Voting for West Bengal Phase 1 & 234 seats for Tamil Nadu underway

Voting for single-phase Tamil Nadu elections and the first phase of West Bengal elections underway. All 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and 152 of the total 294 constituencies in West Bengal are going to polls on Thursday. In west Bengal, around 3.6 crore voters in 152 constituencies across 16 districts  -- including Nandigram and north Bengal's Darjeeling, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri and Cooch Behar -- are likely to vote. A close contest is expected in at least 80 seats. The prominent Trinamool Congress candidates contesting in this phase include Goutam Deb from Siliguri, Udayan Guha from Dinhata, Firhad Hakim from Kolkata Port area and Pabitra Kar from Nandigram. The Election Commission has turned the state into a fortress, deploying an unprecedented 2,407 Central Armed Police Forces companies comprising over 2.4 lakh personnel. The second phase of the election in Bengal will be held on April 29. 

VIDEO | West Bengal Election 2026: Voting begins in Medinipur in first phase of Assembly elections amid tight security; voters queue up to cast their votes.#AssemblyPollsWithPTI#WestBengalPollsWithPTI

(Full video available on PTI Videos - https://t.co/n147TvrpG7) pic.twitter.com/BJtX2Dy7mQ

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) April 23, 2026

Tamil Nadu witnessing a three-cornered fight among the ruling DMK, the AIADMK-BJP-led NDA, and Vijay’s TVK.Voting for the 234-member Tamil Nadu Assembly began at 7:00 am and will continue till 6:00 pm in a single-phase election.All 234 constituencies are voting in a single phase, giving voters an 11-hour window to cast their ballots.

Tenkasi, Tamil Nadu: Voting for the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly elections has begun, with polling starting early morning across the district. At a booth in Govindaperi under the Alangulam Assembly constituency, arrangements were made to ensure smooth voting pic.twitter.com/SoBC4sYbRs

— IANS (@ians_india) April 23, 2026

Scenes of long queues were visible outside several polling booths even before voting officially started, as people lined up to cast their ballots. Authorities have put in place extensive security measures to ensure smooth and peaceful polling across the state.Over 5.73 crore eligible voters are set to cast their ballots, deciding the electoral fate of 4,023 candidates in the fray. The voting will determine who forms the next government in the 234-member Assembly. The ruling DMK, led by Chief Minister MK Stalin, and the AIADMK, under Edappadi K Palaniswami, are facing a new challenger in the form of actor-politician Vijay’s TVK.