As the Election Commission of India (ECI) prepares to declare the polling schedule for the upcoming assembly elections in West Bengal, the political activity has intensified in the state, with parties constantly attacking each other in a bid to garner support of the public. Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) is in power in West Bengal for the past 15 years and is seeking another term.
West Bengal was once a bastion of Left parties, but the state has now become a stronghold of the TMC now. However, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also expanding its footprints in the state, and has emerged as the prime opposition party. The saffron party is now looking to re-write history by ending the TMC rule and forming government at the state for the first in its history.
The majority mark in West Bengal
The West Bengal Legislative Assembly has 294 seats. The state has the second largest Assembly in India, and is only behind Uttar Pradesh. It must be mentioned here that the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly has 403 seats.
Coming to West Bengal, the majority mark here is 148. In the 2021 West Bengal Assembly elections, the TMC had gained a comfortable majority, winning more than 200 seats in the 294-member House.
Key details about West Bengal
- Total Seats: 294
- House Type: Unicameral (Legislative Assembly only)
- Election Type: Direct election
- Majority mark: 148
The 2021 Assembly polls
In the 2021 Assembly polls in West Bengal, the TMC had won 215 seats, which was 19 more than the two-third mark in the state. The party's vote share was 48.02 per cent. Meanwhile, the BJP became the main opposition in the state after winning 77 constituencies with 38.15 per cent.
The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), ally of the TMC, had won just one seat, with 0.27 vote share. The Indian Secular Front (ISF) had also won just one seat, with a 1.36 per cent voter share. The Congress had also failed to open its account. Similarly, the Communist Party of India (Marxist), the All India Forward Bloc (AIFB), the Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) had also failed to win even a single seat.
Back then, the state had also recorded a voter turnout of 82.32, with 60,032,663 of the 73,414,746 registered voters exercising their franchise. The total number of valid votes were 59,935,989 and invalid votes were 96,674, and there were 12,891,443 abstentions.
