Marking a rare change from her usual practice of not visiting places during voting, Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader from the Bhabanipur Assembly Constituency Mamata Banerjee was seen moving actively across the city on polling day. She first went to Firhad Hakim's residence and then toured several polling booths in the Kolkata Port Assembly Constituency area.
This is the first time Banerjee has ventured out on voting day, as she has traditionally avoided such visits during elections.
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CM alleges interference from observers
Later, the Chief Minister raised concerns about the polling process. She claimed there was interference from outside observers and security personnel.
"...So many observers have come from outside. Whatever the BJP says, they are doing. Just look around, all our posters have been removed. Is this how polls take place? Votes will be cast by voters, not by the police or security forces. Some new people have recently been brought in, and they are doing whatever they want. They are doing terrorism," she was quoted as saying by ANI.
She further alleged that a worker was beaten up at night and said, "What kind of hooliganism is going on? Voting does not happen like this. Voting happens peacefully. It is a festival of democracy. But they have completely ruined it. The intention is very clear that the BJP wants to forcefully rig the election. Our workers and people are ready to die, but they will not leave the place."
Phase II of voting
The second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 has officially started, following thorough mock polls across the state's high-stakes areas. The scale of this phase is enormous, covering almost half of the state's total Assembly seats, which is 142 out of 294.
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The total number of voters is around 3.21 crore, made up of 1,64,35,627 males, 1,57,37,418 females, and 792 from the third gender. A total of 1,448 candidates are competing, including 220 women, at 41,001 polling stations. More than 8,000 of these stations are run entirely by women.
