Hooghly/Durgapur/Murshidabad/Medinipur/Kolkata: On a sultry April afternoon in Singur, Hooghly, a group of men sit shirtless on the cool floor under a tin shed, taking turns drinking cold water from a jug to beat the heat as they chat about the upcoming elections.
“We’ve seen the Trinamool Congress government for 15 years now and there really isn’t much work that has been done. Development and infrastructure are lacking, and unemployment is a big concern,” says Pranab Parui, a vegetable seller. “Moreover, cut money—local leaders extorting money even from poor people like us—is the worst legacy of this government. We have supported didi in the past with all earnestness, but now it is time for poriborton (change).”
‘Poriborton’ is a big buzzword across West Bengal, with 15 years of Trinamool Congress (TMC) incumbency throwing up a slew of complaints, from lack of development to widespread unemployment, rampant grassroots corruption, crumbling law and order and a perpetuation of the old, Left-front like systems.
West Bengal has been among the most fascinating and keenly watched elections in India in recent years. This, because of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s aggressive attempts to wrest the state from Mamata Banerjee’s TMC and the chief minister’s combative efforts to prevent that.
This is a contest between an ambitious and popular prime minister and a popular chief minister, or as voters say in Bengal, a fight between “didi” (elder sister) and “dada” (elder brother). So far, Bengal’s beloved didi has managed to keep dada at bay, with the BJP forced to confine its ambitions to emerging as the main opposition party in a state where it traditionally has had no base.
This election will see Banerjee seek a fourth consecutive term in power. But elections are rarely a linear affair and Bengal’s complicated politics, local level dynamics and the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls make it an even more layered exercise.
How Bengal voted earlier
In the 2021 assembly polls, the BJP made its mark in a big way, emerging as the leading opposition party with 77 seats in the 294-member assembly and around 38% vote share, up from a mere three seats and 10% vote share in 2016. The TMC, meanwhile, won comprehensively with 48% vote share and 215 seats.
The BJP’s 2021 rise followed its performance in the state in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls where it won 18 of the 42 seats as against the TMC’s 22, jolting the latter out of a sense of complacency.
The BJP’s joy, however, was short-lived with Mamata Banerjee making a convincing comeback in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, reducing the BJP to just 12 seats while winning 29.
This election, therefore, is about Modi’s BJP salvaging its pride and putting in every effort possible to push the TMC out. Under the Modi-Shah leadership, the BJP has managed to conquer previously uncharted territories, such as Assam and Tripura. Despite its best attempts, however, West Bengal has remained elusive and perhaps a sore point for the party leadership.
From carpet bombing the state with rallies, including by Modi, to raising the issue of Bangladeshi “infiltrators”, harping on the contentious ‘cut-money’ allegation and claiming lack of development in West Bengal, the BJP has tried to tick every box in its playbook, with a conscious effort to keep the issues and focus points local to the state.
West Bengal is voting in two phases, with the first phase completed on 23 April and the second due on 29 April. The results will be out on 4 May.
The call for ‘poriborton’
Banerjee has been a massively popular, and almost revered, leader, credited for wiping out the once powerful Left front regime. She is the central point of this election as well. But this time, with her back against the wall.
In West Medinipur’s Sultanpur, Subidha Nandi and her husband Lakshmikanta Nandi run a shop selling everything from basic groceries to cosmetics, and customers throng even at noon on a warm day. “Bengal needs development. There is no industry, no employment opportunities and poor health facilities. And TMC cadres practice politics of fear and intimidation, much like the Left Front. This time, we want the BJP to come to power,” says Subidha, who is in her mid-forties.
“Moreover, look at how far behind we are, even as compared to neighbouring Odisha. To work, people have to leave the state. Even for medical treatment, people go to either Odisha or the southern states,” chimes in 31-year-old Mani Bera, a customer.
To counter criticism about lack of employment, the TMC government introduced Yuba Sathi, an unemployment assistance scheme, earlier this year, but it seems to have been a case of too little, too late.
In Debra village, West Medinipur, Belirani Rana and her sister-in-law are busy with their afternoon chores, but take out a few moments to speak about the elections. Both say they have supported Banerjee so far, but rising unemployment is now their biggest concern. “What’s the point of educating our children if they don’t get jobs?” Rana asks.
What has perhaps dented Banerjee’s own image the most is what voters view as a crumbling law and order situation, particularly around the issue of women’s safety, aggravated by incidents like Sandeshkhali, the RG Kar Medical College rape-murder case and the October 2025 gang-rape of a student in Durgapur.
“I supported didi when we wanted to end the violence under the CPM and have backed her since. But today, crimes against women seem to be peaking,” says Nandi Barui, a flower vendor from Kharagpur.
Perhaps the biggest criticism of the TMC administration is what is colloquially referred to as ‘cut money’ in the state, essentially denoting corruption at the grassroots, with bribes and commission allegedly being extorted by local politicians and party functionaries.
“We are poor vegetable vendors. But even to ferry our vegetables, we have to pay a small share to local leaders. How will we survive this way? If TMC stays on for another five years, we will be finished,” says a visibly upset Hemanta Ghosh of West Bardhaman.
The fiery chief minister is well aware of this criticism and its impact. In 2019, while addressing a rally, Banerjee in a sense openly admitted to this practice and said those who take such ‘cut money’ from common people must return it. She even warned those taking such bribes of imprisonment. But if voters’ claims in the run-up to the current polls are anything to go by, the culture continues unabated.
