Legislative Assembly elections were held in 2016 for 294 seats of the ''Vidhan Sabha'' in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

. The

All India Trinamool Congress The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a breakaway faction f ...

under

Mamata Banerjee Mamata Banerjee (; born 5 January 1955) is an Indian politician who is serving as the eighth and current List of chief ministers of West Bengal, chief minister of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of West Bengal since 2 ...

won 211 seats, and thus was re-elected with an enhanced majority. Like in the 2011 election, the poll was held in six phases, with the first phase divided into two days. The first phase was held in Naxalite-Maoist affected red corridor areas with two polling dates: 4 April and 11 April. The other phases were held on 17, 21, 25, 30 April and 5 May. The result of the election was declared on 19 May. In the previous election in 2011, the

in a coalition with INC won a majority and ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front government.

Background

In the previous assembly election in 2011, the

, under the leadership of Mamata Banerjee, won a majority and ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front government. During 2011 election, the main theme of TMC was ''paribartan'' (meaning "change"), implying it was time to change the Left Front reign of 34-years in the state. However, during the five year rule of TMC, urban population, in particular, were in general unhappy with the government. Also, newspapers reported that chief minister Banerjee has been only trying to consolidate votes from the sizable Muslim minority. In January 2016, the Election Commission of India urged the central government to allow it to carry out a limited delimitation exercise in West Bengal to ensure voting rights to people who came to India following the exchange of enclaves between India and Bangladesh. As per updated voter list for the year 2016 published by the Election Commission of India in January 2016, West Bengal has surpassed the rest of the country in elector-population ratio with 0.68. The final electoral roll in West Bengal for 2016 with 6.55 crore voters has 3.39 crore male and 3.16 crore female voters.

Major issues

Prior to the West Bengal elections, on 3 January 2016, a mob turned violent and vandalised Kaliachak Police station, block development office and public property in

Kaliachak Kaliachak is a town in the Kaliachak I Community development blocks in India, CD block in the Malda Sadar subdivision of Malda district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Kaliachak consists 4 Census Town Silampur, Karari Chandpur, Baliadanga a ...

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. The capital of the Bengal Sultanate, Gauda and Pandua, was situated in this district. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this ...

. Mamata Banerjee's government was severely criticised for not handling the situation better. The

Saradha Group financial scandal The Saradha Group financial scandal was a major political scandal caused by the collapse of a Ponzi scheme run by Saradha Group, a consortium of over 200 private companies that was believed to be running collective investment schemes popularly ...

, the

Narada Sting operation The Narada sting operation was a sting operation carried out by Mathew Samuel targeting high-ranking officials and politicians of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC). It showed several politicians and a high-ranked police officer accepting B ...

(which showcased the prominent ministers & MPs of the ruling party of accepting bribes), lack of any major industrial investments, and law & order issue surfaced as major issues and proved to be an acid test for Trinamool Congress. The Kolkata flyover collapse also happened during the poll process.

Schedule

Assembly elections in West Bengal are to be held in phases from 4 April to 5 May 2016.

Election dates by constituency

On 4 March 2016,

Election Commission of India The Election Commission of India (ECI) is a constitutional body established by Constitution of India, the Constitution of the Republic of India empowered to conduct free and fair elections in the Republic of India. It is headed by a Chief Ele ...

announced that 22 assembly constituencies in West Bengal would have

Voter-verified paper audit trail Voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) or verified paper record (VPR) is a method of providing feedback to voters who use an electronic voting system. A VVPAT allows voters to verify that their vote was cast correctly, to detect possible elec ...

(VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs.

(VVPAT) machines were to be in place in more than 5,993 polling stations.

Candidates and Contesting Parties

Candidates

AITC released its candidate list on 5 March, the same day the elections were announced. On 10 March, BJP released its first candidate list of 52 members. Left Front consisting of

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electoral seats, and one of the six national parties of India. ...

, CPI, RSP and

All India Forward Bloc The All India Forward Bloc ( AIFB) is a Left-wing nationalism, left-wing nationalist political party in India. It emerged as a Political faction, faction within the Indian National Congress in 1939, led by Subhas Chandra Bose, and was strongest ...

along with INC released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining.

Contesting Parties

Trinamool Congress+ The All India Trinamool Congress (; AITC), simply known as Trinamool Congress, is an Indian political party that is mainly influential in the Federated state, state of West Bengal. It was founded by Mamata Banerjee on 1 January 1998 as a Lis ...

(AITC) * Jana Andolan Party Mahajot ( Left Front +

United Progressive Alliance The United Progressive Alliance (UPA; Hindi: Saṁyukta Pragatiśīl Gaṭhabandhan) was a Political group, political alliance in India led by the Indian National Congress. It was formed after the 2004 Indian general election, 2004 general ele ...

