Will Bengal choose to continue with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee or make a change this time? This is the major question that will be addressed today when the vote counting starts at 8 a.m., amid the massive uproar over voter roll deletions and the accompanying buzz about infiltration, corruption, and unemployment.
After a quiet start in 2016, the BJP's fight for Bengal has intensified over time. The party achieved a significant increase from 3 seats and 10% of the vote in 2016 to 77 seats and 38% of the vote in 2021.
However, the Trinamool also outperformed its 2016 performance, taking 215 seats with a 48% vote share in 2021.However, the Trinamool Congress, which has lost momentum to the BJP in north Bengal, has its stronghold in South Bengal with 152 seats.
In the Bengal assembly, which has 294 members, the majority score is 148. However, results for only 293 seats will be available for the time being because repolling has been ordered in Falta. On May 21, the Falta count will take place.
Banerjee sounded assured after the election. The Chief Minister declared, "We will cross 226 seats in 2026," as Bengal recorded a turnout of more than 92% in both the stages. We may even surpass 230 seats. I fully trust the enormous mandate that the people have given me.She claimed that the exit polls' predictions are part of a "larger conspiracy" to sway public opinion prior to the announcement of the election results.
Five exit polls have so far shown that the BJP will win, which would necessitate a swing of at least 5.3%.
However, the voter list changes have reduced the number of voters by 91 lakh, or more than 11.6% of the electorate, especially in several places where the Trinamool has a narrow margin of victory. Over 27 lakh voters whose appeals are ongoing in 19 tribunals after adjudication are included in the deletion figure.

Do or Die Conflict
Many believe this may be Mamata Banerjee's hardest election to date, having served three consecutive terms since overthrowing the 35-year CPM dictatorship in 2011.
However, the identical tag was also used in 2021. After winning the competition, Banerjee's lasting image was of a wheelchair-bound, silent, lone woman picking up a paintbrush in a nook of Kolkata.
However, the BJP, which is well-known for its extensive electoral apparatus, hasn't been inactive.Critics claim that by persistently pointing out corruption, problems with law and order, and the lack of progress that has plagued Bengal for more than 50 years, it has been eroding Trinamool's glossy credentials and turning it into Left Front 2.0.
This time, having learned from 2021, it has quietly fielded sons of the soil and emphasised its pledges of development, jobs, infrastructure, and corruption-free governance rather than endorsing turncoats or attacking the Chief Minister directly.
Slogans like "Jai Ma Kali" and "Jai Ma Durga" have also been heard in addition to "Jai Shri Ram".Additionally, BJP politicians have been spotted holding fish on a hook while on the campaign trail to demonstrate their Bengali credentials. This image is reminiscent of a Bengali bhadralok from the 1850s returning from the market.
The competition, according to the Trinamool, is one of survival against a Center that won't release public finances and self-determination versus outsiders in everything from cuisine to culture.
The script was altered until the voter list was revised.
Perennial street combatant Banerjee made a brilliant last-minute move by changing her 2011 slogan "Badla Noy Badal Chai" (Change not Revenge) to "Badal noy Badla chai (Revenge not Change)".
For the families whose relatives' names were removed, it served as a wake-up call. For this reason, the party's turnout numbers also seemed to be encouraging.Maintaining the Muslim vote and the South Bengal seats is crucial for the Trinamool. Winning the fight in Bhabanipur against Suvendu Adhikari, her former assistant and current political rival, is crucial for Banerjee, particularly in light of her defeat in Nandigram in 2021.
For Banerjee, 71, it's obvious what's going on. A loss in the 2026 election would make a return twice as challenging.