What highest-ever voting of 93% in West Bengal election reveals

West Bengal saw a 92.9% voter turnout, its highest ever, in Phase 1 of the Assembly election. What does the high turnout, which follows the SIR exercise, reveal about the ground situation?

In Short

• Turnout of 92% in Bengal's Phase 1 comes after additions, deletions in SIR exercise
• High turnout indicates anti-incumbency factor but no empirical evidence on winners
• Turnout indicates citizenship-linked fears, sense of security due to CAPF deployment

West Bengal Assembly polls have always seen high voter turnout. But voting for the first phase of the Assembly election on Thursday was the highest since 1947, with a turnout of about 92.9%. What does this high voter turnout reveal?

In the 2021 Assembly election, which was conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic and a fiercely polarised battle between the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and the BJP, turnout was recorded at 82.30% for all the seats in contention.

Despite health concerns and multiphase polling, over 59.9 million votes were cast out of 73.4 million registered electors. TMC retained power with 213 seats in the 294-member Assembly.

With 92.9% of the 3.6 crore registered voters casting their ballots as part of the first phase of the Bengal assembly election on Thursday, this is the highest turnout ever recorded in the state since independence. Gyanesh Kumar, Chief Election Commissioner of India, was quoted as saying the same on Thursday, "Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu since Independence – ECI salutes each voter of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu."

Here the most important thing to be taken into account will be the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. The exercise was mired in controversy and deleted nearly 91 lakh names from the state's electoral rolls.

HOW MANY VOTER NAMES DELETED IN WEST BENGAL DUE IN SIR?

The SIR exercise combined earlier deletions of around 63 lakh names with an additional 27 lakh voters declared ineligible after judicial adjudication. Aside from deletions, the Election Commission announced last week that a total of seven lakh new voters have been added to West Bengal electoral rolls ahead of the first phase of voting. According to poll officials, around 3.22 lakh of these new voters will vote in the first phase, while the remaining nearly 3.88 lakh voters will exercise their franchise in the second phase.

Several districts, including Murshidabad, North 24 Parganas, Malda, Nadia and South 24 Parganas, recorded some of the highest deletions.

In Kolkata, nearly 7 lakh voters were removed across multiple constituencies, leading to a significant drop in the voter base in both northern and southern segments of the city.

The SIR has cut Bengal's electorate from 7.6 crore to 6.8 crore, bringing down the voter base.

"West Bengal voter turnout has already crossed 90%. Possible political undertones aside, it is better and safer to see it as a result of SIR deletions," wrote Roshan Kishore, data and political economy editor at the Hindustan Times.

This has a precedence in Bihar. After the SIR exercise in Bihar, voter turnout increased significantly in the 2025 Assembly polls compared with previous elections. Bihar recorded a 67.13% turnout in 2025, up from 57.29% in 2020, and 56.91% in 2015. The rise came after the Election Commission revised the rolls and removed lakhs of names classified as dead, shifted, duplicate or otherwise ineligible.

Former Chief Election Commissioner, SY Quraishi noted the same, writing on X, "People speculating on unprecedented 92 % voter turnout. This figure would have been 83% if 7 million had not been deleted."

Despite criticism that the exercise could suppress participation, the final numbers showed Bihar's highest turnout in decades, suggesting a cleaner voter list combined with strong electoral engagement.

DOES HIGH VOTER TURNOUT GIVE ADVANTAGE TO TMC OR BJP?

In the first phase, voting was held in 152 of the 294 Assembly constituencies of West Bengal. Most voting was recorded in South Dinajpur (95.36%) and Cooch Behar (95.5%) till 7 PM, according to reports.

Voter turnout in Assembly elections in Bengal has consistently ranked among the highest in India. Factors contributing to sustained high turnout include strong party cadres, demography, community dynamics, and women's increasing participation (matching or exceeding male turnout) in recent polls.

Obviously, both the ruling TMC and the primary opposition BJP would love to claim the high voter turnout, indicating a victory for them. "High turnout in West Bengal Election is seen by both TMC and BJP as favouring them," wrote KC Singh, former diplomat and strategic affairs expert, on X.

"In this first phase of the elections, people have dealt a severe blow to the BJP and given their full support to the TMC, Mamata Banerjee's government. Of the 152 seats contested, it is estimated that the TMC will win at least 125," said TMC leader Kunal Ghosh, citing the over 90% voter turnout.

High voter turnout is usually perceived as being driven by anti-incumbency. When the TMC defeated the Left Front and came to power in 2011, West Bengal saw a turnout of 84.33%. This was 2.36 percentage points higher than the turnout seen in 2006.

However, there is no empirical evidence to suggest that higher turnout favours the incumbent of the challenger.

"Record voter turnout in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Conventional wisdom: higher voter turnout = anti incumbency. But in the last decade, turnouts across many states have generally been higher and incumbents can also gain. Net net: wait till results day May 4," wrote Rajdeep Sardesai, consulting editor India Today TV, on X.

WHAT ARE REASONS BEHIND HIGH TURNOUT IN WEST BENGAL?

But there are other reasons behind the higher turnout in West Bengal other than the SIR exercise.

Voters residing outside West Bengal for work travelled back to the state because they feared being dropped from the voter list and even losing their citizenship. That fear was drummed up by TMC chief and Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee.

"The EC, BJP and the Centre are not following the Constitution. They are trying to snatch away voting rights," Banerjee said at a rally in Maynaguri of Jalpaiguri district in March, referring to the SIR exercise and the deletion of voters.

"Today, they are snatching away voting rights; tomorrow, they will snatch away citizenship by bringing the NRC," she added.

Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru and industrial hubs like Surat and Khurja have seen droves of people returning to Bengal for the election. India Today Digital has documented the rush to West Bengal for voting. Obviously, those who travelled so far, will definitely vote.

Many of the districts that voted in Phase 1, including Nadia, Murshidabad and Cooch Behar, were among those that saw the highest number of deletions following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), fuelling speculation that fears of losing citizenship and voting rights may have driven the record turnout.

This was particularly evident in Murshidabad district, which recorded the highest number of deletions during the adjudication round of the SIR. Among the constituencies from the district that went to polls in Phase 1, Samserganj, Lalgola, Bhagawangola and Raghunathganj each saw exceptionally high turnout, exceeding 96%. All four had recorded between 46,100 and 74,775 deletions during the SIR process.

The higher voter turnout also hints at voter consolidation and people being able to vote due to the large deployment of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel. There were 2.4 lakh CAPF personnel on the ground this time.

So, the higher voter turnout reveals active participation and an impact of the SIR exercise. It shows how the fear of losing voting rights on one hand, and a secure environment for voting on the other, played their parts. What it will not reveal is which side has an advantage and will ultimately emerge victorious.

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