Bengal polls see record turnout: Phase 2 logs 92.47% voting, two-phase average hits 92.85%
The Statesman | 1 May 2026
West Bengal recorded an exceptionally high voter turnout in the second phase of Assembly elections, with polling reaching 92.47 per cent till midnight on April 29, pushing the overall average across two phases to a record 92.85 per cent.
However, officials from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, clarified on Thursday morning that these figures are provisional, with final tabulation expected later in the day.
The turnout in the second phase is slightly lower than the 92.88 per cent recorded till midnight during the first phase of polling on April 23, which covered 152 constituencies. The second phase involved voting in 142 Assembly seats.
The combined turnout across the two phases has set a new benchmark not just for the state but also at the national level. The earlier record for the highest polling percentage in India was recorded in Tripura in 2013 at 91.82 per cent.
Within West Bengal, the previous high was during the 2011 Assembly elections, when voter participation averaged 84.33 per cent across six phases. That election had marked a political shift, ending the 34-year Left Front rule and bringing the Trinamool Congress to power under Mamata Banerjee.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has congratulated voters in the state for the strong participation in both phases. “Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal in both Phase I & II since Independence – ECI congratulates each voter of West Bengal on this historic feat,” the Election Commission of India said in a statement quoting him.
An official from the CEO’s office attributed the surge in turnout to a cleaner electoral roll. “One major reason behind the high polling percentage was that the polling was conducted after the deduction of absent, missing, shifted and duplicate voters from the voters’ list. In simple terms and to put it lightly, the polling this time was done with a voters’ list of pure milk minus the dilution by mixing water,” the official said.