New Delhi: The first phase of the West Bengal Assembly elections 2026 took place on April 23. A record voter turnout at 89.93 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Thursday, according to the date of the Election Commission of India. Out of the total 294 assembly constituencies, 152 constituencies witnessed polling today. The voting for Bengal’s first phase started at 7 am.
Phase 1 elections in Bengal concludes
The Phase 1 of the elections covered 152 constituencies and included constituency numbers 1–76, 203–258, and 275–294. It covered 16 districts and 1,478 candidates contested the elections in this phase. Also, in the first phase, there were 44,376 booths, including nearly 3,000 auxiliary booths. A total of 5,444 booths were managed by women and there were 207 model booths.
In the first phase, districts like Cooch Behar, Malda, Murshidabad, Birbhum, Bankura, Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Purba Medinipur, and Jhargram went into polls while the second phase will witness election in both 24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah, Hoogly, Nadia, and Purba Bardhaman. A total of 167 women candidates were in the fray in the first phase of elections.
What were voting percentages in districts?
The voting percentage in the districts in the first phase was: Jhargram 90.53%, Kalimpong 81.98%, Malda 89.56%, Murshidabad 91.36%, Paschim Bardhaman 86.89%, Paschim Medinipur 90.70%, Purbo Medinipur 88.55%. The highest voters turnout was in Dakshin Dinajpur with 93.12%. In the second place was Cooch Behar with 92.07%, followed by Birbhum with 91.55%.
Notably, the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process in the state deleted the names of around 91 lakh voters. Polling in Murshidabad remained highly tense, especially in the Nowda Assembly constituency. A scuffle broke out between workers of TMC and Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP) during founder Humayun Kabir’s visit to the area where a crude bomb attack happened on Wednesday night.