Voters queue outside Madhupur Primary School. (Express photo by Partha Paul)
West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: West Bengal is voting today (April 23) in the first phase of the Assembly polls amid row over the mass voter deletions after months-long Special Intensive Revision exercise (SIR). According to EC data, 18.76% voter turnout was recorded till 9 am. Fear gripped Murhsidabad’s Domkol in the morning, following TMC-CPM clash last night, keeping voters away from castung their vites. However, the Central forces and police later escorted them to the booths.
Which districts are voting today? Out of a total 294 Bengal Assembly constituencies, 152 voting today. Of these 152, as many as 54 are located in eight North Bengal districts while rest are spread across Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly. This first phase is crucial for the BJP to determine whether the party can still rely on North Bengal as the key entryway to state’s power corridors or whether the TMC has gained some lost ground. Nandigram will also be one of the most closely watched seats in the first round with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikary facing his once-aide Pabitra Kar, now contetsting on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket.
Tracking voter deletions: More than 91 lakh names were deleted from Bengal’s electoral roll during the SIR exercise, dwindling the state electorate by nearly 12 per cent just before the elections. In Murshidabad alone, over 7.48 lakh names were purged. While Nadia saw more than 4.85 lakh name deletions, Malda had 4.59 lakh, Cooch Behar over 2.42 lakh and Uttar Dinajpur 3.63 lakh names deleted. On Wednesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published a list of electors cleared by the Tribunal, that had 139 voters added to the electoral roll just ahead of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election Thursday.
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