An electoral officer demonstrates the functioning of the Electronic Voting Machine and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail. File
| Photo Credit: PTI
The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the schedule for the 2026 Assembly elections in West Bengal on Sunday, March 15, 2026.
Voting will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, 2026, with the counting of votes to be held on May 4.
Also read: Assembly elections 2026 schedule highlights
The 2026 State Assembly elections will take place in 824 constituencies, with roughly about 17.4 crore eligible voters participating in the democratic process. Approximately 2.18 lakh polling booths will be set up, managed by 2.5 million election officials.
With the election dates announced, the State Government will be under the Model Code of Conduct as the ECI takes charge.
Here is an overview of the key election dates, the phase-wise schedule, and the number of seats in each phase for West Bengal:
West Bengal Assembly election dates (total seats: 294)
In 2021, the Assembly elections took place over eight phases, spanning more than a month. This time, however, the West Bengal Assembly elections will be conducted in only two phases. According to the ECI’s announcement, there are a total of 6.45 crore registered voters and 80,719 polling stations.
Phase 1 (152 seats)
Date of Issue of Gazette Notification: March 30, 2026
Last Date of Nominations: April 6, 2026
Date for Scrutiny of Nominations: April 7, 2026
Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures: April 9, 2026
Date of Poll: April 23, 2026
Date of Counting: May 4, 2026
Phase 2 (142 seats)
Date of Issue of Gazette Notification: April 2, 2026
Last Date of Nominations: April 9, 2026
Date for Scrutiny of Nominations: April 10, 2026
Last Date for Withdrawal of candidatures: April 13, 2026
Date of Poll: April 29, 2026
Date of Counting: May 4, 2026
Published – March 15, 2026 05:46 pm IST