To make matters worse for Banerjee, her reliable constituency—women, who have steadfastly stood behind their didi—is also beginning to ask difficult questions. Her flagship financial assistance scheme for women, Lakshmir Bhandar, as well as the famous Kanyashree Prakalpa (conditional cash transfer scheme for school-going girls) seem to have run their course. Even while most eligible women say they have received benefits under these schemes, they now ask: what next?
Stagnation and fear
A fascinating critique of Mamata Banerjee’s regime is how it is a mere perpetuation of the “Left culture”, which voters say they booted out in 2011 with the hope that didi would bring in a fresh perspective.
Now, after 15 years, several voters feel not much has changed and the TMC ecosystem is but an extension of the culture the Left Front had created. Several voters across the state talk about the alleged intimidation by TMC cadre, claiming this is reminiscent of decades of Communist rule in the state.
For instance, Lakhi Baidya and Ashima Baidya from Belumilki, Hooghly, say the vote against the Left front was also a vote against its culture of political violence, intimidation and cadre muscle power, as well as the stagnation of the state, all of which they feel the TMC now symbolizes. “The reality is that the Left cadres have moved here. Workers from there have now joined this side,” says Lakhi.
The BJP story
This election is decidedly about Mamata Banerjee: a vote against her or a vote for her. But the BJP has played its cards well, waiting in the wings to take advantage of any anti-incumbency mood and be seen as the only viable alternative, with not much left of the Left and the Congress characteristically directionless.
The lack of an overt chief ministerial face doesn’t seem to matter much on the ground, with most voters assuming senior leader Suvendu Adhikari will be given the post if the party comes to power. Modi, meanwhile, remains the face and the name that is synonymous with the party.
“We are voting for Modi with the hope the BJP will bring in some development. Whom they make chief minister is a question for later, I am sure they will take a good decision,” says Ajit Das of Krishnanagar, Nadia district.
Besides attacking the TMC on its weak points, the BJP has been upping the ante on the ‘infiltrator’ issue, injecting its characteristic communal tone to it. Leading the attack on the “intruders” front has been home minister Amit Shah, and the rhetoric does seem to have found some traction on the ground in the state, with a few voters saying they want to vote for the BJP to protect “Bengali pride” and “sanatan Hindu dharma”.
In Mamata’s corner
"Didi is everything for us. What has she not given us? Our children have received scholarships, women have received cash transfers and we have got houses,” says Rakesh Khan, who runs a small store that sells sim cards and lottery tickets at the Indo-American More in Durgapur.
Despite 15 years of uninterrupted power, Banerjee isn’t particularly unpopular even today. The disenchantment among voters is largely with the rank and file of the TMC. The carefully curated bouquet of welfarism, Banerjee’s rooted image and her feisty persona continue to win her support among sections of voters.
In Chanditala, Hooghly, Paro Haldar, a tea and paan seller, speaks of her admiration for Banerjee. “I will definitely back didi again. She has given us everything—from Lakshmir Bhandar to better roads and a better life,” she says.
For those who feel their lives have tangibly improved because of aid under the TMC government, voting for Banerjee is a no-brainer.
“We have to do something in return for someone who has done something for us. Didi has looked after us all this while, so we will also look after her,” says Chandi Mahapatra of Debra in West Medinipur.
Further, demographics are a big advantage for Banerjee. According to the 2011 Census, Muslims constitute around 27% of the state’s population. With the BJP’s brand of majoritarian politics, the minority community in recent times has largely voted for the party best placed to defeat it.
In West Bengal, the Muslim community seems to be rallying steadfastly behind Banerjee. “We want Mamata Banerjee to come back because under her, we don’t face Hindu-Muslim riots. BJP causes tension and it’s all about Hindu-Muslim politics—there’s no effort to maintain brotherhood,” says Suraj Ansari, Bishnupur, 24 Paraganas (South).
The contentious SIR
The biggest conversation point in the run-up to the 2026 assembly election in West Bengal has been the controversial Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls undertaken by the Election Commission of India.
A total of 9.1 million names have been deleted from the rolls since the SIR exercise began, shrinking the count by almost 12%. In the appeals process that followed, of the 3.4 million appeals, only 139 were cleared by the 19 tribunals in the state ahead of polling in the first phase.
SIR became a hot-button issue in Bengal ahead of the polls, with Banerjee herself appearing before the Supreme Court in February 2026 against the exercise, becoming the first chief minister to argue her own petition in the top court. She has publicly criticised the process, alleging the “ECI-BJP nexus wants to take away people’s voting rights.”
On the ground, this issue is panning out in a complex and layered manner. Those who have been struck off the list are upset. Further, these deletions have added to suspicions about the BJP’s intent among the minority community, and the resentment is palpable.
As they chit-chat over cups of tea at their usual haunt in Amdanga in North 24 Parganas early in the morning, Sheikh Shahbuddin, Asmat Ali, Raju and others rue the deletion of their names from the rolls.
“We have been voting here for years, and now suddenly names are being deleted. In our village alone, hundreds have been removed. This is the BJP’s and ECI’s fault,” says a visibly upset Shahbuddin.
Samir Sahu of Krishna Nagar made it to the rolls but his wife didn’t. “At a time when we should be debating and discussing issues like roads, education, health, law and order, crimes against women and access to water, we are talking about and fighting over something as basic as the right to vote. That kind of makes everything else redundant,” he says.