Bengal polls: 91.4% provisional voter turnout in second phase

Voting for the second and final phase of the Assembly elections concluded on Wednesday amid tight security.

Polling in 142 of the state’s 294 constituencies began at 7 am.

A provisional voter turnout of 91.4% had been recorded, according to the Election Commission.

The first phase of polling, which covered 152 seats, was held on April 23 and a record turnout of 93.2% was reported.

The votes will be counted on Monday, along with those in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu.

In West Bengal, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress has been in power since 2011. The main Opposition in the state over the years has shifted from the Left parties to the Bharatiya Janata Party.

In the 2021 polls, the BJP managed to win 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The Trinamool Congress had won 215. A party or an alliance needs 148 seats for a majority. The other alliance comprising the Left, the Congress and some smaller parties, despite securing a 10% vote share, had won just one seat.

Read Scroll’s coverage of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections here.

Violence, vandalism in early hours

The West Bengal Police on Wednesday said that incidents of violence and vandalism were reported from parts of the state during the early hours of voting in the second phase, PTI reported.

In Hooghly, clashes broke out between workers of the Trinamool Congress and the Indian Secular Front at a booth in Khanakul on allegations that fake polling agents were appointed, PTI reported.

Chaos also erupted outside a booth in Howrah as voters said that polling began at 8.30 am after three failed attempts due to an Electronic Voting Machine malfunctioning, ANI reported. Voters also alleged that a few persons trying to disrupt polling were taken away by the security personnel.

Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari alleged that he was surrounded by “Mamata’s goons” and attempts were made to attack him at a polling booth in the Bhabanipur constituency, where he is the BJP’s candidate against Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, PTI reported.

Adhikari alleged that his attackers were not voters but “outsiders” and claimed he would not leave the area until Central Reserve Police Force personnel were sent, the news agency reported.

Ahead of polling, a booth worker from the BJP alleged that he was attacked by Trinamool Congress “goons” in the Chapra Assembly seat in Nadia district, ANI reported. The agent, identified as Mosharraf Mir, was reportedly attacked at around 5.30 am with an iron rod.

Security arrangements, arrests ahead of polls

Ahead of the second phase of polling, the Election Commission deployed 2,321 companies of Central Armed Police Forces in the state, The Hindu reported. In Kolkata, where 11 seats are going to the polls, 273 companies have been deployed.

In the past month, 390 arms and 598 rounds of ammunition were recovered during raids in the state, PTI quoted an unidentified official from the poll panel as saying.

The official added that steps had also been taken to regulate licensed arms, with 41,706 out of 52,869 licensed weapons deposited so far. Explosives weighing over 222.5 kg were seized during the raids that began on March 15 in the state, he added.

“A total of 390 arms and weapons have been seized till now, along with 1,348 crude bombs,” the news agency quoted him as saying.

Over the past two days, 2,473 persons have also been apprehended in West Bengal as part of intensified surveillance ahead of the second phase of voting, PTI reported.

An Election Commission official told the news agency that the arrests and detentions were made in 60 hours in several districts going to the polls.

Most of those detained were identified as potential “troublemakers”, the official added.

The police and the administration are reporting to the Election Commission as the Model Code of Conduct is in force in the state.

The arrests come days after the Calcutta High Court on April 22 stayed an order issued by Election Commission officials to the police in West Bengal to take preventive action against “troublemakers” ahead of the Assembly elections.

The police observer in the office of the chief election officer had “erred in issuing a blanket direction by treating certain citizens as troublemakers”, said a bench of Chief Justice Sujoy Paul and Justice Partha Sarathi Sen.

The judges stayed the order till June 30.

The matter pertained to an alleged order, titled “Preventive action against persons involved in voter intimidation”, issued by the police observer in the CEO office to the state director general of police on April 21.

The order allegedly had a list of “troublemakers” and claimed that they were involved in intimidating voters and disturbing the electoral process.

SIR in Bengal

The polls are taking place against the backdrop of the Election Commission having carried out a special intensive revision of the electoral rolls in 12 states and Union Territories, including West Bengal.

Nearly 91 lakh voters have been removed from West Bengal’s voter lists as part of the exercise. The deletions represent nearly 11.9% of the state’s electorate of 7.6 crore that existed before the revision process began.

About 27 lakh appeals filed in tribunals against exclusion from the voter lists are mostly undecided.

All decisions made by the tribunals on the addition and deletion of voters by April 21 for the first phase and April 27 for the second must be reflected in the final voter lists, the Supreme Court has told the Election Commission.

Only 138 of the 27 lakh appeals had been decided on by the tribunals ahead of the first phase.

Before the second phase, the Election Commission permitted 1,468 voters excluded during adjudication to cast their votes, after tribunals cleared their names, The Hindu reported. Six voters were also deleted by the tribunal.

Also read:

• Bengal elections: EC announces restrictions on motorcycles, pillion riders ahead of polling

• From jhalmuri to fish, how BJP is trying to shed its outsider image in Bengal

• Bengal SIR: EC adds 136 voters cleared by tribunals from 27 lakh appeals before first polling phase