West Bengal and Tamil Nadu go to polls today, with voting for the assembly elections 2026 starting at 7 am. All seats in Tamil Nadu will see electors cast their vote in a single phase, while West Bengal has one more phase of voting left till April 29.
The counting of votes for both the states – as well as Assam, Kerala, and Puducherry – will take place on May 4.
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Here is all you need to know as West Bengal, go to polls
In the first phase of West Bengal elections, voting will take place across a total of 152 constituencies, including key seats like Nandigram, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Cooch Behar, and Jalpaiguri.
Tamil Nadu will go to polls on April 23 for 234 election constituencies, with the key constituencies being Kolathur, Edappadi,Tiruchirappalli East, Coimbatore South, and Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar.
In West Bengal, one of the key battles will take place between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Bhabanipur. Adhikari is also contesting the polls from the Nandigram seat, from where he defeated Banerjee in 2021.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin is contesting the 2026 Assembly elections from the Kolathur constituency in Chennai, hoping to secure another term as the CM. He will be contesting against AIADMK candidate P Santhana Krishnan.
Another candidate central to the Tamil Nadu polls this year is actor-turned politician Vijay, who is contesting the polls from two seats – Trichy East and Perambur. Vijay founded the political party Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) for his maiden polls, fielding 233 candidates in the polls.
In West Bengal, one of the most persisting poll issues for BJP and TMC has been debate over the migration issue, and the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls. Reports of thousands of names being removed from the voter list led to a political storm in Bengal amid the election campaigns.
Over 5.73 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 4,023 candidates in the fray for the crucial Tamil Nadu elections, with around 14,59,039 first-time voters.
