The provisional overall voter turnout in the West Bengal Assembly elections was a record 92.4%, the Election Commission said on Wednesday.
The average turnout in 152 of the state’s 294 constituencies where polling was held in the first phase on April 23 was 93.1%.
In the second phase, polling was held in the remaining 142 constituencies. According to a press release issued by the Election Commission on Wednesday night, the average turnout in the second phase was 91.6%.
The votes will be counted on Monday.
Data from more than 5,300 polling stations in the second phase was yet to be updated, the Election Commission said. The data also did not include service voters or the postal ballots, it added.
As of 9.30 am on Thursday, the poll panel’s app showed the turnout in the second phase to be 92.6%.
The average turnout among men was 93.1% in both phases and 91.6% among women, said the Election Commission.
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 had 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.
This was the first time that voter turnout in the state had crossed the 90% mark. In the 2021 Assembly polls, the overall turnout was 82.3%.
The previous highest turnout in the state was 84.7% recorded in the 2011 polls, when Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress came to power.
Several exit polls released on Wednesday forecast that the BJP was ahead of the TMC.
Read Scroll’s coverage of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections here.
The TMC has been in power in the state since 2011. The main Opposition in the state over the years has shifted from the Left Front to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
In the 2021 polls, the BJP managed to win 77 seats in the 294-member Assembly. The TMC 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.
Continued deployment of central forces
About 700 companies of the Central Armed Police Forces will remain deployed in West Bengal after the polling completes, PTI quoted an unidentified Election Commission official as having said on Wednesday.
This came after Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday said that the Central Armed Police Forces would remain deployed in the state for at least two months after the elections and told voters not to be concerned about “Didi’s goons”. Banerjee is popularly known as “Didi”, or elder sister.
The police and the administration in West Bengal are reporting to the Election Commission as the Model Code of Conduct is in force in the state.
Ahead of the polls, the Election Commission had deployed 2.4 lakh Central Armed Police Forces personnel in the state.
Watch: As lakhs of Muslim voters lose out to Bengal SIR, who stands to gain?
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