A Legislative Assembly election was held in 2016 for the 294 seats (out of 295 seats) of the '' Vidhan Sabha'' (Vidhān Sabhā) in the state of

West Bengal West Bengal (, Bengali: ''Poshchim Bongo'', , abbr. WB) is a state in the eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabitants within an area of . West Bengal is the fou ...

in India. The All India Trinamool Congress 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 20 ...

won 211 seats, and thus was reelected 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 All India Trinamool Congress in a coalition with

INC Inc. or inc may refer to: * Incorporation (business), as a suffix indicating a corporation * ''Inc.'' (magazine), an American business magazine * Inc. No World, a Los Angeles-based band * Indian National Congress, a political party in India * I ...

won a majority and ended the 34-year rule of the Left Front government.

Background

In the previous assembly election in 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress, 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 changes made by 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 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 and Alipur Kaliachak is one of the big ...

Malda district Malda district, also spelt Maldah or Maldaha (, , often ), is a district in West Bengal, India. It lies 347 km (215 miles) north of Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal. Mango, jute and silk are the most notable products of this district. T ...

. 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 financial scam and alleged 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 i ...

, 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 ...

(which showcased the ministers 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 On 31 March 2016, a steel span of the under-construction Vivekananda Road flyover in the Girish Park neighbourhood of Kolkata, India, collapsed. 27 people died and 50 more were injured in the accident. Background The construction for the V ...

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 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 using a ballotless voting system. A VVPAT is intended as an independent verification system for voting machines designed to allow ...

(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 The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mo ...

released its first candidate list of 52 members. Left Front consisting of

CPI(M) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

CPI A consumer price index (CPI) is a price index, the price of a weighted average market basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households. Changes in measured CPI track changes in prices over time. Overview A CPI is a statistic ...

, RSP and All India Forward Bloc along with

(Congress) (who were on an Electoral agreement with the Left Front) released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining.

Contesting Parties

; Trinamool Congress+ * All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) *

Jana Andolan Party Jana Andolan Party (JAP) or All India Jana Andolan Party (AIJAP) is a political party based in Kalimpong district and Darjeeling district of India. JAP was founded in 2016. The president of the party is Dr. Harka Bahadur Chhetri, who is a former ...

;

Mahajot Sanjukta Morcha alternatively Sanyukta Morcha (), was a political alliance formed ahead of the 2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election as an alternative to the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. It was led by Communist Party ...

( Left Front +

United Progressive Alliance United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is a centre-left political alliance of predominantly left-leaning political parties in India. It was formed after the 2004 general election with support from left-leaning political parties when no single party ...

) *

Communist Party of India (Marxist) The Communist Party of India (Marxist) (abbreviated as CPI(M)/CPIM/CPM) is a Marxist–Leninist communist political party in India. It is the largest communist party of India in terms of membership and electoral seats and one of the na ...

(CPIM) * Communist Party of India (CPI) * Revolutionary Socialist Party (RSP) * All India Forward Bloc (AIFB) *

Revolutionary Communist Party of India The Revolutionary Communist Party of India ( RCPI) is a political party in India. The party was founded as the Communist League by Saumyendranath Tagore in 1934, breaking away from the Communist Party of India (CPI). RCPI led armed uprisings af ...

(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 Chatterji wer ...

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

Indian National Congress The Indian National Congress (INC), colloquially the Congress Party but often simply the Congress, is a political party in India with widespread roots. Founded in 1885, it was the first modern nationalist movement to emerge in the British E ...

(INC) * Party of Democratic Socialism (PDS) * Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) *

Janata Dal (United) Janata Dal (United) ("People’s Party (United)”) abbreviated as JD(U) is an Indian political party with political presence mainly in eastern and north-eastern India. JD(U) is recognised as a state party in the states of Bihar , Arunachal Pr ...

(JD(U)) *

Nationalist Congress Party The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP) is one of the nine national parties in India. The party generally supports Indian nationalism and Gandhian secularism. It is the largest opposition party in Maharashtra and is also a significant party ...

(NCP) *

Communist Party of Bharat Communist Party of Bharat is a Naxalite splinter group of Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist). This party has a presence in West Bengal. The party was behind the agitation in Singur and Nandigram Nandigram is a census town in the ...

(CPB) *Bharat Nirman Party (Led by

Lakshman Chandra Seth Lakshman Chandra Seth (born 11 April 1946), commonly known as Lakshman Seth, is an Indian politician from Tamluk, West Bengal, India. He was a West Bengal state committee member of the CPI(M) and is a former MP from Haldia. He was expelled fro ...

) *Save Democracy Forum * Independent Candidate ; National Democratic Alliance *

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; ; ) is a political party in India, and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. Since 2014, it has been the ruling political party in India under Narendra Mod ...

(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 Siliguri Municipal Corporation or SMC was established in the year 1994 and has been responsible for the civic infrastructure and administration of the city of Siliguri. History Siliguri Municipality was established in the year 1949. The first ...

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 being appointed as the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a 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 responsibilities of a mayor as well ...

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. This gradually materialized into "Alliance" between INC and Left Front in all the seats except a few in Murshidabad and Maldah. After much dispute and secession of SUCI(C) and CPI(ML) from the Left Front, both Congress and Lefts formed an understanding basis of what they called "seat-sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word-"alliance". On the other hand, the ruling All India Trinamool Congress announced its candidate list for all the 294 seats, as they were fighting alone this time. But after the announcement, the candidate from Kalimpong and former

leader, Harka Bahadur Chettri, stated that he will fight as an Independent candidate under the entity of his newly formed political party,

, and will be supported by the Trinamool Congress. The

announced its candidate list for 291 seats in several phases, leaving 3 seats of the Darjeeling Hills for their allies, the

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" , Popular vote ! colspan="3" , Seats , - valign="top" ! Votes !%, , ± pp, , Contested , , Won , , +/− , - , , All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) , , 24,564,523 , 44.91 , 5.98, , 293 , , 211 , , , - , ,

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

(INC) , 6,700,938 , 12.25, , , 3.15, , 92, , 44 , , 2 , - , ,

(BJP) , , 5,555,134 , 10.16, , 5.56, , 291, , 3 , , 3 , - , , All India Forward Bloc (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 , - , , Communist Party of India (CPI) , 791,925 , 1.45 , 0.35 , 11 , 1 , 1 , - , ,

Socialist Unity Centre of India The Socialist Unity Centre of India (Communist) or SUCI(C), previously called the Socialist Unity Centre of India and "Socialist Unity Centre", is an anti-revisionist Marxist-Leninist communist party in India. The party was founded by Shib ...

(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 (SP) , 46,402 , 0.08 , 0.66 , 23 , 0 , 1 , - , , Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) , 15,439 , 0.03 , 0.02 , 1 , 0 , , - , , None of the Above (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 '' Election Commission of India'' {{DEFAULTSORT:West Bengal State Assembly Election, 2016 2016 State Assembly elections in India

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