4 April 2016 (2016-04-04) — 5 May 2016 (2016-05-05) 2021 → 211 44 27 2 Winner Mamata Bannerjee | did not contest Narayangarh (lost) 44 28 2 28 | |
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A Legislative Assembly election was held in 2016 for the 294 seats (out of 295 seats) of the Vidhan Sabha in the state of West Bengal in India. All India Trinamool Congress under Mamata Banerjee won 211 seats, and thus was reelected with an enhanced majority. Like in the 2011 election, the poll was held in six phases. The first phase was held in Naxalite-Maoist affected Red corridor areas with two polling dates: April 4 and April 11. The other phases were held on April 17, 21, 25, 30 and May 5. The result of the election was declared on May 19.
Contents
- Background
- Major issues
- Schedule
- Election dates by constituency
- Candidates
- Contesting Parties
- Left Front
- National Democratic Alliance
- Alliances
- Voting
- Result
- Constituency wise result
- References
In the previous election in 2011, the All India Trinamool Congress 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 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.
Prior to the West Bengal elections, on 3 January 2016, a Muslim mob turned violent and vandalised Kaliachak Police station, block development office and public property in Kaliachak, Malda district. Mamata Banerjee's government was severely criticised for not handling the situation better.
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
The Saradha Group financial scandal, the Narada Sting operation, (which showcased the ministers of 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 in the midst of 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 (VVPAT) machines attached along with EVMs. Voter-verified paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines were to be in place in more than 5,993 polling stations.
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), CPI, RSP and All India Forward Bloc anlong with INC (Congress)(who were on a seat sharing agreement with the Left Front) released their respective candidate list in several rounds after consultations and bargaining.
Contesting Parties
Left Front
National Democratic Alliance
Alliance(s)
Following the heavy defeats in the 2011 Assembly equations and the 2014 Indian national election, the party welcomed ideas of alliance even with parties not conforming to the communist manifeso in general. The first signs came when in the Siliguri municipal election, CPI(M) made some local understanding with INC resulting in CPI(M) leader Ashok Bhattacharya being appointed as the mayor inspi. This success got popularity as Siliguri Model.
After the success of the model in the long run, some Congress and CPI(M) leader advocated for a Left-Congress alliance. This gradually materialized into "Alliance" between INC and Left Front in all the seats except in Murshidabad district.
After much dispute and secession of SUCI(C) and CPI(ML) from Left Front, both Congress and Lefts formed a basis of what they called "seat sharing", strongly objecting to the use of the word-"alliance".
Voting
79.22% voting was recorded in third phase of West Bengal Polls held on 21 April 2016. 79.51% voting was recorded in second phase of West Bengal polls.
Result
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.
Constituency wise result
Table showing results for all the Assembly (Vidhan Sabha) Constituencies of West Bengal with the names of winner and runner-up candidates. Also shown along are their party names.