New Delhi, April 11 (IANS) The record turnout registered in the Assembly polls held on April 9 is being ascribed to several reasons, with a similar outcome anticipated in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal at the end of April.​

Assembly polls will be held in Tamil Nadu on April 23, while West Bengal will vote in two phases, on April 23 and 29. The latter may see a particularly sharp spike, as the state has historically witnessed high turnouts, especially over the last three decades, as reflected in polling figures.​

The turnout has been particularly high during periods of high-stakes political competition. This is a far cry from the number recorded by the Election Commission of India in 1977 when West Bengal first voted the Left Front to power, which continued to rule uninterruptedly till 2011. ​

The state recorded a mere 56.15 per cent turnout in 1977, while in the next change in government, when the Trinamool Congress rode to power, voter participation touched 84.33 per cent in 2011.​

Mamata Banerjee then led the Trinamool onslaught, winning 184 seats, while then-ally Congress cornered 42, leaving the Communist Party of India (Marxist) with around 40 seats, while other Left Front partners managed 22 more.​

But that turnout had fallen short of the number West Bengal recorded in 2006, when the Trinamool appeared all set to topple the communists but failed to do so. It saw a marginally higher turnout, setting a record of 84.52 per cent. ​

The Left citadel fortified itself, with the Communist Party of India (Marxist) getting 176 and its allies another 57. It was said that Left cadres had then mobilised the mandate in every way possible and ensured that the reported fall of the red bastion was staved off.​

Notably, as the turnout dropped from 82.94 per cent in 1996 to 75.29 per cent in 2001, the Left Front’s total number of seats in the Assembly fell by four seats. The largest constituent, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), also lost a simple majority on its own for the first time, getting 143 seats.​

Since the Trinamool assumed power in 2011, the turnout has again been slowly decreasing, from 84.33 per cent in 2016 to 83.02 per cent in 2021, and 82.32 per cent in 2021. But the ruling party has managed to consolidate its position in the last two Assembly elections, growing from 184 to 211, and then to 215.​

Meanwhile, in Thursday’s elections, Assam and J&K recorded the highest voter turnout ever, with 85.91 and 89.87 per cent, respectively. Previously, the highest turnout recorded in Assam was 84.67 per cent in the 2016 Assembly elections and for J&K, it was 86.19 per cent in the 2011 state poll.​

In Kerala, where the turnout was registered at 78.27 per cent, it fell short of the highest-ever recorded in the 1960 Assembly election at 85.77 per cent. On two other occasions, too, the state witnessed a turnout of over 80 per cent: once in the 1957 Lok Sabha polls (80.51 per cent) and once in the 1987 Assembly election (80.54 per cent). However, this year’s turnout was the highest since the 1989 Lok Sabha poll that registered 79.30 per cent voter participation.​

In West Bengal, acute polarisation along religious lines and the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls are expected to further spur turnout.

Hypothetically, a reduction in the total number of electors, termed the denominator, would raise voters’ turnout, or the numerator. Thus, if 100 out of a constituency’s 1,000 total electors vote, the numerator is 100, and the denominator is 1,000. This is the ratio that indicates voters’ turnout.​

West Bengal’s electorate now stands at around 6.77 crore, which is about 90 lakh lower than the voters on the rolls before the Special Intensive Revision exercise began in October 2025.

The current number is also less than the 7.34 crore voters registered in the last Assembly election in 2021.​

The results of the April polls held in all four states and J&K will be announced on May 4.​

–IANS

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