Bengal at 92%, Tamil Nadu at 85%, phase 1 of Assembly polls closes with record turnout

In Tamil Nadu, where all 234 seats went to the polls, a voting percentage of 85.11% was recorded at 11pm. With 57.3 million electors in the state according to an ECI press release on April 23, this translates to 48.8 million voters, also the highest turnout in the state’s history. A higher turnout than previous polls is generally expected with a growing adult population. However, this was put in doubt because the SIR exercise excised 11.6% of the state’s electorate. The voting trends show that this has not happened.

The expected turnout of 48.8 million voters –– the numbers will be revised upwards as data from more polling centres comes in –– is also higher than the 43.4 million voters in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, the latest election before the 2026 assembly election. The highest turnout was recorded in Veerapandi (93.41%) and the lowest in Palayamkottai (68.97%).

In West Bengal, Phase 1 recorded around 92.35% voter turnout by 11 pm. While the 152 constituencies can only be traced back to the 2011 assembly election because of the 2008 delimitation exercise (and because AC-level turnout for Lok Sabha elections is available only from 2014), this is the highest turnout for these 152 ACs since at least the 2011 assembly elections. With 36 million electors in this phase, the 92.35% turnout translates to an absolute turnout of 33.2 million, also the highest since at least since the 2011 assembly elections.