur, there was stone pelting at the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) by miscreants suspected to be TMC workers, resulting in two security personnel being injured.
Tensions escalated in areas like Murshidabad, Birbhum and South Dinajpur, where TMC workers clashed with BJP supporters. However, the Central Armed Police Force and local police managed to control the situation and ensure uninterrupted voting.
By 3 PM on April 23, Bengal had recorded around 78.77% voter turnout. The final figure climbed to 92.35% by end of day.
State police confirmed 41 arrests were made along with 571 preventive arrests across the state during phase one.
Also Read: Bengal's 3.6 Crore Voters Walk Into the Booth — and Into The History?
The Electoral Context: 15 Years of TMC, and a Growing Challenge
The previous assembly elections in Bengal were held in March–April 2021, after which the incumbent Trinamool Congress formed the state government again after winning 215 out of 294 seats, with Mamata Banerjee sworn in as Chief Minister.
That was a dominant win. TMC won just under 48% of the vote in 2021, while BJP got 38.15% and CPI(M) a distant 10.04%. But the 2024 Lok Sabha elections showed a different picture. In those polls, TMC won 29 of Bengal's 42 Lok Sabha seats and BJP won 12, a significant shift from 2019 when BJP had bagged 18.
The 2026 Assembly election arrives at a complicated moment. TMC has governed Bengal for 15 years — first under the coalition that ended the Left's 34-year rule in 2011, and then through back-to-back majority wins. Anti-incumbency is a real factor. Questions around law and order, unemployment among Bengali youth, and the state's economic health have been persistent.
BJP, under state unit chief Sukanta Majumdar and with the shadow of Union Home Minister Amit Shah's strategic outreach, entered the 2026 polls with a clear ambition: flip Bengal and prove it can win the state it so narrowly missed in 2021.
The campaign was shaped by disputes over electoral rolls and citizenship, border security and undocumented migration, and broader debates over identity, governance, women's safety, employment, development, and anti-incumbency after 15 years of AITC rule.
Also Read: BJP's Maatri Shakti Card vs TMC's Lakshmi Bhandar: The Rs 36,000 War for Bengal's Women Voters
The Electoral Roll Controversy
One of the most contentious pre-election developments was the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls ordered by the Election Commission.
As per the Election Commission of India, a total of 9,102,577 voters were removed since October 2025 during the entire program of Special Intensive Revision, shrinking total eligible voters by 11.88% to 67,534,952 compared to 76,637,529 in October 2025. After addition through additional supplementary lists, the final voter count stood at 68,251,008.
The removal of over 91 lakh names from the rolls sparked a political storm. TMC alleged it was a deliberate attempt to disenfranchise Bengali voters, particularly in Muslim-dominated districts. The party called it an assault on democracy. BJP counter-argued that the revision was necessary to remove illegal immigrants and duplicate entries — and pointed to the large-scale removal as proof of prior electoral irregularities.
For the Election Commission, this was a clean-up exercise. For TMC, it was electoral manipulation. For BJP, it was overdue accountability. The reality, as always in Bengal, was somewhere in the noise between the three.
PM Modi's Campaign and the "Expiry Date" Remark
Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigned extensively across the state, targeting Mamata Banerjee's government with sharp rhetoric. Modi declared that May 4 would be TMC's expiry date, calling the bumper voter turnout a signal of regime change.
The line got traction. BJP used it in its social media campaign and rallies. But political observers in Kolkata were more cautious. A high turnout in Bengal does not automatically translate to BJP gains — in 2021, TMC won big despite similar turnout numbers.
Mamata Banerjee, as always, ran a ground-level campaign. She held multiple rallies, painted the election as a fight against BJP's "outsider agenda" and what she called the central government's vendetta against Bengal. TMC's campaign also leaned heavily on the welfare schemes — Lakshmir Bhandar, Swasthya Sathi, Kanyashree — that the Banerjee government has delivered over 15 years.
Key Constituencies to Watch on May 4
Nandigram: Suvendu Adhikari, now Opposition Leader in the Assembly and a BJP candidate, holds Nandigram. He wrested it from Mamata Banerjee herself in 2021 by a margin of 1,956 votes. Whether TMC can reclaim it is a key watch.
Bhabanipur: Mamata's own seat. She won the 2021 by-election here with a margin of over 58,000 votes. No surprise expected here.
North Bengal seats: BJP had shown strength in Coochbehar and Jalpaiguri in 2021. Whether they hold that ground matters for seat arithmetic.
Murshidabad: A Muslim-majority district where the ISF (Indian Secular Front) has also been active. TMC needs to hold its base here against a three-way split.
The Left and Congress: A Diminished But Present Force
CPI(M) and the Congress, which together won just 2 seats in 2021 (one each), have tried to rebuild for 2026. The Left-Congress alliance has some presence in specific districts, but neither is expected to dramatically alter the outcome. What they might do is split votes in tight constituencies, which could hurt either TMC or BJP depending on local dynamics.
The ISF, led by Abbas Siddiqui and active primarily in Murshidabad and South 24 Parganas, also fielded candidates. In 2021, ISF had won one seat.
Phase Two and the Wait for May 4
Phase two voting took place on April 29 covering the remaining 142 constituencies. As of April 24 (the date of this report), counting has not yet taken place. Results come on May 4, and by the evening of that day, Bengal will know whether its 15-year experiment with TMC continues or whether BJP breaks through.
Most exit polls conducted after phase one suggested TMC held an advantage, though the margins in specific constituencies were within the uncertainty range. BJP's strategists believed the SIR exercise, the high turnout, and Modi's popularity could combine into a majority. TMC's on-the-ground organisation, welfare delivery, and Mamata's personal connect remained its strongest assets.
Whatever happens on May 4, one thing is already clear. Bengal voters turned out in extraordinary numbers despite violence, heat, and administrative friction. That participation, more than any election result, is the story worth remembering.
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