West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 | Both TMC, BJP make victory claims as high turnout signals a tide turn

Kolkata: The high turnout in the first phase of polling in West Bengal sparked claims and counterclaims by the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party, with each side asserting that the tide had already turned decisively in its favour.

The first phase of the polling on Thursday covered 152 of the state’s 294 assembly constituencies, and, according to the latest data from the Election Commission, 92.88% of the 3.60 crore voters exercised their franchise. Of the 16 districts, where voting was held, Coochbehar in North Bengal registered the highest voter turnout at 96.04%, followed by Dakshin Dinajpur (95.44%) and Jalpaiguri (94.65%). The Malda and Murshidabad districts recorded turnouts of 94.46% and 93.61%, respectively.

Sitalkuchi in Coochbehar is the constituency which registered the highest turnout at 97.53%. The constituency had seen a skirmish between a mob of local people and the central paramilitary forces at a polling station during the 2021 assembly elections. The firing by the paramilitary personnel on the irate mob had killed four people.

Eleven constituencies – Hemtabad, Bhagabangola, Domkal, Harirampur, Farakka, Kushmandi, Murarai, Maynaguri, Raghunathganj, Sitai and Suti – registered more than 96% turnout on Thursday.

“The wave of change had been visible in West Bengal for a long time. But the first phase of voting yesterday has put its seal on it,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said at an election rally in Panihati on the outskirts of Kolkata on Friday. “The tide of support in favour of the BJP yesterday sounded the conch shell of our victory.”

Union Home Minister Amit Shah said that the BJP would win in more than 110 of the 152 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase. He said that TMC's exit was imminent and BJP would come to power with an absolute majority. The BJP would soon be in power in ‘Anga, Banga, and Kalinga’ together.

“Polling in the first phase yesterday confirmed that the TMC will have a landslide victory with a big mandate,” Chief Minister and the TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee said at a party rally in Howrah. “From Alipurduar, Coochbehar, Uttar Dinajpur, Malda and Murshidabad, the BJP will end up with a big zero. The high turnout of nearly 93% has been a decisive message against the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.”

The TMC top brass stated that people had turned up at the polling stations in such large numbers as they had wanted to avert any risk after the deletion of lakhs of voters during the roll revision exercise in West Bengal.

The ruling party has been alleging that the EC launched the roll revision exercise ahead of the elections, only to ensure an edge for the BJP.

The TMC claimed on Friday that the party would win in 125-134 of the 152 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase.

“I am not an astrologer. But whenever I have made political predictions, they have come true – be it in 2021 or in 2024. This time as well, I am stating it here: the Trinamool Congress has already crossed the century mark yesterday,” Abhishek Banerjee, the TMC general secretary, said at another rally in Howrah.

Of the 152 constituencies that went to the polls in the first phase, the ruling TMC had won in 92 in 2021, and the BJP in 59, while an independent candidate had been elected from one. However, an analysis of the performance of the parties in the assembly segments during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections shows that the TMC’s lead had dropped to 77, while the BJP had declined to 53. The Left Front and the Congress, which had drawn a blank in 2021, had registered leads in 12 assembly segments in 2024.