West Bengal’s assembly election came down to its last day on Wednesday, with polling underway across 142 of the state’s 294 seats from 7 am. It’s a two-horse race the ruling Trinamool Congress against a BJP that has never governed the state and badly wants to. Congress and CPI(M) are on the ballot, but neither is expected to matter much. Queues formed at several booths within the first hour. After a record 93.17 per cent turnout in Phase 1, there’s expectation of another heavy day at the polls.
Bhabanipur
The one contest everyone is watching: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee versus Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur. Adhikari beat Banerjee at Nandigram in 2021. She is attempting to reverse that in a seat she once held. Calling it a rematch understates what’s at stake for both of them personally.
The bigger numbers, though, are in North and South 24 Parganas. Between them, the two districts hold 64 seats. Whoever wins them largely wins the phase.
Other seats worth watching
Tollyganj has TMC’s Aroop Biswas defending his seat against BJP’s Papia Adhikary, a Bengali actress. In Bidhannagar, TMC’s Sujit Bose is seeking re-election; his BJP opponent, Sharadwat Mukherjee, went viral during campaigning for holding a fish on camera.
Panihati is harder to watch. TMC’s Tirthankar Ghosh is up against Ratna Debnath the mother of the RG Kar Medical College rape and murder victim. Whatever the result, that’s a seat that will stay in the news.
Kolkata Port pits Firhad Hakim against BJP’s Rakesh Singh. Noapara has BJP’s Arjun Singh taking on TMC’s Trinankur Bhattacharjee.
The voter list problem
The Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls has quietly become one of the sharpest fights of this phase. The deletions are large: North 24 Parganas lost over 12.6 lakh names, South 24 Parganas 10.91 lakh, Kolkata nearly 6.97 lakh, Howrah around six lakh, Nadia 4.85 lakh, Hooghly 4.68 lakh.
In at least 25 constituencies, the deleted names outnumber the previous winning margin. That’s not a footnote in close races, it changes who wins and what story gets told afterward.
Security and violence
Crude bombs were recovered from a TMC worker’s house in South 24 Parganas. Violence was reported during Phase 1. Neither side is pretending this is a calm election.
Also Read: West Bengal Elections : Phase 2 Voting begins
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has said Central Armed Police Forces will stay in Bengal for 60 days after polling a pointed hint about what he expects around counting day. TMC called it fear mongering. Past elections in Bengal give the concern some grounding, regardless of who’s making it.
What’s actually being decided
For BJP, this phase tests whether anger over corruption and incumbency runs deep enough in TMC’s southern strongholds to actually shift votes. They’ve done well in the north. The south is different territory. For Banerjee, holding the south means a fourth straight term. Lose it, and North Bengal momentum may not be enough to save her. Voting ends Wednesday evening. Results on May 4.
