During the ongoing second and final phase of the Assembly elections in West Bengal, which began on Wednesday morning across 142 constituencies in South Bengal, voter turnout reached 18.39 per cent by 9 a.m., according to the Election Commission of India.
The electoral exercise commenced at 7 am.
Amid unprecedented security arrangements, over 3.21 crore voters, including 1.57 crore women, in seven districts will determine the fate of 1,448 candidates.
Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee is facing her arch-rival and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari, who has chosen to contest from the Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata, 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 where polling is underway. The constituency recorded a voter turnout of 17.08 per cent till 9 a.m..
After an intense campaign season, led by the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition BJP in Bengal, voting is underway in Kolkata, Howrah, Nadia, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Hooghly and Purba Bardhaman in South Bengal, considered the heartland and a major stronghold of the Banerjee-led TMC.
In the last Assembly elections held in 2021, Trinamool won 123 of the total 142 seats here, while the BJP could only win 18 seats.
A total of 41,001 polling booths have been set up for the second phase of the Assembly elections. The Election Commission has deployed 2,321 companies of central forces across the seven districts, with Kolkata, which has a history of political violence, especially during elections, receiving the highest deployment of 273 companies.
In some of the key constituencies in South Bengal, there will be strong triangular contests with prominent Congress and Left Front candidates in the fray. Many Trinamool Congress ministers are seeking re-election in this final phase.
Significantly, in the aftermath of the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the State, in this phase in at least 25 constituencies, deleted names exceed the previous victory margin.
While the Trinamool Congress has alleged that the targeted deletions are aimed at minorities and migrants, the BJP has argued that bogus names and illegal infiltration had distorted voters’ lists for years.
The first phase of polling on April 23 registered a record voter turnout of 93.19 per cent. The counting will be held on May 4.
Published on April 29, 2026