West Bengal:The record-breaking 92.03% voter turnout in the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections on April 23, 2026 is being attributed to a combination of extensive administrative changes and a highly charged political arena. Amazon Brand - Myx Women's Pure Cotton A-Line 3 piece Schiffli Suit Set (Available in Plus Sizes)
The primary and significant factor was the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls conducted by the Election Commission over the last four months. 91 lakhs votes, which is nearly 12% of the previous electorate, were removed from the rolls. These included deceased individuals, and those who had migrated, dead ones and voters with wrong documents.
By removing millions of inactive or non-existent names from the denominator, the percentage of actual people showing up to vote naturally increased. Districts like Dakshin Dinajpur, where the voting turn out is 95.22% and Cooch Behar with 95.17%, witnessed the most dramatic effects of this roll tightening.
Mamata Banerjee’s plan of using election against the implementation of NRC and delimitation too made an impact on the election. Initially Mamata Bannerjee had said voting this time is inevitable, this brought in fear in the voters, if they don’t vote, they will have legal issues later.
Most imperative reason being, the law and order, people felt secured to come and vote, unlike previous elections, where violence and widespread intimidation often kept voters indoors. The Quiet Architect: Nirmala Sitharaman’s Twin Strategy of Fiscal Reform and Electoral Outreach
Over 2,400 companies of Central Forces were deployed across 152 seats, which controlled the TMC goons and gave confidence to laymen to come and cast their vote.
Both the TMC and the BJP had their own agenda and both managed to reach out to the people, TMC’s cash incentive and BJP’s mandate for change made people to pour in at Booths. From Mediator to ‘American Agent’? The Collapse of the Islamabad Accord
The second phase of the polling will be Southern Bengal where BJP is actively campaigning now.