Election schedules for the four states and a UT were announced on February, 26, 2021. In West Bengal, the election will be held in 8 phases from March 27, 2021 to April, 29, 2021 and votes will be counted on May, 02, 2021. Here is the full schedule of the eight phases of election in West Bengal.
Phase 1: March 27
In the first phase of polling in West Bengal, elections will be held in 5 districts and 30 assembly seats. The districts include Purulia, West Midnapore Part I, Bankura Part I, East Midnapore Part I and Jhargram.
Phase 2: April 1
In the second phase of polling, elections will be held in 4 districts and 30 assembly seats. The districts include Bankura Part II, East Midnapore Part II, West Midnapore Part II and South 24 Parganas Part I.
Phase 3: April 6
In the third phase of polling, elections will be held in 3 districts and 31 assembly seats. The districts include Howrah Part I, South 24 Parganas Part II and Hugli Part 1.
Phase 4: April 10
In the fourth phase of polling, elections will be held in 5 districts and 44 assembly seats. The districts include Howrah Part II, South 24 Parganas Part III and Hugli Part II, Alipurduar and Cooch Behar.
Phase 5: April 17
In the fifth phase of polling in West Bengal, elections will be held in 6 districts and 45 assembly seats. The districts include North Pargana Part I, Darjeeling, Nadia Part I, Kalimpong, East Bardhaman Part I and Jalpaiguri.
Phase 6: April 22
In the sixth phase of polling in West Bengal, elections will be held in 4 districts and 43 assembly seats. The districts include North Pargana Part II, Nadia Part II, East Bardhaman Part II and Uttar Dinajpur.
Phase 7: April 26
In the seventh phase of polling in West Bengal, elections will be held in 5 districts and 36 assembly seats. The districts include Malda Part I, Kolkata South, Murshidabad Part I, West Bardhaman Part and Dakshin Dinajpur.
Phase 8: April 29
In the eight phase of polling, elections will be held in 4 districts and 35 assembly seats. The districts include Malda Part II, Kolkata North, Murshidabad Part II and Birbhum.
| Parliamentary Constituencies | 42 |
| Assembly Constituencies | 293 |
| Ruling Party | All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) |
| Opposition Party | Communist Party of India (CPI) |
| Chief Minister | Mamata Banerjee |
| Governor | Keshari Nath Tripathi |
| Chief Electoral Officer | SSunil Kumar Gupta |
| CEO Address | West Bengal, 21- N.S Road, Kolkata- 700001 |
West Bengal, one of the India’s most populous states, has held regular elections since the constitution of its first Legislative Assembly in 1952. The state has a unicameral legislature. The Vidhan Sabha or the Legislative Assembly has 295 members out of which 294 are directly elected and one member is nominated from the Anglo-Indian community. The state assembly had 240 members in the first Vidhan Sabha and 251 in the second Vidhan Sabha. The number gradually increased to 295 in the eighth assembly in 1977. The tenure of the state assembly is of five years unless it is dissolved.
West Bengal is represented in the Indian parliament by 42 directly elected members in the Lok Sabha or the lower house and 16 members in the Rajya Sabha or the upper house. The state also holds elections for the local bodies such as the Municipalities, Zila Parishads and Gram Panchayats.
The main political parties in the state are the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM), and the Indian National Congress (INC). The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) was formed in 1998, and is now a major regional party of the state.
Though, the INC was in power in the state in the sixties, the CPM came into power in the seventies. Jyoti Basu of the CPM was the chief minister of the state from 1977 to 2000, and also became the longest serving chief minister of any state in India. Mamata Banerjee of the TMC won the Assembly Elections in 2011 and is also the current Chief Minister of the state. She also became the first non-CPM Chief Minister of the state after 34 years of CPM’s rule.
