WB records historic 91.91 pc voter turnout; TN sees 84.80 pc
NEW DELHI, April 23: Polling for the Assembly elections concluded at 6 pm on Thursday, with West Bengal recording a significantly higher voter turnout of 91.91 per cent in Phase I polling compared to Tamil Nadu, which recorded 84.80 per cent turnout, according to the latest data from the Election Commission of India.
The high turnout figures underline an active electoral exercise as polling drew to a close amid tight security arrangements across constituencies.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said that the Commission salutes each voter of both states for coming out in large numbers to take part in the “festival of democracy.”
“Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu since Independence, ECI salutes each voter of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu,” CEC Gyanesh Kumar said.
Several districts in West Bengal recorded over 90 per cent voter turnout. Dakshin Dinajpur led with 94.85%, followed by Cooch Behar at 94.54%, Birbhum at 93.70%, Jalpaiguri at 93.23%, and Murshidabad at 92.93%. The figures reflect consistently high voter participation across the state, with all major districts comfortably staying above the 90% mark.
Tamil Nadu also recorded strong turnout across key districts, with Karur leading at 92.48%, followed closely by Salem at 90.42%, Dharmapuri at 90.02%, Erode at 89.97%, and Namakkal at 89.63%.
In the 2021 Assembly elections, West Bengal recorded a voter turnout of 85.2 per cent, while Tamil Nadu recorded 76.6 per cent. The numbers reflect an overwhelming voter turnout across districts, reinforcing both states’ consistent trend of high electoral participation.
Meanwhile, in the by-elections, the Umreth constituency in Gujarat recorded a voter turnout of 59.04%, whereas in Maharashtra, Rahuri saw 55.70% polling, and Baramati reported a turnout of 57.77%. Polling for the 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu and 152 constituencies in West Bengal began amid tight security this morning. Polling in the remaining 142 constituencies in West Bengal is slated for May 29, and counting of votes will take place on May 4.
TMC already in position to win, asserts Mamata
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that polling held so far in the first phase of the assembly polls indicates the TMC is already in a position to win.
Banerjee, also the Trinamool Congress supremo, said at a rally in Bow Bazar area of Kolkata that she will conquer Delhi taking along all opposition parties, after winning the election.
“From my understanding of people’s mind, we are already in a position to win given the polling held so far today,” Banerjee said.
“I am not interested in any post, I don’t want the chair. I only want the end of BJP government in Delhi,” she said.
Earlier, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, speaking at a rally in Krishnanagar, congratulated the people of West Bengal for the massive turnout in the first phase of the polls, terming it an “overwhelming mandate for change”.
Modi certain that BJP is set for landslide victory
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday congratulated the people of West Bengal for their massive turnout in the first phase of assembly elections, and called the voting figures so far indicative of an “overwhelming mandate for change”.
Addressing poll rallies in Krishnanagar in Nadia district on a day when voters across 152 constituencies of the state queued up to exercise their franchise in the aftermath of the over 90 lakh SIR deletions, Modi also congratulated the Election Commission for keeping “violence during the assembly polls in the state at a minimum”.
“This is the first time in the last 50 years of poll history in West Bengal that incidents of violence were kept at a minimum. The information I have received so far about the record-breaking turnout makes me certain that this is going to be an overwhelming mandate in favour of a change which West Bengal’s voters have already decided to bring about,” the PM said.
Addressing a gathering at the South 24 Parganas district’s Kakdwip stadium under the Mathurapur assembly constituency, the PM claimed that the massive poll turnout in the state signalled a transition from the TMC’s regime of ‘bhoy’ (fear) to the ‘bharosa’ (trust) the BJP has promised. (Agencies)
