The second and final phase of the West Bengal Assembly Elections 2026 comes to a close on Wednesday, April 29, 2026. Once polling ends, the fate of every candidate across four states and one Union Territory will be locked inside the EVMs.
This final phase matters a lot, since it formally wraps up the entire election exercise. Voting is taking place on 142 seats in this round, and the mood across Bengal is charged. Political activity has picked up sharply in every district.
The contest is shaping up as a tough one between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party. Both sides have been pushing hard in the final hours, urging voters to turn out in large numbers.
All eyes are now on the exit polls. As per Election Commission rules, exit poll numbers cannot be released before 6:30 PM on Wednesday (April 29, 2026). Anything before that is off-limits for public broadcast.
Going by Election Commission data, the first phase recorded a remarkable 93.2 percent turnout in West Bengal. Tamil Nadu saw 85.1 percent voting. Assam, where all 126 seats have already gone to the polls, logged 85.5 percent. Kerala, with 140 seats, registered a turnout somewhere between 75 and 78 percent. Puducherry topped the chart with 89.87 percent, its highest ever. Counting for all these states and the UT will take place on May 4.
So what exactly is an exit poll?
Put simply, it is a kind of survey. Once voters finish casting their ballot and step out of the polling booth, they are asked who they voted for. The idea is to get a read on which way the public is leaning before the official results come out.
Survey agencies and media houses station their people at select polling stations. As voters emerge, they are asked a few quick questions. These responses are then gathered and analysed to estimate vote share and the number of seats each party might end up winning.