As we wait for the results, on 4 May, there is tremendous trepidation. Not only are the politicians keeping their fingers crossed, the public who voted in such large numbers are also anticipating.
Photo:IANS
As we wait for the results, on 4 May, there is tremendous trepidation. Not only are the politicians keeping their fingers crossed, the public who voted in such large numbers are also anticipating. The excitement is palpable everywhere, at the bus stand, tea stall and even at marketplaces.
Will there be a change or will the ruling party get even more seats than last time, that’s the big question.
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As we wait rewinding to the days when the election dates were announced, we realise this Assembly election was so different from the earlier ones. Bolder, louder and aggressive!
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On the face of it the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) may be the defining difference, leading to the national record-breaking voter turnout of 92.9 per cent (In 2021, it was 82.3 per cent), but there are many other facets which make this election special.
More than 140 deaths were reported allegedly over SIR anxiety, including that of booth level officers (BLOs). Deaths were reported due to anxiety and work pressure.
The stakes were higher than elections before. Both the leading parties, the ruling Trinamul Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party put in their maximum resources to win votes, unwilling to give away any inch to the Opposition.
If we look at the various leaders and chief ministers visiting Bengal for campaigning, it is staggering. While the list of chief ministers included Yogi Adityanath (Uttar Pradesh), Rakha Gupta (Delhi), Devendra Fadnavis (Maharashtra) and Manik Saha (Tripura) canvassing for the BJP; Hemant Soren (Jharkhand) CM and former Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal toured state as star campaigners for the Trinamul. Congress was well represented by its national leader Rahul Gandhi and party president Mallikarjun Kharge. We saw former HRD minister Smriti Irani revoking her Bengali roots and sprucing up her local language skills while connecting with people. Matinee idol Ravi Kisen tried to connect to his Bihari brethren and influence them.
Prime Minister Modi made multiple visits, including a few road shows but Union home minister Amit Shah’s stay in Bengal for two weeks to oversee preparations and lift the morale of the grassroots BJP workers was unprecedented. He left only a couple of days prior to the second phase of polling, 29 April.
Bureaucratic reshuffle:
Another first of sorts was the Election Commission of India shuffling top bureaucrats in Bengal, including the Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Director General of state police and Commissioner of City police. In fact, the ECI did the unthinkable of sending the Commissioner of Kolkata Police, among others, as police observer to Tamil Nadu for the Assembly election in the state.
The ECI’s reshuffling even led to the Chief Minister, Mamata Banerjee, alleging that the way the ECI has been behaving, it smacked of an “unofficial” and “self-declared President’s rule”.
It is difficult to find such a move by the ECI in any other state election in the recent past.
The Commission also changed many policemen at the local thana level, district magistrates and also block development officers. Both in the 2021 and 2016 elections, Bengal never saw such reshuffle of its top, middle and lower-level officers.
Courtroom drama:
There was also a lot of courtroom drama unfolding in the Supreme Court as the state challenged the SIR process.
The SC, observing “trust deficit” between the ECI and the state govt, proposed that serving and former judicial officers from West Bengal take over the adjudication of pending logical discrepancy (LD) claims. Another first for any state election!
In an unexpected and unprecedented move, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in person argued against the LD cases arising out of Special Intensive Revision, in the Supreme Court.
Mamata even called the deployment of 8,300 micro-observers in Bengal by the ECI as “unconstitutional” and “BJP officers”.
Never had the Commission posted General Observers for each constituency in the state and so many Police Observers.
Huge CAPF deployment:
The use of such huge Central force personnel for the election was also historic.
The ECI deployed around 2,550 companies of Central forces for the two phases of polls. Around 900 companies of the Central forces were deployed in Bengal during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Use of technology:
There was use of camera-fitted drones for the first time ever in any election. The Commission made arrangements to webcast polls at all the booths in West Bengal. Earlier, only the ‘sensitive’ and ‘extra sensitive’ booths were covered with cameras. Even the polling officers were tracked through GPS by the ECI.
Armoured vehicles:
For the first time ever, the state saw use of armoured cars by CRPF (brought from Kashmir) for elections. These vehicles are used by the Central forces for counter-insurgency operations in Kashmir and in Maoist-dominated districts. The cars not only aroused interest amongst the voters, it also assured them of peaceful voting.
Change of strategy midway:
The ‘Badla vs Bodol rhetoric used by the two principal campaigners ~ Mamata Banerjee and Narendra Modi. Trinamul chief Mamata Banerjee flipped her 2011 Bengal election slogan for 2026 polls. She reversed her iconic 2011 slogan for the Assembly election 2026, turning a call for “change” into a sharper appeal framed around “revenge.”
The shift, from bodol (change) in 2021 to badla (revenge) in 2026 and, has emerged as a defining narrative.
In the 2011 West Bengal Assembly election, Mamata rode to power on the slogan “Badla noy, bodol chai” (No revenge, we want democratic change).
Whereas, at a rally in Thakurnagar, North 24-Parganas, Narendra Modi called for a “bodol”, borrowing it from the Trinamul’s 2021 slogan. The strategy was very different from that of the last Assembly polls, when he had personally attacked CM Mamata Banerjee during his public speeches. Not this time. He consciously steered away from attacking her personally as it had not gone down well with the people of Bengal.
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