West Bengal CEO lauds massive voter turnout of 92.47% in Assembly polls

Kolkata (West Bengal) [India], April 29 : West Bengal Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Manoj Agarwal on Wednesday said that the voter turnout in the Assembly polls reached a staggering 92.47% (combined of two phases), hailing the large participation from people in the electoral process.

According to the Election Commission of India (ECI), poll participation in West Bengal (Phase-II) stood at 91.66 per cent till 7:45 PM. In phase I of the elections on April 23, the poll participation was 93.19 per cent, resulting in a staggering combined poll percentage over the two phases at 92.47 per cent.

Addressing a press conference here, the CEO said that Kolkata witnessed historic participation in the polling process. Sharing an anecdote, the CEO said that the booth where he cast his vote saw a historic voter turnout of over 80%.

"Turnout reached 92.47%, with slightly higher voting in the second phase than in the first. Today's vote was for 142 assembly seats across 8 districts: Kolkata South, Kolkata North, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, and Purba Bardhaman. Among these, there were 41,001 booths," he said.

"Furthermore, Polling was largely peaceful, with only minor incidents...there were no major issues. Kolkata saw historic participation. At the booth where I went to vote in Koklata, our BLO (Booth Level Officer) mentioned that they have been working for 12 years, and this booth has never seen more than 50% voting, but today it has crossed 80%. I visited 10 booths today, and in one booth in Alipore, it was over 95%," he added.

He further stated that several voters who did not participate in the polling before treated it as a festival and exercised their franchise. The CEO lauded the increase in voter turnout throughout the state, especially in rural areas.

"We saw that in many booths, a certain class of people who didn't use to vote came out to vote this time. The ECI (Election Commission of India) campaigned for a long time that voting day is like a festival. The higher the voting percentage, the better the representative government will be. In slum areas where the turnout used to be low, it has increased. Across the state, the voting percentage has been historic this time, setting an example for the whole country," he said.

Meanwhile, West Bengal has achieved its highest voter turnout since independence, reaching a historic 91.66 per cent during Phase II of the elections.

"The combined poll percentage over the two phases stands at 92.47%. Previously, the highest poll-participation in WB was 84.72% (2011 GELA), " the release from ECI said.

Female voters led the voting numbers with 92.28 per cent, with male voters following closely at 91.07 per cent.

Meanwhile, the pollsters, in their exit poll projections, projected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) winning West Bengal in the 2026 Assembly elections, whose polling concluded this evening.

The exit poll by Chanakya Strategies has projected 150-160 Assembly seats in the BJP's corner while placing Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 130-140 seats of the total 294 Assembly seats in the state.

Other parties are projected to win six to 10 Assembly seats in West Bengal as per Chanakya Strategies.

According to exit poll projections by Matrize, the BJP is winning the West Bengal Assembly polls with 146-161, while TMC is projected to win 125 to 140 seats.

As per Matrize too, other parties are being projected to win six to 10 Assembly seats in West Bengal.

The exit poll by Poll Diary has projected 142 to 171 Assembly seats in the BJP's corner, while placing Mamata Banerjee's party with 99 to 127 seats in West Bengal. Meanwhile, other political parties are projected to win five to nine Assembly seats.

The main fight in West Bengal was witnessed between the ruling TMC and the BJP. The counting of votes will take place on May 4.

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