Indian media reported that a record voter turnout was recorded in the assembly elections held in West Bengal (first phase) and Tamil Nadu on Thursday. In the first phase of the elections held in West Bengal for 152 seats, 91.83 percent of the votes were cast. Similarly, in the elections held for 234 assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, about 84 percent of the votes were cast. 

The second phase of voting is being held on April 29 for the remaining 142 seats in West Bengal. In the first phase on Thursday, voting took place in 16 districts including Nandigram, Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri, and Koch Bihar.

There are a total of 36 million voters in the 16 districts. Earlier, on April 9, a record voter turnout was also recorded in the assembly elections in Assam and the Union Territory of Puducherry. 85.91 percent of the votes were cast in Assam and 90 percent in Puducherry. Kerala recorded a voter turnout of 78.27 percent in the April 9 elections, the highest since 1987. 

The results of the four states and one union territory that went to polls this month will be announced on May 4. BJP's challenge to Mamata Banerjee in Bengal The Trinamool Congress, a regional power in West Bengal, has been rising against the Hindu nationalist agenda promoted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) while undermining minority religions and languages.

Mamata, who has been the Chief Minister of West Bengal since 2011, is seen as a leader advocating multilingual/multicultural identity and secular politics in India. For this reason, the Bengal elections are being seen as a showdown between the Mamata-led Trinamool Congress and the BJP. 

The Communist Party of India (Marxist), which was in power continuously from 1977 to 2011, was reduced to zero seats in the 2021 elections. This time, the communists have formed a Left Front to regain their lost credibility. The main opposition Indian National Congress at the center is also relatively weak in Bengal. For that reason, Indian media estimates that most of the seats will be contested between the BJP and the Trinamool Congress. 

West Bengal is India's third largest state in terms of population. It borders Bangladesh to the east, Nepal to the north, and Bhutan to the northeast. In 2011, the Mamata-led Trinamool Congress won a clear majority here, ending the 34-year rule of the Communist Party of India (Marxist). Since then, the party has won two-thirds of the seats in the 2016 and 2021 assembly elections. The BJP, which won only 3 seats in the 2016 assembly, became the main opposition by winning 77 seats in 2021. 

Some Hindu nationalists believe that the debate on Hindutva in India began in Bengal. Bengali writer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote the song 'Bande Mataram' in the 1880s. The song was widely used in the Indian independence movement. For this reason, Bengal is not left out of the discussion of Hindu nationalism.

On the other hand, Bengal has a large Muslim community. Out of a population of about 100 million, 30 percent are Muslims. The BJP sees the growing Muslim population here as a threat. Whereas, for Mamata, that same population is a safe vote bank. 

This time, due to the Special Intensification Amendment (SIR) brought by the Election Commission of India, the names of about 91 lakh voters in West Bengal were removed from the list. This policy was brought to remove deceased and fake names. However, the BJP-led central government is accused of influencing the Election Commission and trying to deprive Muslim and minority voters of their right to vote in various states through this policy.

Chief Minister Mamata has been continuously opposing the SIR. Even shortly before the elections in the state, the continuous removal of voters' names was tantamount to a crime, said Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha MP Sagarika Ghosh. 'A constitutional crime is being committed in Bengal. This is an ongoing crime against the people of India and Bengal,' she said. 

After the revision of the voter list, the total number of voters in West Bengal is 68.2 million. Both the BJP and the Trinamool Congress have made women's empowerment their main agenda. For that, they have promised to provide financial assistance to women. The Trinamool Congress has put forward a plan to increase the financial assistance being provided to women. It has promised to provide financial assistance of Rs 1,500 per month to common women and Rs 1,700 to Scheduled Castes/Communities.