Across West Bengal, 41 individuals were arrested for poll-related violence, while 571 persons were taken into preventive custody. High levels of police action were seen in Nowda with 9 arrests, followed by 5 arrests in Kumarganj and 4 each in Murarai and Sainthia. Additionally, 3 individuals were arrested in Dubrajpur as part of the statewide effort to maintain order.

On Tamil Nadu recording 84.69 polling per cent, AIADMK leader Kovai Sathyan says, "This signals the end of the DMK. The people have given their mandate. We have been saying that there is very high anti-incumbency on the ground, and people would definitely reflect this in the elections, and they have. The increase in voting percentage can be attributed to two reasons, one is the SIR exercise, and the other is anti-incumbency.”

“Highest ever percentage of polling in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu since Independence - ECI salutes each voter of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu,” Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said.

Tamil Nadu recorded 85.13 per cent

West Bengal recorded 92.59 per cent

Before this, the highest turnout record in Tamil Nadu was in the 2011 Vidhan Sabha Election with 78.3 per cent.

In West Bengal before 2026, the highest turnout was recorded in the 2011 Vidhansabha Election with 84.7 per cent.

Polling ends across 234 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu; those waiting in queues allowed to vote.

In Ettayapuram, famous for revolutionary poet Subramania Bharathi, a different kind of revolt is unfolding. The villagers of Kulathuvaipatti and Kumaragiri of Ettayapuram, which comes under Vilathikulam constituency, have sworn themselves off the polling booth over a "pathway dispute".

For many years, the villagers have been fighting with the residents of a Sri Lankan refugee camp in the area over public access to the pathway that cuts across the camp to the agricultural lands. The tension reached a breaking point on April 18, when a stone-pelting clash left the community scarred and the path further obstructed.

Officials at the polling booth No 64 at the Panchayat Union Primary School in Vilathikulam constituency on Thursday confirmed that of the 983 registered voters there, only five votes had been cast by mid-day. Besides Kulathuvaipatti and Kumaragiri, polling station also caters to voters of Sothunaickanpatti and Ammampadam, the officials said.

(PTI)

West Bengal has recorded 89.92 per cent voting till 5 pm. Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu recorded 82.24 per cent turnout.

A stronghold of the AIADMK, closely associated with former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. He has represented the seat since 2011. Earlier, he won here in 1989 and 1991. 

In the 2021 Assembly elections, Palaniswami registered a dominant victory, securing over 1.5 lakh votes with an impressive vote share of 66.27 per cent.

For the 2026 elections, Edappadi is set for a three-cornered contest. Palaniswami faces DMK's Kasi and TVK's M Arunkumar. 

Represented by Chief Minister MK Stalin for three consecutive terms, Kolathur is one of the most high-profile constituencies in Tamil Nadu. This time, Stalin faces AIADMK's P Santhanakrishnan and TVK's VS Babu. 

Part of the Chennai North Lok Sabha constituency, Kolathur has a total of 207,251 registered electors as per the 2026 electoral rolls, comprising 99,607 males, 107,607 females, and 37 third-gender voters.

BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul's car attacked during first phase of voting in West Bengal.

Paul is contesting from Asansol South.

Cricketer Ravichandran Ashwin and his wife, Prithi Narayanan, cast their vote in Chennai.

Voting is underway on all 234 seasts in Tamil Nadu.

The seat technically falls in the South 24 Parganas district but was brought under the jurisdiction of Kolkata Police in 2024. This was due to the sensitivity of the region that has witnessed frequent political clashes between the Trinamool and the Indian Secular Front (ISF).

ISF's Nawsad Siddique, who was the only non-BJP opposition MLA in the state Assembly, won the Bhangar seat in 2021. He is seeking re-election in the 2026 polls and is contesting against Saokat Molla of the Trinamool Congress and Mahabubul Islam of Congress. Jayanta Gayen is representing the BJP.

Nandigram in the Purba Medinipur district holds a special place in Bengal's political history since it served as the epicentre of the anti-land acquisition movement in 2007 during the Left Front government. The protests against the proposed chemical hub became a turning point that weakened the Left's three-decade rule in the state, propelling Mamata Banerjee to power.

In the 2021 state polls, Adhikari defeated Banerjee. He first secured a victory here in 2016 on a Trinamool ticket. In the 2026 polls, he is eying a hat-trick from Nandigram and is contesting against Pabitra Kar.