) *

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)) is a Communism in India, communist List of political parties in India, political party in India. It is the largest communist party in India in terms of membership and electora ...

(CPIM) *

Communist Party of India The Communist Party of India (CPI) is a political party in India. The CPI considers the Foundation of the Communist Party of India, December 26, 1925 Cawnpore (Kanpur) conference as its foundation date. Between 1946 and 1951, the CPI led m ...

(CPI) * Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) *

(AIFB) *

Revolutionary Communist Party of India A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

(RCPI) *

Marxist Forward Bloc The Marxist Forward Bloc is a political party in India, a splinter group of the All India Forward Bloc. The MFB was formed in 1953 as Satyapriya Banerjee, a member of the AIFB Central Secretariat, Amar Bose, Suhurit Chaudhury and Ram Chatterjee ...

(MFB) * Democratic Socialist Party (DSP(PC)) *

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party, or simply the Congress, is a political parties in India, political party in India with deep roots in most regions of India. Founded on 28 December 1885, it was the first mo ...

(INC) * Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) *

Rashtriya Janata Dal The Rashtriya Janata Dal ( RJD; translation: National People's Party) is an Indian political party, mainly based in the state of Bihar. The party was founded in 1997 by Lalu Prasad Yadav. The party's support base has traditionally been Other ...

(RJD) *

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People's Party (United)"), abbreviated as JD(U), is a Social democracy, social-democratic and secular List of political parties in India, Indian political party, rooted mainly in East India, eastern and Northeast India, ...

(JD(U)) *

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party is one of the List of political parties in India#State parties, state parties in India and is one of the major political parties in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Maharashtra with a recognised state party statu ...

(NCP) * Communist Party of Bharat (CPB) *Bharat Nirman Party (Led by Lakshman Chandra Seth) *Save Democracy Forum *

Independent Candidate An independent politician or non-affiliated politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have polit ...

National Democratic Alliance The National Democratic Alliance (NDA; ISO 15919, ISO: ''Rāṣṭrīya Lokatāntrik Gaṭhabandhan'') is an Indian big tent Political group, multi-party political alliance, led by the country's biggest political party, the Bharatiya Janata Pa ...

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

(BJP) *

Gorkha Janmukti Morcha The Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM) is a registered unrecognized political party, that campaigns for the creation of a separate state Gorkhaland within India, out of districts in the north of West Bengal. The party was launched on 7 October 2007. T ...

(GJM)

Alliance(s)

Following the heavy defeats in the 2011 Assembly elections and the 2014 Indian General Election, the

welcomed ideas of the alliance even with parties not conforming to the communist ideology in general. The first signs came in the Siliguri Municipal Corporation election in 2015, when the

made some local understanding with

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

to keep TMC and BJP out of power; resulting in CPI(M) leader

Ashok Bhattacharya Ashok Bhattacharya is an Indian politician and the former mayor of Siliguri Municipal Corporation. He is a member of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). He is a prominent leader of CPI(M) in the northern region of West Bengal. He was ...

being appointed as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

of Siliguri. This success then got popularity as 'Siliguri Model'. After the success of the model, in the long run, some Congress and CPI(M) leaders advocated for a Left-Congress alliance. on the grounds that on summing up individual voteshare of the Congress & Left Front in state polled during the 2014 general elections, were large enough in many areas to defeat the Trinamool Congress. The precedence of the Left Front providing outside support to the UPA-I government in 2004-2008 was cited in support. This gradually materialized into an "alliance" between INC and Left Front in all the seats except a few in

Murshidabad district Murshidabad district is a district in the Indian state of West Bengal. Situated on the left bank of the river Ganges, the district is very fertile. Covering an area of and having a population 7.103 million (according to 2011 census), it ...

and

Maldah district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. The capital of the Bengal Sultanate, Gauda and Pandua, was situated in this district. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this ...

. Given the political history of West Bengal, the materialisation of an alliance between the Congress & the CPI(M), 2 parties that have been bitter rivals of each other in the state since India's independence in 1947 & have a history of unleashing political violence against each other's cadres, (like 1970 Sainbari murders, during the Emergency era & the 1993 Kolkata firing) took the political circles of the state by surprise. After much dispute and secession of 2 far-left groups : SUCI(C) and CPI(ML)L from the Left Front, both Congress and Communists formed an understanding basis of what they called "seat-sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word-"alliance". Trinamool Congress claimed that by forging an electoral understanding with the Left Front in the state, the Congress party was insulting the memory of those party workers who had died in political violence perpetrated by the Left Front, & Mamata Banerjee's allegation in 1998 about the state Congress having become a 'B-team' of the Left Front (due to which she broke away from the Congress to create her own party), stood vindicated. The CPI(M) (which had famously refused the Congress' proposal of making veteran Communist leader and one of its founders

