West Bengal on Wednesday recorded over 90 per cent voter turnout in the second and final phase of the high stakes Assembly elections, as the opposition BJP seeks to unseat Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress government, while the ruling TMC aims for a fourth term.
Amid unprecedented security arrangements, a total of 142 constituencies in seven districts of South Bengal with a total electorate of over 3.21 crore went to polls in the second phase. As per the latest data provided by the Election Commission, this phase witnessed a voter turnout of 92.17 per cent.
The combined poll-percentage over the two-phases stood at 92.47 per cent as of 7:45 p.m., highest ever since Independence.
The first phase of polling, held on April 23 for 152 constituencies covering 16 districts, registered a record voter turnout of 93.19 per cent.
Although few instances of violence were reported in the final phase of polling on Wednesday, the electoral process was largely peaceful. As many as 1,448 candidates contested in this phase covering seven districts--Kolkata, Howrah, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman, considered the heartland and a major stronghold of the Trinamool Congress.
As per the latest figures provided by the poll body, the seven districts saw exceptionally high voter turnout — ranging from 93.66 per cent in Purba Bardhaman to 87.79 per cent in Kolkata South.
According to political analysts, the voting percentages for both the two phases were very high as the total number of voters shrank following the massive deletion of names from the electoral rolls after the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal. Moreover, eligible voters may have believed that voting in this elections would help prove their citizenship later, as they may have feared that not voting this time could cause trouble for them in the future.
The high profile Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata recorded a voter turnout of 86.63 per cent. Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee faced her arch-rival and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who contested from the Bhabanipur seat, Banerjee’s home turf, setting the stage for one of the most closely watched contests in this Assembly election.
Both Banerjee and Adhikari visited various booths in the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency on Wednesday morning. Though they did not come face-to-face or exchange courtesies, the two rival candidates were briefly in the same area in ward number 70 of Chakraberia, Banerjee was seated outside a local party office after receiving complaints of alleged intimidation of local TMC leaders.
While Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to “rig” the election using central forces, police observers and election officials, Adhikari dismissed her allegations as signs of “frustration”, saying she was “scared” because state police no longer controlled the polling process.
“Banerjee is scared. Her police have been replaced by central forces, which is why she is scared. The EC has deployed CAPFs here, so if she has any problem, she should approach them. Why have 40-50 people come with her?” Adhikari said.
Published on April 29, 2026