A former BJP panchayat chief, Kar was a close aide of Adhikari and rejoined the Trinamool a few weeks ago. He is a former panchayat pradhan of Boyal-1 in Nandigram.

After their high-profile face-off in Nandigram in the 2021 Assembly elections, Mamata Banerjee and her former aide, Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP, are yet again pitted against each other. The venue this time is Bhabanipur, a Trinamool fortress.

Bhabanipur's electoral journey mirrors West Bengal's transformation from Congress dominance to the rise of the TMC. For decades after Independence, this seat in south Kolkata served as a Congress bastion and was the home turf of some of the state's most influential political figures, such as former CM Siddhartha Shankar Ray, Mira Dutta Gupta and Rathin Talukdar.

It witnessed an unusual turn in 1972 when the constituency disappeared from the electoral map following delimitation. It was revived in the 2011 delimitation exercise. Since then, it has voted for the TMC. 

In 2021, senior Trinamool leader Shovandeb Chattopadhyay defeated BJP's pick, actor Rudranil Ghosh. Post her narrow defeat in Nandigram to Adhikari, Mamata Banerjee was required to win a bypoll to remain the CM. 

Chattopadhyay vacated the Bhabanipur seat, allowing Banerjee to contest the by-election against BJP's Priyanka Tibrewal.

Mausam Noor, Congress candidate from Maltipur constituency, exhibited confidence in party's win in the West Bengal election 2026. Noor said people of Bengal want development, securalism  and peace.

"There are so many development issues here. There is an anti-incumbancy and corruption charges. People want development to happen, but only religion-based politics is happening. People want secularism and peace... Air for Congress is very positive here... We will win 100%," she said while speaking to ANI.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin urged voters to vote for the progress of the state.
"What you cast today is not merely a vote; it is a shield you wield to safeguard Tamil Nadu! It is your vote that will determine the future of every single person in the state," MK Stalin wrote in a social media post.

"May your vote serve to protect the lofty constitutional values ​​of Democracy, Secularism, State Rights, Equality, and Social Justice!" he added.

Humayun Kabir's vehicle vandalised during a clash in Murshidabad.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin in DMK 'war room', monitors polling as all 234 seats from Tamil Nadu have gone to polls in the state.

Highest voter turnout district wise:

Paschim Medinipur: 20.5%

Bankura: 20.2%

Jhargram: 19.8%

A clash broke out between Trinamool workers and Humayun Kabir, a former Trinamool leader, in Murshidabad as Bengal votes today, with voters alleging intimidation. 

Kabir, the Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AUJP) founder, was visiting the Murshidabad area where a crude bomb incident was reported a day before.

"I had stepped out yesterday to offer Namaz at around 8 pm... I was standing... two boys came and threw a bomb near my foot. Humayun Kabir's party workers have done this," one of the victims of the reported crude bomb incident in Murshidabad yesterday told news agency ANI. 

The Election Commission on Thursday sought a report from officials over allegations that several people were prevented from casting their votes in Murshidabad district's Domkal during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly polls on Thursday, officials said.

Several voters in Domkal alleged that they were threatened and intimidated, with some claiming they were warned of assault if they attempted to reach polling stations.

In Raipur village, under the Domkal Assembly constituency, several people claimed that armed people were staying in the area since early morning, creating an atmosphere of fear.

The allegations were directed at the ruling Trinamool Congress, though the party did not immediately respond to the charges.

Trinamool Congress candidate from Dinhata Assembly constituency, Udayan Guha, cast his vote at Dinhata Balika Uchcha Vidyalaya.

An elderly woman arrives at her polling booth in Bolpur, West Bengal to cast her vote. The first phase of voting is underway across 152 seats in West Bengal.

Rajya Sabha MP Harsh Vardhan Shringla casts his vote in Darjeeling as first phase of polling is underway in West Bengal.

Kamal Haasan votes in Chennai's Mylapore, expresses confidence of a second term for DMK.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge made a special appeal to first-time young voters to exercise their right to vote "with conviction and help ensure that true development reaches every corner of the state."

Kharge noted that West Bengal is the proud land of great leaders who stood for democracy, social justice, equality, and freedom. "We need to ensure those ideals remain intact," he added.

Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP) founder Humayun Kabir casts his vote in the first phase of polling in West Bengal.

