142 seats key to Trinamool win: Second phase voting in seven districts today
Telegraph | 29 April 2026
The second phase of the Bengal elections could decide who would run Bengal for the next five years, given that the first phase was a closely fought battle in the post-SIR scene.
Polling will be held for 142 seats spread across seven districts, including Calcutta, on Wednesday,
“If the Trinamool Congress retains its fortress, it could come to power comfortably. If the BJP wants to dislodge the Trinamool Congress-led dispensation, it has to break through the strongest bastion of the ruling party in the districts that would go to the polls tomorrow. The equation is simple,” a political observer in the city said on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, the districts of Nadia, South 24-Parganas, North 24-Parganas, Calcutta, Howrah, Hooghly and East Burdwan will vote. The 142 seats where the elections would be held in the second phase were the constituencies that pushed the ruling party ahead of its prime rival, the BJP, in the 2021 Assembly polls and the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
In 2021, Trinamool won 123 of the 142 seats. Across the state, the party bagged 215 seats in the 2021 Assembly polls.
In 2024, Trinamool was ahead in 115 of the 142 seats, while the party overall led in 192 Assembly constituencies.
This time, 41,001 booths have been set up for 3,22,13,798 voters, including 1,64,73,659 male and 1,57,39,347 female electors.
“Tomorrow's voting would decide whether Trinamool would return to power this year, even if the BJP put up a close fight against it in the first phase elections to 152 seats spread across 16 districts on April 23. The BJP can defeat Trinamool only if it can beat the ruling party in the second phase,” said another observer.
The results of 2021 and 2024 suggest that Trinamool has a strong organisation in these districts.
In 2021, Trinamool had secured 49.24 per cent votes (1.42 crore of 2.88 crore votes polled in the 142 seats), while the BJP had secured 36.11 per cent (1.04 crore votes). Although Trinamool's vote share had come down to 44.1 per cent (1.39 crore out of 3.16 crore votes polled) in 2024 in this area, the BJP did not show much improvement even though it had secured more votes in absolute numbers. It had secured 1.05 crore (33.34 per cent) of the 3.16 crore votes polled.
Even though the figures suggest that Trinamool was ahead by a huge margin in the area that would go to the polls in the second phase, many in the political circles believed that the SIR made the battle tough for the ruling party.
A total of 50.36 lakh names were deleted from the electoral rolls of the 142 seats, and that makes the battle intense this time, given that most of the deleted names are of minorities, who predominantly supported Trinamool in the past few elections.
“The difference between Trinamool and the BJP in terms of total votes in this area was 38 lakh in 2021 and 34 lakh in 2024. Now, the deletion of 50 lakh voters' names could turn the tables in the BJP’s favour in many seats, particularly in North 24-Parganas and South 24-Parganas, where 12.06 lakh and 10.91 lakh votes were deleted, respectively. These two districts alone have 64 seats altogether,” said an observer.
Deletion of names after adjudication, where the maximum number of voters are considered to be minorities, has also made the ruling party jittery.
A total of 12.87 lakh names were deleted after adjudication in this area, which is 4.46 per cent of the total votes polled in 2021 and 4.06 per cent of the votes cast in 2024.
“This makes the battle really close in the second phase. This is why the BJP sensed a chance and put in an all-out effort by its top leaders like Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union home minister Amit Shah, who held several rallies and road shows before the second phase of the polls,” said the observer.
Even if the SIR made the mathematics a bit uncomfortable for Trinamool, it would not be a cakewalk for the BJP. The primary reason is that the BJP lacks organisational strength. Barring parts of Nadia, Hooghly and North 24-Parganas, the BJP is not organisationally strong, compared to Trinamool's election machinery in the majority of the seats.
A high number of people, particularly Hindus, came out to vote in the first phase of the polls on account of the tight security arrangements made by the Election Commission.
“It remains to be seen how peaceful the elections will be tomorrow and how many people will come out to vote in the urban areas, which usually see a lower turnout compared to rural areas. High voter turnout could make the second phase close,” said an expert.