West Bengal Assembly Election 2026: Counting Begins May 4 With Record 92.93% Voter Turnout

Counting for the West Bengal Legislative Assembly election begins on May 4, 2026, with results to be declared across 77 counting centres statewide. Elections were held across two phases on April 23 and April 29 to elect all 294 members of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, with the Election Commission deploying over 3.5 lakh security personnel statewide, including the National Investigation Agency for the first time in a state election.

The election recorded a historic voter turnout of 92.93 per cent, the highest ever in the state, surpassing the 2011 election. As counting gets underway tomorrow, here are 10 constituencies that will be watched most closely.

1. Bhabanipur

The south Kolkata seat of Bhabanipur has remained a stronghold of the Trinamool Congress since the party came to power in 2011, and is the constituency from which Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has contested. After her defeat to BJP's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram in the 2021 assembly polls, she returned to the assembly by winning the Bhabanipur bypoll with 71.9 per cent of the votes. This time, Mamata is facing off against BJP's Suvendu Adhikari, who defeated her in Nandigram in 2021. The Election Commission deleted 47,094 names from the constituency's electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision exercise, and referred an additional over 14,000 electors to judicial officers for adjudication.

2. Nandigram

Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district occupies a special place in Bengal's political history as the epicentre of the anti-land acquisition movement in 2007 during the Left Front regime. The protests against a proposed chemical hub became a turning point that weakened the Left's three-decade rule and propelled Mamata Banerjee's rise to power. The seat is being viewed as a referendum on the BJP's influence in coastal Bengal and the TMC's ability to retain support in politically volatile regions. Suvendu Adhikari is facing Pabitra Kar of the TMC in Nandigram.

3. Diamond Harbour

The Election Commission conducted a repoll in four booths of Diamond Harbour on May 2, 2026, after verifying complaints about obstructing EVM buttons of opposition candidates. Diamond Harbour is politically significant because of its close association with TMC's organisational machinery in South Bengal. A strong TMC performance here would strengthen the party's claim that its grassroots network remains intact despite a highly polarised campaign.

4. Panihati

Ratna Debnath is contesting on a BJP ticket from the Panihati assembly seat in North 24 Parganas district. She is the mother of the victim in the 2024 RG Kar Medical College rape and murder case. Her entry into politics came as part of her quest for justice for her daughter and a focus on improving women's safety in the state. She faces TMC's Tirthankar Ghosh and CPI(M)'s Kalatan Dasgupta.

5. Kharagpur Sadar

Dilip Ghosh, the former BJP West Bengal president known for expanding the party's base in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, is contesting from the Kharagpur Sadar assembly seat against TMC's Pradip Sarkar and CPI(M)'s Madhusudan Roy. Kharagpur Sadar brings together two strong political figures: Dilip Ghosh of the BJP and Pradip Sarkar of the TMC.

6. Hingalganj

Rekha Patra, a prominent face of the Sandeshkhali protests, has been fielded by the BJP from the Hingalganj (SC) seat. When Patra was fielded as the BJP's face in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections from the Basirhat seat, she lost to TMC's Haji Nurul Islam by a margin of over 3.33 lakh votes. The BJP, however, took note of the fact that Patra managed to secure a lead over Islam specifically in the Sandeshkhali assembly segment of the Basirhat Lok Sabha constituency.

7. Domkal

Former IPS officer Humayun Kabir, once known for his tough policing and crackdown on organised crime, including the arrest of notorious gangster "Hathkata Dilip", is contesting from Domkal in Murshidabad district on a TMC ticket. He is up against Mostafijur Rahaman of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

8. Baharampur

In Baharampur, a high-profile contest is unfolding between Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury of the Indian National Congress and Subrata Maitra of the BJP, the sitting MLA. Chowdhury is a five-time MP from Baharampur and has served as the Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha. He is contesting the assembly election after his defeat in the 2024 parliamentary polls.

9. Samserganj

Samserganj is a Muslim-majority constituency in Murshidabad where the Congress came second in the 2021 polls with 37 per cent votes against the TMC's 51 per cent. The seat drew national attention in April 2025 following violent protests against the Waqf (Amendment) Act in the district. Central forces were deployed on High Court orders to control the situation in the violence-hit district.

10. Kolkata Port

Senior TMC leader Firhad Hakim is contesting again from the Kolkata Port assembly seat, where the BJP has tried to aggressively target urban dissatisfaction over infrastructure, employment, and civic issues. The tenure of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly is scheduled to end on May 7, 2026. Counting begins at 8 AM.