New Delhi: As Nitish Kumar took oath as the Bihar CM in the recently-concluded elections, the Election Commission of India has begun preparations for a massive mock poll drill in West Bengal ahead of the crucial 2026 Assembly elections in the state.
Large-scale checking of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) is underway in the state, which currently has 80,681 polling booths that are set to increase to nearly 95,000 for the 2026 elections.
On November 21, the Election Commission will conduct a full mock poll drill while carrying out First Level Checking (FLC) of EVMs for the 2026 Assembly elections. Senior Deputy Election Commissioner and Bengal in-charge Gyanesh Bharti has already arrived in Kolkata along with top EC officials to oversee the process.
After securing massive victories in Delhi, Haryana, Maharashtra and Bihar, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has intensified its political planning and strengthened its organisational framework in West Bengal. This time, the party leadership is focusing on collective leadership, organizational unity, women’s safety, and the state’s law-and-order situation.
Alongside women’s safety, issues such as unemployment, lack of industrialization, migration, and the state’s weakened economy will also be placed at the forefront.
| The Trinamool Congress has asserted that the poll results in neighboring Bihar, where the BJP-led NDA is heading towards a landslide victory to retain power, will not have any impact on next year's assembly elections in West Bengal. TMC spokesperson Kunal Ghosh claimed in a post on X that the Mamata Banerjee-led party will come to power for the fourth time with over 250 seats. |
