Assembly elections were held in the Indian state of West Bengal to elect the members of West Bengal Legislative Assembly. The election took place in five phases between 17 April and 8 May. The votes were counted three days later on May 11, 2006, and thanks to the electronic voting machines, all the results were out by the end of the day.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front won the election with an overwhelming majority. The previous government, formed by the Left Front and led by chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, completed its full five-year term in office following its coming to power in 2001. The Left Front had been ruling the state of West Bengal for the last three decades, the world's longest-running democratically elected Communist government.
Election schedule
Poll eventFirst phaseSecond phaseThird phaseFourth phaseFifth phaseNotification Date24 March28 March1 April5 April13 AprilLast Date for filing nomination31 March4 April8 April12 April20 AprilScrutiny of nomination1 April5 April10 April13 April21 AprilLast Date for withdrawal of nomination3 April7 April12 April17 April24 MayDate of poll17 April22 April27 April3 May8 MayDate of counting of votes11 MayNo. of assembly constituencies4566775749
Parties and alliances
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Communist Party of India (Marxist) Buddhadeb Bhattacharya 210 216 Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) Prabodh Chandra Sinha 2 Marxist Forward Bloc Pratim Chatterjee 2 Biplobi Bangla Congress 1 Revolutionary Communist Party of India Rasik Bhatt 1 All India Forward Bloc Debabrata Biswas 34 Revolutionary Socialist Party Kshiti Goswami 23 Communist Party of India Swapan Banerjee 13 West Bengal Socialist Party Kiranmoy Nanda 4 Nationalist Congress Party P. A. Sangma 2 Rashtriya Janata Dal Lalu Prasad Yadav 2 Total 294
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Trinamool Congress Mamata Banerjee 257 Bharatiya Janata Party Rahul Sinha 29 Jharkhand Party (Naren) Chunibala Hansda 4 Janata Dal (United) Nitish Kumar 2 Independent 4 Total 294+2
Party Flag Symbol Leader Contesting Seats Indian National Congress Pranab Mukherjee 262 Party for Democratic Socialism Saifuddin Choudhury 12 Lok Janshakti Party Ram Vilas Paswan 8 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha Shibu Soren 7 Gorkha National Liberation Front 5 Indian People's Forward Bloc 3 Republican Party of India (Athawale) Ramdas Athawale 1 Independent 4 Total 294+8
Results The Communist Party of India (Marxist) led Left Front won a landslide victory by winning a total of 235 seats
Source: Indian elections
Alliance wise result LFSEATS%NDASEATS%UPASEATS%CPIM17637.13AITC3026.64INC2114.71AIFB235.66JKP(N)10.26GNLF3RSP203.71BJP01.93IND(INC)2CPI81.91JD(U)00.10JMM0WBSP40.71LJP0RJD10.08PDS0DSP(P)10.36BSP0NCP00.19IPFB0Independent (MFB)20.43TOTAL (2006)23550.18TOTAL (2006)3128.93TOTAL (2006)26TOTAL (2001)199TOTAL (2001)60TOTAL (2001)29
Party wise result PartyCandidates ContestedSeats Won Communist Party of India (Marxist) 212 176 Indian National Congress 262 21 Communist Party of India 13 8 Bahujan Samaj Party 128 0 Bharatiya Janata Party 29 0 Nationalist Congress Party 2 0 All India Trinamool Congress 257 30 All India Forward Bloc 34 23 Revolutionary Socialist Party 23 20 Samajwadi Party 32 0 Rashtriya Janata Dal 2 1 Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation 25 0 Lok Jan Shakti Party8 0 Jharkhand Mukti Morcha 7 0 Janata Dal (Secular) 6 0 Indian Union Muslim League 6 0 Shiv Sena 3 0 Janata Dal (United) 2 0 West Bengal Socialist Party 4 4 Gorkha National Liberation Front 5 3 Jharkhand Party (Naren) 4 1 Democratic Socialist Party (Prabodh Chandra) 2 1 Amra Bangalee 22 0 Party for Democratic Socialism 12 0 Jharkhand Disom Party 10 0 Indian Justice Party 6 0 Indian People's Forward Bloc 3 0 Paschim Banga Rajya Muslim League 2 0 Samajtantric Party of India 2 0 Jana Unnayan Mancha 1 0 Social Justice Party 1 0 Shoshit Samaj Party1 0 Republican Party of India (Athvale) 1 0 Rashtriya Samadhaan Party 1 0 Independent 526 6 Independent includes MFB 2, SUCI 2 Total Number of constituencies : 294 Results declared : 294 Total contestants : 1654
Constituency-Wise Results