West Bengal recorded a historic voter turnout in 2026 assembly elections fuelled by large deletions under the special intensive revision (SIR), with women leading participation and several Kolkata seats witnessing unusually high polling in the second and final phase on Wednesday.
According to Election Commission of India (ECI) data, the overall voter turnout in the polls stood at 92.9% (till 11pm on April 29), including 92.59% in second phase on Wednesday. The first phase, held on April 23, saw voter turnout of 93.19%, according to EC.
Female voter turnout stood at a record 93.24% across both phases, surpassing male turnout of 91.74%. In Phase 1, female turnout was 94.10% compared to 92.34% among men. In Phase 2, women again outnumbered men with a turnout of 92.28% against 91.07%.
The second phase turnout at 92.59% was significantly higher than the previous record of 84.72% in the 2011 assembly polls.
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In absolute terms, the turnout is around 63.2 million, also the highest in the state’s history. In 2021, the absolute turnout was 59.6 million.
The second phase turnout is also the highest for any major state in state or Lok Sabha elections. To be sure, West Bengal also held the previous record (before this election cycle). The 2011 state election in West Bengal recorded a 84.72% turnout, the highest for any major state. This was surpassed by Assam, where a special revision of rolls was held, in this election cycle, when it recorded 85.38% turnout, and has now been surpassed by West Bengal again.
Kolkata emerged as a key focus area in Phase 2, recording high polling percentages without reports of violence. Around 88% voter turnout was recorded across 11 assembly segments under the Kolkata Municipal Corporation till 8 pm. The Kolkata South Lok Sabha segment saw a turnout of 87.59%, while Kolkata North recorded 89.19%, both significantly higher than the 2024 Lok Sabha figures of 72.30% and 63.67%, respectively. Key constituencies such as Bhabanipur, where chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in the fray against Bharatiya Janata Party’s Suvendu Adhikari, witnessed intense political contests. Turnout in Bhabanipur stood at 86.74%. In 2021, this was 61.79%. Around 50,000 people were deleted in the seat.
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Other constituencies recorded similarly high participation, including Entally (91.89%), Beliaghata (90.52%) and Manicktala (90.05%).
In a first since coming to power, Banerjee toured her constituency for more than an hour on Wednesday.
“I have never seen this sort of an election. The BSF’s duty is to secure the borders. But they are capturing booths in the districts. The media will soon start showing survey reports. Don’t believe them. These are done under directions from BJP. We will win,” she said before casting her vote late in the afternoon.
Adhikari, on the other hand, interpreted the record turnout as an indicator of his victory. “An 85% turnout means I am winning. If it crosses 90%, my margin will set a record,” he said while touring Bhabanipur.
The high turnout was interpreted differently by political parties, with the TMC and BJP expressing confidence. “As per our internal assessment this is completely a vote of anger. The outsider vs Bengalis identity war was a main issue,” said a TMC functionary. State BJP’s chief spokesperson Debjit Sarkar said, “The massive turnout has made it clear that people want to bid farewell to the TMC government.”
