Voters turned up in large numbers to exercise their franchise in the elections to the Tamil Nadu Assembly and 152 constituencies of the West Bengal Assembly on Thursday.
Both states saw record polling, with Tamil Nadu registering approximately 84.51 per cent voter turnout and West Bengal recording 91.78 per cent polling till 6 pm.
In Tamil Nadu, elections were held to all 234 seats of the Assembly with 84.51 per cent of the total 5.73 crore eligible electors exercising their franchise. Votes were cast in as many as 75,064 polling stations in 33,133 locations to decide the fortunes of 4,023 candidates.
In West Bengal, the first phase of the Assembly elections, covering 152 out of the total 294 constituencies, saw 91.78 per cent of the 3.60 crore electors turn up to vote.
The voter turnout is among the highest in recent electoral history of the state. Notably, the elections were held under the shadow of allegations of mass disenfranchisement of voters through the Election Commission's controversial SIR exercise.
Polling in 16 districts began at 7 am on Thursday amid tight security to decide the electoral fate of 1,478 candidates, including 167 women.
TN surpasses previous best voter turnout
Tamil Nadu surpassed its highest assembly polls turnout on Thursday, even as officials said the numbers don't hint at an unprecedented polling.
The state recorded its highest--78.29 per cent, in the 2011 polls that the AIADMK swept.
Incidentally, through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the electorate size has been reduced from 6.41 crore recorded in October 2025 to the current 5.73 crore.
On Thursday, TN recorded 84.51 per cent polling, with Karur district leading with 91.86 per cent voter turnout.
Chennai registered 83.09 per cent polling, while in Madurai it was 80.15 per cent, Coimbatore saw 84.40 per cent and the centrally located Tiruchirappalli district witnessed 85.04 percent polling.
Kolathur Assembly constituency in Chennai, where DMK President and Chief Minister M K Stalin is contesting, saw 85.63 polling till 6 pm.
At Chepauk-Tiruvallikeni, where Deputy CM and Stalin's son, Udhayanidhi is contesting, the polling percentage was 83.58 per cent.
Edappadi constituency in Salem, where AIADMK general secretary and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami is contesting, recorded 91.61 per cent polling.
In Tiruchirappalli East, where Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam chief Vijay is contesting, 81.55 per cent polling was recorded till 6 pm.
Vijay is also contesting in Permbur constituency in Chennai, which registered 89.20 per cent.
Bengal voter turnout highest since independence, says CEC
Bengal recorded 91.78 per cent voter turnout in the first phase of Assembly elections on Thursday, one of the highest polling percentages in the state's recent history.
Analysts say the turnout reflects both heightened political mobilisation and the statistical impact of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), which pruned over 91 lakh names from the voter's list across the state.
The steady climb, from 18.76 per cent in the first two hours to 41.11 per cent by 11 am and 62.18 per cent by 1 pm, underscored a strong voter response across geographies -- from the tea gardens of North Bengal to the communally sensitive belts of Murshidabad and the politically volatile Jangalmahal.
Many of the districts that voted in the first phase had seen significantly higher turnouts in the 2021 Assembly elections when polling was held in eight phases.
The SIR exercise, which shrank the electorate by nearly 12 per cent, loomed large over the phase.
Clashes, allegations of intimidation and attacks on candidates, were reported from several constituencies, prompting the Election Commission to seek detailed reports even as it maintained that polling was "largely peaceful."
District-wise data showed Dakshin Dinajpur recording the highest turnout of over 81 per cent at 5 pm, followed by Murshidabad at around 91 per cent, and Bankura and Cooch Behar, 92 per cent each.
The voter turnout was around 90 per cent in Malda, Jhargram and Paschim Medinipur, while Kalimpong recorded around 81 per cent polling.
The first phase, covering all 54 seats in North Bengal along with key constituencies in South Bengal, is central to the BJP's strategy of consolidating its northern stronghold, where it had surged in 2019 and remained competitive in 2021, and to the TMC's effort to blunt that expansion early in the contest.
In 2021, the BJP had won 59 of these 152 seats against the TMC's 93.
(With inputs from PTI)
