Kolkata, March 15 (IANS) With the Election Commission of India (ECI) announcing a two-phase polling schedule for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections on Sunday, the state will be going to the polls with such a limited number of phases after 25 years.

The year 2001 was the last time Assembly elections in West Bengal were conducted in just one phase.

Since then, the number of phases has been significantly higher in subsequent Assembly elections in the state — five phases in 2006, six phases in 2011, seven phases in 2016, and eight phases in the last Assembly election in 2021.

Even in the last three Lok Sabha elections, polling in West Bengal was held in multiple phases — five phases in 2014, seven phases in 2019, and seven phases again in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

This will be the first time since 2001 that elections in West Bengal will be conducted in only two phases.

“After discussing with all stakeholders concerned, the Commission also felt it necessary to conduct the polls in West Bengal in two phases this time. All necessary arrangements will be made to ensure that the polling process is free, fair and completely violence-free,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said on Sunday.

During the recent visit of the full bench of the Election Commission of India to West Bengal earlier this month, most political parties — except the ruling Trinamool Congress — had demanded either a single-phase or two-phase polling.

By announcing a two-phase polling schedule on Sunday, the Commission has, in a way, accepted the suggestions of the opposition parties in the state.

Attention has now turned to the requirement of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) for ensuring free and fair as well as violence-free polling.

In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, which were the last major electoral exercise in the state, polling was conducted in seven phases and 1,099 companies of CAPF were deployed.

“Going by the law of averages, roughly between 2,250 and 2,500 companies of CAPF may be required for a two-phase polling,” a source in the Chief Electoral Officer’s (CEO) office said.

–IANS

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