2026 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

The scheduled 2026 election to choose members of West Bengal’s 294-seat Legislative Assembly. It will determine which party or coalition forms the state government.

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West Bengal Legislative Assembly: The elected lower house of West Bengal’s state legislature, comprising 294 constituencies. Its members are the offices voters will choose in 2026.
West Bengal Legislative Assembly term: The constitutional duration of an elected West Bengal Legislative Assembly, ordinarily five years unless dissolved sooner. The current assembly’s term sets the expected window for the 2026 poll.
All India Trinamool Congress: A political party founded in West Bengal that has governed the state since 2011. It enters the election as the incumbent governing party.
2021 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election: The 2021 election that returned the Trinamool Congress to power in West Bengal. Its results established the assembly whose term leads to the scheduled 2026 election.
Election Commission of India: India’s constitutional body responsible for administering elections to Parliament and state legislatures. It will schedule and supervise the election.
Model Code of Conduct: A set of rules governing parties and candidates during Indian election campaigns. It applies once the election schedule is announced.
Bharatiya Janata Party: An Indian political party that leads the national government and is a major opposition force in West Bengal. It is the principal statewide challenger to the incumbent.
2024 Indian general election in West Bengal: The 2024 national parliamentary election contests held across West Bengal’s constituencies. Its statewide vote patterns offer a recent but imperfect measure of party support.
First-past-the-post voting: An electoral system in which the candidate with the most votes in a constituency wins its seat. Each West Bengal constituency elects one member under this system.
Electronic voting machine: An electronic device used to record votes in Indian elections. Votes for assembly candidates are cast and tallied using these machines.