Urging voters to exercise their "democratic franchise" and vote freely, All India Trinamool Congress in West Bengal said: "Vote to honour our Maa. Vote to defend our Mati. Vote to protect our Manush."

The ruling party urged the voters to use their vote to "send a crushing message to those who conspired to take that very power away from you."

BJP Tamil Nadu vice president Khushbu Sundar casts her vote at a polling booth in Mylapore.

The constituency sees a contest between BJP's Tamilisai Soundararajan here and DMK's D Velu.

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Sunetra Pawar casts her vote at a polling station in Gangubai Kante Zilla Parishad Primary School, in Baramati. The seat went vacant after the death of former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar in a plane crash.

NTK Chief Senthamilan Seeman casts his vote at a polling station in Neelankarai.

Senior Congress leader P Chidambaram cast his vote at a polling station in Karaikudi, Sivaganga.

Speaking to the news agency ANI, Chidambaram expressed hope that young voters will vote in big numbers. "I hope they will vote but they should vote for a stable government, for growth and for welfare measures. They can't vote for a fanciful idea, they have to vote for a stable govt, growth and welfare measures that have been delivered by the DMK government in the last 5 years."

Chidambaram urged young voters to vote for secularism and progress.

Voting has begun in two high-profile constituencies - Baramati in Pune, the stronghold of late Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, and Rahuri in Ahilyanagar.

As voting begins in Tamil Nadu today, NDTV's Radhika tracks the pulse on the ground in Salem.

"People should come out and vote," says BJP's Khushbu Sundar as Tamil Nadu goes to polls today.

As Tamil Nadu votes in the Assembly elections, I call upon all voters to take part enthusiastically in this sacred duty of democracy. I urge the youth and the women of Tamil Nadu in particular to come out and vote in record numbers.

What has had the ruling Trinamool Congress concerned is the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of the voter list that has knocked off around 89 lakh voters -- roughly 11.6 per cent of the state's electorate. The figure is slightly more than the winning margin of the Trinamool Congress in 2021.

In 2021, Banerjee's party had polled 10 per cent more votes -- 48 per cent to the BJP's 38 per cent. The SIR impact, figures show, have pared down the voter list by more than 11.6 per cent in multiple districts where the Trinamool's winning margin is slim.

In a message to Bengal voters, Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote: "Phase 1 of the West Bengal Assembly elections takes place today. I urge all citizens to participate in this festival of democracy with full strength."

He made a special appeal to his "young friends and the women" of West Bengal to vote in large numbers.

After three straight terms since 2011, when she toppled the 35-year CPM regime, many say this could be the toughest election Mamata Banerjee is facing. A similar tag, though, was bestowed in 2021, when Banerjee's Trinamool Congress had scooped up 215 seats -- their best performance. The BJP had won 77 seats.

The BJP has been whittling away at the Trinamool's initial advantage, relentlessly flagging the corruption, law and order issues and the lack of development that has mired Bengal for over five decades.

The Trinamool has projected the contest as one of self-determination against outsiders -- from food to culture -- and of survival against a Centre that refuses to release state funds.

Bengal begins voting in first phase of key Trinamool-BJP battle, Tamil Nadu sees a three-way contest.

The AIADMK and BJP promised that they would rid the state of the "rule of one family and bring in corruption-free, good governance". Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused the DMK leadership of fostering a "by the family, of the family, and for the family" culture.

AIADMK General Secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami has promised better welfare schemes for women, monthly support for families and better travelling facilities. The BJP has promised that it will bring in good law and order and will end crimes against women by streamlined zero-FIR reporting, victim-witness protection, Special Fast-Track Courts for heinous cases, etc.

The DMK-led alliance is taking on the NDA, with the entry of TVK promising a nail-biting three-corner contest.

The ruling DMK-led Secular Progressive Alliance, led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin and Deputy CM Udhayanidhi Stalin, centred its campaign around the "Dravidian Model" of governance and welfare programmes. It was supported by the Congress and the VCK. The DMK projected the electoral fight as a struggle between Tamil Nadu and Delhi, referring to the AIADMK's alliance with the BJP, which rules at the Centre.

By pitching "Dravidian Model 2.0", MK Stalin attempted to rake in urban voters among whom the Delhi vs Tamil Nadu narrative finds resonance. He was backed by his most prominent ally, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, who sought to brand the AIADMK as a "puppet" of the BJP.