Jyoti Basu Jyoti Basu (born Jyotirindra Basu; 8 July 1914 – 17 January 2010) was an Indian Marxist theorist, communist activist, and politician. He was one of the most prominent leaders of Communist movement in India. He served as the 6th and longest ...

the country's prime minister in 1990, 1991 & 1996 in order to not to been seen deviating from the cause of establishing the '' dictatorship of the proletariat'') was similarly accused of compromising with its ideological stance & indulging in hypocrisy by the TMC & BJP for entering into seat-sharing agreement with the Congress. The ruling

announced its candidate list for all the 294 seats, as they were fighting alone this time. But after the announcement, the candidate from

Kalimpong Kalimpong is a town and the headquarters of an eponymous district in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is located at an average elevation of . The town is the headquarters of the Kalimpong district. The region comes under Gorkhaland Territo ...

and former

leader, Harka Bahadur Chettri, stated that he will fight as an Independent candidate under the entity of his newly formed political party, Jana Andolan Party, and will be supported by the Trinamool Congress. The BJP announced its candidate list for 291 seats in several phases, leaving 3 seats of the Darjeeling Hills for their allies, the

Seat Allotment

Voting

79.22% voting was recorded in the third phase of West Bengal polls held on 21 April 2016. 79.51% voting was recorded in second phase of West Bengal polls.

Surveys and polls

Exit poll

Result

Results by Parties

The election results were announced along with other four state assemblies on 19 May 2016. AITC won 211 seats, and thus was reelected with an enhanced majority. They also became the first ruling party to win without an ally since 1962 in West Bengal.

! colspan="2" rowspan="2" , Parties and coalitions ! colspan="3" , 2016 West Bengal Bidhan Sabha Election ! colspan="3" , Seats , - valign="top" ! Votes !%, , ± pp, , Contested , , Won , , +/− , - , ,

(AITC) , , 24,564,523 , 44.91 , , , 293 , , 211 , , , - , ,

(CPM) , , 10,802,058 , 19.75, , , , 148, , 26 , , 14 , - , ,

(INC) , 6,700,938 , 12.25, , , , , 92, , 44 , , 2 , - , ,

(BJP) , , 5,555,134 , 10.16, , , , 291, , 3 , , 3 , - , ,

(AIFB) , 1,543,764 , 2.82 , 1.98 , 25 , 2 , 9 , - , , Independents (IND), , 1,184,047 , 2.16, , 0.97, , 371 , 1 , , 1 , - , , Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) , 911,004 , 1.67 , 1.33 , 19 , 3 , 4 , - , ,

(CPI) , 791,925 , 1.45 , 0.35 , 11 , 1 , 1 , - , , Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), , 365,996 , 0.67, , 0.23, , 182 , 0 , , 1 , - , ,

(GOJAM) , 254,626 , 0.47 , 0.25 , 5 , 3 , , - , , Democratic Socialist Party (DSP) , 167,576 , 0.31 , 0.04 , 2 , 0 , 1 , - , ,

(NCP) , 69,898 , 0.13 , 0.10 , 1 , 0 , , - , ,

Samajwadi Party The Samajwadi Party ( SP; ) is a Socialism, socialist political party in India. It was founded on 4 October 1992 by former Janata Dal politician Mulayam Singh Yadav and is headquartered in New Delhi. It is the third-largest political party in ...

(SP) , 46,402 , 0.08 , 0.66 , 23 , 0 , 1 , - , ,

(RJD) , 15,439 , 0.03 , 0.02 , 1 , 0 , , - , ,

None of the Above "None of the above" (NOTA), or none for short, also known as "against all" or a "scratch" vote, is a ballot option in some jurisdictions or organizations, designed to allow the voter to indicate disapproval of the candidates in a voting system ...

(NOTA) , 831,848 , 1.52 , 1.52 , colspan="3" bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , - , - class="unsortable" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" ! colspan="9" , , - , colspan="2" , Total, , 54,697,791 , 100.0 , bgcolor="#E9E9E9" , , 2255 , 294 , , ±0 , - ! colspan="9" , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Valid votes , align="right" , 54,697,791 , align="right" , 99.92 , colspan="4" rowspan="5" style="background-color:#E9E9E9" , , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Invalid votes , align="right" , 44,622 , align="right" , 0.08 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Votes cast / turnout , align="right" , 54,742,413 , align="right" , 83.02 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Abstentions , align="right" , 11,196,593 , align="right" , 16.98 , - , style="text-align:left;" colspan="2" , Registered voters , align="right" , 65,939,006 , colspan="1" style="background-color:#E9E9E9", , -

Results by District Wise

Results by Constituency

References

External links

West Bangal General Legislative Election Results
at the ''

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:West Bengal State Assembly Election, 2016 2016 State Assembly elections in India

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

2010s in West Bengal April 2016 in India May 2016 in India Mamata Banerjee