The West Bengal Assembly Election 2016 was held over a month in six phases from 4 April to 5 May. The overall voter turnout was a little above 80%. After a long wait, results were finally declared on 19 May. Incumbent chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her party Trinamool Congress emerged victorious with a resounding majority. Having toppled the 34-year old Left Front government in the historic 2011 Assembly elections, Mamata’s party managed to replicate its success with a better performance in 2016. Unlike 2011, when the TMC contested in alliance with the Congress and won 184 seats, it fought alone against the Left-Congress combine this time and bagged 211 seats out of the total 294 assembly seats. The Congress was a distant second with just 44 seats while the Left got 33.
The last Legislative Assembly elections in the state were held in 2011. The total number of candidates in fray was 1792. The total number of electors was 5,62,83,457, out of which 4,74,64,338 or 84.33% had cast their votes.
The All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) with 184 seats formed the government. The CPI won two seats and the CPI (M) took 40 seats. The INC got 42 seats. Mamata Banerjee of the TMC formed the first non CPI (M) government in 34 years.
The Speaker of the current Legislative Assembly is Biman Banerjee. The Deputy Speaker is Sonali Guha Bose. The Leader of the Opposition is Surjya Kanta Mishra.
Some of the parliamentary constituencies are Cooch Behar, Alipurduars, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, Raiganj, Balurghat, Maldaha Uttar, Maldaha Dakshin, Jangipur, Baharampur, Murshidabad, Krishnanagar, Ranaghat, Bangaon, Barrackpore, Dum Dum, Barasat, Basirhat, Joynagar, Jadavpur, Birbhum, Purulia, Kolkata Dakshin, and Kolkata Uttar.
The state has 294 Legislative Assembly constituencies, out of which 68 are reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes (SC) and 16 are reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST). Some of the Legislative Assembly constituencies are Gosaba (SC), Basirhat Dakshin, Pandabeswar, Nagrakata (ST), Bangaon Dakshin (SC), Canning Purba, Falta, Madhyamgram, Itahar, Sujapur, Bhatpara, Noapara, Raidighi, Ballygunge, Balarampur, Balurghat, Tollyganj, Labhpur, Asansol Uttar, Asnsol Dakshin, Chanchal, Kalimpong, Lalgola, Murshidabad, Karimpur, Jadavpur.
National level Political Parties in West Bengal
| The Communist Party of India (CPI) | The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) | The Indian National Congress | The Bharatiya Janata Party |
| All India Trinamool Congress (TMC) | All India Forward Bloc | Revolutionary Socialist Party |
| Gorakha National Liberation Front (registered but unrecognised) | Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (registered but unrecognised) | Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) |
| Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) |
| S. No. | Name of CM | From | To | Party |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12 | Mamata Banerjee | May 27, 2016 | Incumbent | AITC |
| 11 | Mamata Banerjee | May 20, 2011 | May 27, 2016 | AITC |
| 10 | Buddhadeb Bhattacharya | Nov 6, 2000 | May 13, 2011 | CPM |
| 9 | Jyoti Basu | Jun 21, 1977 | Nov 6, 2000 | CPM |
| 8 | Siddhartha Shankar Ray | Mar 19, 1972 | Jun 21, 1977 | INC |
| – | President’s Rule | Jun 28, 1971 | Mar 19, 1972 | N/A |
| 7 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh | Apr 2, 1971 | Jun 28, 1971 | INC |
| – | President’s Rule | Mar 19, 1970 | Apr 2, 1971 | N/A |
| 6 | Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee | Feb 25, 1969 | Mar 19, 1970 | BAC |
| – | President’s Rule | Feb 20, 1968 | Feb 25, 1969 | N/A |
| 5 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh | Nov 2, 1967 | Feb 20, 1968 | Independent Progressive Democratic Alliance Front |
| 4 | Ajoy Kumar Mukherjee | Mar 15, 1967 | Nov 2, 1967 | BAC |
| 3 | Prafulla Chandra Sen | Jul 08, 1962 | Mar 15, 1967 | INC |
| – | President’s Rule | Jul 01, 1962 | Jul 08, 1962 | N/A |
| 2 | Bidhan Chandra Roy | Jan 14, 1948 | Jul 01, 1962 | INC |
| 1 | Prafulla Chandra Ghosh | Aug 15, 1947 | Jan 14, 1948 | INC |
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