Highest ever poll percentage in Bengal since Independence in both phases: CEC Gyanesh Kumar
Telegraph | 29 April 2026
Bengal clocked its highest ever percentage of polling since Independence in both phases of the Assembly election, chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said after voting ended for the second and final phase on Wednesday.
“Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal in both Phase I & II since Independence - chunav ka parv, Paschim Bengal ka garv [election season, pride of Bengal]," Kumar was quoted as saying by PTI.
At 7:35pm on Wednesday, The ECINet app showed a polling percentage of 91.62 per cent, which is likely to go up as trends from phase 1 and earlier recent elections show.
The BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari, who is up against Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee in Kolkata’s Bhabanipur in the election’s battle royale, said over 90 per cent of the constituency’s electorate had voted, which was a record for the seat.
In 2021, Bhabanipur had registered 82 per cent voting and 78 per cent in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the leader of Opposition in the outgoing Assembly said.
“And at that time, the ruling party had put nearly 10 per cent false votes – dead, fake, double, triple entries,” he said.
“Today they could manage around 10 false votes, in which there are four-five votes from ward 77. Men were voting in burqas. We caught them also. They fled. When I reached there, they raise the slogan of Bangladeshi Muslims – Joy Bangla. That is because I foiled their plot of posting around 2,000 false votes in an hour.”
He thanked IPS officer Charan Singh Meena for teaching the goons a lesson.
The ruling Trinamool accused the central forces of intimidating their voters, of beating up women and children.
A clutch of exit polls showed an intensely fought battle; most predicted a BJP win but with margin or error and extremities included they showed a tight fight. A couple of bigger agencies have said they will give their projections for Bengal on Thursday evening.
"I don't know what they are showing,” TMC leader Kirti Azad said when asked about the exit polls. “During general elections, they had claimed '400 paar' [above 400 for BJP]. We know the ground realities, Mamata Didi is the biggest leader here, we are comfortably getting two-third majority. We will win, and form the government.”
Mamata also said the BJP would lose and her party would win two-thirds majority.