What does a two-phase election mean for West Bengal?

For the 294 Assembly constituencies going to polls in April, it is a closely watched contest, as this time the high-voltage state of West Bengal will be a two-phase election instead of several phases as seen in the past.

Ever since Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to power in the 2011 Assembly elections, a list of election phases:

2011 Assembly elections –> 6-phase election

2014 Lok Sabha elections –> 5-phase election

2016 Assembly elections –> 6-phase election

2019 Lok Sabha elections –> 7-phase election

2021 Assembly elections –> 8-phase election

Who benefits—TMC or BJP?

The TMC, however, does not see a two-phase election as a disadvantage and is confident of defeating the BJP and coming into power for a fourth term.

“They (ECI) had announced an eight-phase election amidst COVID, but they lost. During an eight-phase election, they (the BJP) got 77 seats. In a two-phase election, their seats will reduce,” said Trinamool TMC leader Kunal Ghosh.     

“People in Bengal don’t vote on the lines of religion. They vote for political stability and the development of society. BJP uses religion, which is not close to the hearts of the general people of Bengal,” said TMC leader Jay Prakash Majumdar, who believes that people want to vote according to their political understanding of the state.

The BJP, however, is confident of winning more seats with less time for the TMC to campaign and mobilise its party workers.

“The two-phase election is good for West Bengal because it will be the end of the goons of Trinamool Congress brought in for elections, and the Election Commission can keep a close watch on elections. This will make the Trinamool Congress uncomfortable, as they always win elections forcefully,” said BJP leader Rahul Sinha.

The first phase will include the northern and western sides of the state—this is the geographical side where TMC has not been a very strong organisationally and did not do well in the past elections of Lok Sabha and Assembly.

It is in the second phase where 142 constituencies go to polls, like Kolkata and adjacent districts like Howrah, Hoogly, North and South 24 Parganas and East Burdwan, where TMC did relatively well in past elections.

Professor Maidul Islam believes that the BJP avoided giving TMC any time to campaign for long if there were 6, 7 or 8-phase elections like in 2011. “TMC could have then aggressively campaigned in smaller segments, which would put Trinamool in a better position, expenditure and organisation-wise. Once this phase is over, they could have concentrated on the next phase. It was easier, then, for Mamata to pan out to campaign in a strategically different way. But now Trinamool has less time. This time, the strategy will be very different, with an aggressive campaign for the first phase of 152 constituencies,” said Maidul Islam, Professor of Political Science at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences.

There is a 6-day gap between the first and second phases of the election, with Kolkata and adjacent areas being smaller in terms of geographical proximity. “In the previous phase, both North and South Bengal are happening because a section of South Bengal, which is largely the Western part of the state and North Bengal. This would geographically be very difficult for Trinamool to campaign in the first phase, or have at least one meeting of Mamata and Abhishek in these constituencies,” added Prof Islam.

The other aspect is the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which the BJP is hopeful of working in their favour. More than 60 lakh voter deletions and an additional 60 lakh names under adjudication make the political dynamics of these elections very different.

Judicial officers have been appointed to clear maximum cases under adjudication, and the question is whether this will happen before the Assembly elections.  

“The biggest gain is for Bengal as dead voters have been removed from the list, which Trinamool Congress was using. Many foreign infiltrators’ names have been removed. These were all Trinamool voters, and since their names have been removed, Trinamool’s condition is bad,” added Sinha.

The SIR was last conducted in 2002 when the state was not going to the polls. Also, the fact that many voters in the 2002 SIR list have been excluded from the 2026 SIR list makes the TMC shaky about the outcome, with several deletions in key constituencies, which are the ruling party’s stronghold.   

The TMC, however, is putting up a strong face against challenges. “The process of SIR has helped Trinamool Congress to strengthen their workforce throughout Bengal through every booth and a huge people-to-people contact. Now the Trinamool Congress workers are war-ready, which is about 15 lakh workers with 15 persons in 81,000 booths and other workers. No other party has such a workforce, and neither were they working with close contact with people. So I think the SIR process will benefit Trinamool Congress,” explained Majumdar.

The TMC will have to immediately announce candidates, put booth-level organisation and committees in place with 5 weeks to campaign for the first phase of elections on April 23, 2026, and then concentrate on the second phase of elections on April 29. The election results will be announced on May 4.

Compared to other states with a high number of assembly constituencies, West Bengal is a challenge that the Election Commission of India(ECI) is bracing for, in the upcoming elections in two phases. The other poll-bound states, including Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and one union territory, Puducherry, will see a single-phase election. Chief Election Commissioner(CEC) Gyanesh Kumar and his team from Delhi had said they will decide the phases of elections after reviewing the law and order situation.

The state has seen pre- and post-poll violence in the last few elections, apart from polling day, making law and order a primary concern many a time, while factoring in the security of voters. This includes the deployment of central security forces during various elections in different parts of the state to prevent untoward incidents. A tough task lies ahead for the polling body to keep the situation under control in a state marred by poll violence.