West Bengal Election 2026: Voting underway in Bengal
In West Bengal, where the fiercest contest is unfolding, voting is under way in 152 of 294 seats across 16 districts in the first phase, with 1,478 candidates in the fray. A second phase of polling is scheduled for next week.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has mounted an aggressive push to unseat Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose Trinamool Congress is seeking a fourth straight term in a state the BJP has never governed.
The election is taking place against a controversy over a sweeping revision of electoral rolls that has heightened political tensions.
That contest is most sharply defined in West Bengal, where the poll is unfolding amid controversy over the electoral roll revision.
About nine million voters – roughly 12% of the state’s electorate – have been removed following a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, with officials saying millions were classified as absentee or deceased, while the status of another 2.7 million remains under review.
While tribunals in West Bengal continue hearings on more than three million appeals from people removed from electoral rolls, 139 voters were cleared for inclusion in the first round of polling at the last minute, according to reports.