AGENCIES

Voting for Tamil Nadu assembly elections and the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections concluded yesterday at 7:00pm, with an exceptionally high voter turnout.

West Bengal saw an overall voter turnout of 91.91 percent in Phase 1 of the polls, while Tamil Nadu, which voted in a single phase on April 23, saw a voter turnout of 84.29 percent.

In the 2021 WB assembly polls, which was conducted amid the Covid-19 pandemic, turnout was recorded at 82.30 percent.

In the first phase, voting took place across a total of 152 constituencies, including key seats like Nandigram, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Cooch Behar, and Jalpaiguri.

The BJP is hoping to seize power from the Trinamool Congress (TMC) led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. It has never governed the state of roughly 100 million people and has mounted an all-out push to wrest control.

While the contest is expected to be close, the TMC, in power since 2011, is projected to retain control for a fourth term. Several opinion polls show the party maintaining an edge.

Ahead of the first round of polling, the deletion of 9.1 million names from the electoral rolls, more than 10 percent of the electorate, has drawn sharp criticism from political parties and rights groups. The revision process, known as the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), has been carried out across states and territories, with the Modi

SEE PAGE 8 COL 4