West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: North Bengal test for BJP, TMC as 152 seats vote today amid massive electoral roll purge

West Bengal Election 2026 Polling, Voting Result - Date, Time, Streaming: Out of a total 294 Bengal Assembly constituencies, 152 are going to the elections today. Of these 152, as many as 54 are located in eight North Bengal districts while rest are spread across Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly.

West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: West Bengal is all set to vote in the first phase of the Assembly polls today (April 23) amid row over the mass voter deletions after months-long Special Intensive Revision exercise (SIR). With the ruling Mamata Banerjee-government facing anti-incumbency over large-scale corruption, unemployment, and women safety, the Bengal battle has now taken a highly polarised turn with questions being raised on people’s voting rights, and citizenship of people whose names stand deleted from the current roll.

Which districts are voting today? Out of a total 294 Bengal Assembly constituencies, 152 are going to the elections today. Of these 152, as many as 54 are located in eight North Bengal districts while rest are spread across Murshidabad, Nadia, Birbhum and Hooghly. This first phase is virtually synonymous with North Bengal for the BJP and could determine whether the party can still rely on this part as the key entryway to power corridors of Bengal or whether the TMC has gained some lost ground. Nandigram will also be one of the most closely watched seats in the first round with BJP’s Suvendu Adhikary facing his once-aide Pabitra Kar, now contetsting on a Trinamool Congress (TMC) ticket.

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Tracking voter deletions: More than 91 lakh names were deleted from Bengal’s electoral roll during the SIR exercise, dwindling the state electorate by nearly 12 per cent just before the elections. In Murshidabad alone, over 7.48 lakh names were purged. While Nadia saw more than 4.85 lakh name deletions, Malda had 4.59 lakh, Cooch Behar over 2.42 lakh and Uttar Dinajpur 3.63 lakh names deleted. On Wednesday, the Election Commission of India (ECI) published a list of electors cleared by the Tribunal, that had 139 voters added to the electoral roll just ahead of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election Thursday.

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