By Vishwas Dawar
The dates for the Assembly Elections 2026 have been announced, and big states like Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam, and West Bengal, and Union Territory Puducherry, are going to the polls from 9 to 29 April. All the states are having single-day polls except West Bengal, which has two days of polling on 23 April and 29 April. Though West Bengal is having a two-day poll, I think it is a big improvement from having eight days of polling in 2021. The West Bengal elections have a history of violence and very high turnout, in which 80%+ of votes were cast in every one of the last five elections.
I hope after the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), all the votes which are deleted will increase the turnout percentage in this election. As the votes which could not be cast because of deaths, the transfer of people from that place, and other reasons are the percentage of non-castable votes, I don’t understand why the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) was against the Special Intensive Revision, because 90% of the deletions were due to death or people leaving the place and had nothing to do with caste, creed, or religion. These extra votes could have been used for duplicate voting, otherwise hurting the basic essence of democracy: One Nation, One Citizen, One Vote, and everybody should be given that right to vote.
Any false votes or wrong votes cast undermines the value of genuine voters and should not be allowed, as it hurts the very basic ethos of the democratic selection of your representative in the Legislative Assembly or in any other elected body. The history of West Bengal voting can be explained by 2011 voters and seats won by different groups. In 2006, the last election won by the Left Front, they secured 235 seats with 50.2% of the votes, while the All India Trinamool Congress secured 30 seats with just 10.2% of the votes, and the Indian National Congress (INC) won 21 seats with 14.5% of the votes. However, there was a big change in the seats in 2011. The Left Front won only 62 seats with 41% of the votes, and with fewer votes, the All India Trinamool Congress won 184 seats with 38.9% of the votes, and the Indian National Congress won 42 seats with 9.1% of the votes. (There were two seats more then, as the Communist Party of India (Marxist) won 40 seats after getting 30.1% of the votes.)
The 2011 election was the end of 34 years of continuous Left Front rule in West Bengal. Even though they had the largest share of cast votes, they won a smaller number of seats with heavy margins and lost more seats with smaller margins in the state. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 2.6% of the votes in 2006 and 4.1% of the votes in 2011. They won no seats in these elections. In the 2016 elections, there was a big drop in the voting percentage of the Left Front, and it came down to 26.3% with 32 seats, which was much less than they won in the last election. The All India Trinamool Congress crossed the 200 mark with 211 seats and 44.9% of the votes. The Indian National Congress was able to win 44 seats with 12.3% of the votes. The Bharatiya Janata Party opened its account with 3 seats and 10.2% of the votes.
The election of 2021 was one of the most closely fought elections, and the whole political scenario changed from multipolar to bipolar. The Left Front lost more than 20% of its vote share and was reduced to zero seats. The Indian National Congress lost more than half of its vote share and was also reduced to zero seats. The All India Trinamool Congress gained 3% of the votes and increased its tally to 213 seats. But it was the remarkable rally in the vote percentage of the Bharatiya Janata Party, increasing its vote share by 28% to 38.15% and winning 77 seats that won attention.
After seeing the surge of 28% in the Assembly Election, the All India Trinamool Congress fought back in the Lok Sabha election, and the Bharatiya Janata Party’s Member of Parliament tally came down to 12 from 18. The Bharatiya Janata Party blamed the State Government for pressurising BJP voters and leaders. In the Lok Sabha election, even after so much pressure and other tactics, the atmosphere meant that for the first time the election turnout came down to less than 80%, at 79.29% from 81.76% in 2019, in which the Bharatiya Janata Party got 40.6% of the votes in comparison to the All India Trinamool Congress at 43.3%. In the 2024 election, the Bharatiya Janata Party won 12 Lok Sabha seats and the All India Trinamool Congress won 29 seats. By losing less than 2% of the votes—which was the exact number of the turnout reduction due to the “vitiated” atmosphere during polling day—the Bharatiya Janata Party was not able to repeat the performance of the 2019 Lok Sabha Election.
In my opinion, if the Principal opposition can increase its vote share by 28% in the 2021 election in comparison to 2016, it is likely to increase its vote share by 8% to 10% this time, following past patterns of voting in West Bengal. This follows the Special Intensive Revision by the Election Commission of India. Even after much protest by the ruling parties and the panic reaction of their top leadership, it is a sign of a very closely fought election. In my opinion, the opposition can turn the tables this time, and it has the edge due to the proper revision of voter rolls and two days of polling.
Strong deployment of paramilitary forces is needed for free and fair elections. The Bengali Bhadralok are known for their judicious decision-making in selecting their government. If they can throw away 34 years of Left Front rule, they can always take a decision in view of a better future for West Bengal, to save democratic rights and live in an atmosphere of no fear and pressure. West Bengal has always led the country in every sphere.
Bringing back the past glory of West Bengal as a leading state of the country is essential for Viksit Bharat. As, in 1947 its share in National GDP was 27%–30%, which came down to 10.5% in 1960–1961 and to 5.6% in 2023–2024, which shows the effect of bad governance on the state economy.
Once a hub of car manufacturing with one of the most modern plants of that time (1942), the industry is now shut, and the whole ecosystem of parts for automobiles has also suffered badly due to the closure of Hindustan Motors. Jessop & Co., founded in 1788 as Breen & Company and formally incorporated in 1932 as a heavy engineering company, was taken over by the Government of India in 1973; currently, due to political reasons which created negative atmosphere for Industries to survive and now it has been under liquidation since 2014. Many more iconic companies faced the same situation and closed their operations due to the political situation in the state. While Bengaluru, Pune, Gurugram, Delhi, Ahmedabad, and cities like Chennai have become hubs of the computer revolution, West Bengal has lagged behind.
The leadership position as economic powerhouse was lost under the misrule of the different parties after the mid-60s, with no new big industry or investment coming into the state and ‘cut money’ demands of local ruling party leaders for every work. As other metros of the country are progressing, it is Kolkata which is lagging behind in every sphere. Even the FDI from countries like Japan and Korea missed West Bengal, which was best suited geographically to these countries for investing in their projects in India, has been denied. These countries chose Andhra, Telangana, Odisha, and even on the other side that is the west coast, Gujarat and Maharashtra.
After looking at the trams of Kolkata and the first metro in the country, the Kolkata Metro; they are suffering due to a complete breakdown of law enforcement, due to the unruly behaviour of ruling party cadres. The voters of West Bengal are going to vote for justice and a fair deal for everyone, the fast implementation of new projects for creating jobs and new opportunities for youth, and a peaceful existence for everybody in West Bengal.
