2 min readNew DelhiMay 1, 2026 10:27 AM IST
First published on: May 1, 2026 at 05:48 AM IST
THE West Bengal elections stood out for two reasons: one, a new criterion of ‘logical discrepancies’ that deleted 27.16 lakh names from electoral roll, and two, a record turnout of 92.95% which saw 31 lakh more votes polled compared with 2021.
An analysis of the two sets of data throws up 96 seats, which display a telling pattern. In 48 seats, the number of voters this time was lower than in 2021. These 48 account for 28% of the total 27.16 lakh deletions. This suggests that the Special Intensive Revision could have had an impact on the number of voters who turned out.
BJP had won 15 of these 48 seats in 2021.
Of the remaining 246 seats where the number of voters is higher than in 2021, 48 seats polled at least 20,000 more votes. These 48 accounted 42% of the total additional votes polled, but just 2.66 lakh deletions (average 5,548 per seat).
BJP had won 14 of these 48 seats in 2021.
On the deletions front too, the 27.16 lakh votes deleted show huge variation; it ranges from deletion of 74,775 votes in Samserganj to just 71 deletions in Manbazar. With over 90 per cent voting in both the constituencies, the variation in deletions meant that while Samserganj (96.04%) saw a net decline in 33,536 votes polled (17.8% decline over 2021), Manbazar (91.73) saw a net addition of 20,605 votes polled (rise of 9.6 per cent).
