The most intense political contest in recent years in the West Bengal Assembly ended on Wednesday (30 April 2026) with record voting and claims of victory. Now all the political parties are waiting for the results. This election is not just limited to who will reach the state secretariat, but it has also become a referendum on whether Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee remains the central political power of Bengal even after 15 years of rule.

A big question is whether a fourth consecutive victory can establish him as the strongest opposition face against BJP before the 2029 Lok Sabha elections or whether BJP has found a way to power in the state. The total voting in the assembly elections held in two phases was recorded at 92.47 percent. Voting was 93.13 percent in the first phase and 91.66 percent in the second. This is the highest turnout since independence.

According to the exit polls released after the second phase of voting, BJP can form the government for the first time in Bengal. Although things will become completely clear only after the results are declared on May 4, but if we talk about the exits so far, then BJP’s cause is getting support from the common people.

SIR

The biggest controversy in the elections was regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voter lists. Due to removal of about 91 lakh names across the state, about 12 percent voters were left out of the list. Trinamool called it a move affecting the voting rights of minorities, migrants, women and the poor, while BJP called it a process of removing fake names.

intruder

Even before the start of Bengal Assembly elections, BJP is raising the issue of infiltrators. After the first phase of voting, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had said that BJP will get 110 out of 152 seats. The reason for this confidence of BJP could be its campaign based on driving out alleged illegal infiltrators, which is also visible in the exit polls. From Prime Minister Narendra Modi to every BJP worker who was going among the people for election campaign, they were openly raising the issue of infiltrators.

fear free voting

To make this election fear-free, the Election Commission had deployed several companies of central forces, due to which both the phases of voting remained largely peaceful in the entire state. ECI has also said that to prevent post-poll violence, 500 companies of central forces will remain in West Bengal till further orders even after May 4. BJP is seeing the fear-free environment and record voting in its favor.

women voters

This time BJP is also likely to get a big lead in terms of vote share in Bengal. According to Matrice exit poll, BJP can get 42.5 percent votes in this election. In this survey, TMC is expected to get about 41% votes and others are expected to get 16.7% votes. If these figures prove to be correct on May 4, then women voters will have a major contribution in BJP’s victory. According to the survey, this time 41% women voters of Bengal have supported BJP. Generally, the women voters of Bengal have been staying with Mamata Banerjee in large numbers till now. In the voting figures, participation of women voters was more than that of men.

On which issues of Mamta government were people angry?

People were also angry over the corruption, law and order and political violence that took place during the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal. The alleged involvement of party leaders in the teacher recruitment scam and other scams created a lot of resentment among the public. The state government was also accused of not investigating these scams honestly. BJP caught hold of these issues and went to every village and told people about it.

Also read: Exit Poll 2026 Result: From Bengal to Assam-Kerala and Tamil Nadu, know whose government in which exit poll.