High-Stakes Constituencies to Watch in Bengal Phase 2

West Bengal is all set for a high-octane election battle in the second phase of the assembly election, scheduled for April 29. The voting will be held in 142 seats, from 7 AM onwards. In the first phase polling on April 23, Bengal recorded its highest ever voter turnout of 93.19 per cent, according to the Election Commission of India (ECI), raising the bar for the second and final phase on Wednesday. Though there are four major players in West Bengal, including the TMC, BJP, Left, and Congress, however, the intense battle in the state is between two of them -- which are the BJP and Mamata's ruling TMC. As the fate of candidates in the first phase is already locked in the EVMs, let's take a look at major constituencies, that are set to witness

a fierce competition in the decider round.

Bhabanipur | A Prestige Battle for Mamata Banerjee

In West Bengal’s political imagination, Bhabanipur is no longer just another south Kolkata assembly seat. It is Mamata Banerjee’s political refuge and home turf, the BJP’s chosen psychological battlefield, where the stage is set for what many in Bengal are calling the “mother of all electoral contests”.With Banerjee, the chief minister and three-term MLA from the constituency, locked in a direct contest with Leader of Opposition and BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari, the April 29 election has turned Bhabanipur into the state’s most closely watched prestige fight.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ry4kSWKn_Tw

Bhabanipur is effectively bracing for a symbolic rematch of Nandigram, where Adhikari defeated Banerjee, his once political mentor, in 2021 after quitting the TMC and joining the BJP.Five years later, the duel has shifted to Banerjee’s own bastion. For the TMC, retaining Bhabanipur is about protecting the chief minister’s political authority in her own backyard. For the BJP, breaching it would mean puncturing the aura of invincibility around Bengal’s most powerful leader.Spread across eight Kolkata Municipal Corporation wards, Bhabanipur is often called ‘mini India’ – a constituency where Bengalis coexist with Gujarati traders, Punjabi and Sikh households, Marwari and Jain families, alongside a sizeable Muslim electorate. Migrants from Bihar, Odisha and Jharkhand add another layer to the social mix.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7M_78LBmf0

Around 42 per cent of voters are Bengali Hindus, 34 per cent non-Bengali Hindus and nearly 24 per cent Muslims, making the constituency socially diverse and politically sensitive. It is precisely this arithmetic that appears to have encouraged Adhikari to challenge Banerjee on her home turf.For months, the BJP has mapped Bhabanipur booth by booth. Party leaders claim Kayasthas make up 26.2 per cent of the electorate, Muslims 24.5 per cent, eastern Indian migrant communities 14.9 per cent, Marwaris 10.4 per cent and Brahmins 7.6 per cent.

Dum Dum Uttar | A TMC's Bation

The urban Dum Dum Uttar assembly constituency, perched on Kolkata's northern fringes and represented by senior minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, no longer appears the assured TMC bastion it once was in the years following the party's ascent to power in 2011.A perceptible shift in political currents has rendered the seat far more competitive, with the ruling party confronting challenges both structural and symbolic.At one level lies the steady rise of the BJP in the area over the past decade, a surge that has unsettled the TMC's traditional dominance. At another, persistent opposition attacks over fraying civic infrastructure -- waterlogging, open drains, cratered roads, encroached waterbodies, and allegations of illegal construction involving some TMC leaders -- have compounded public disquiet.Together, these forces have transformed what was once a comfortable stronghold into a keenly contested battleground.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W11JdWUz9Mc

Dum Dum | BJP Has High Hopes

Dum Dum is another key constituency in West Bengal, that is part of North 24 Parganas district. In 2026, the constituency is set to witness a touch contest between BJP’s Arijit Bakshi, TMC’s Susmita Biswas, and CPM’s Mayukh Biswas. In 2021, Mamata Banerjee-led TMC grabbed the seat after its candidate Bratya Basu defeated BJP’s Bimal Shankar Nanda by a margin of 26,731 votes.On Friday, West Bengal BJP President Samik Bhattacharya, during his election campaign, asserted that the reign of the Trinamool government has come to an end in the state. He affirmed confidence in the victory of the BJP in the ongoing assembly elections.Addressing a massive campaign rally in Dum Dum, Bhattacharya said that this election is "people vs Mamata," alleging that the people have decided to dethrone TMC and form a BJP government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and inspired by the ethics of Shyama Prasad Mukherjee."People have built a narrative: this election is not just a fight between the BJP and Trinamool. It's the People versus Mamata. The people will decide. The people have taken the responsibility for the removal of the Trinamool Congress. From Gangotri to Gangasagar, it will be a BJP government. Under whose leadership that is going to happen, Narendra Damodardas Modi is present before you today. Syama Prasad's government on Syama Prasad's soil," he added.

Kolkata Port | Concerns Around SIR

In Kolkata Port, the fight is between BJP’s Rakesh Singh, TMC’s Firhad ‘Bobby’ Hakim, and CPM’s Faiyaz Ahmad Khan. Though all three parties indulged in a high-pitched election campaign, they are equally concerned about deletions in the voter roll which took place during the Special Intensive Revision exercise (SIR).BJP’s Rakesh Singh has shared concerns of residents who complained about missing names in the electoral rolls. Similar concerns have been expressed by candidates from the other two parties.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=11r-vPbCViQ

After the SIR, the total number of voters witnessed a drop of around 26 per cent as the electorate reduced from 2.36 lakh to 1.75 lakh.Kolkata Port is part of Kolkata Dakshin Parliamentary constituency. It is a densely populated region where old businesses are setelled, since the city has a dock facility.Muslim voters form a significant portion of the electorate, followed by traders, working-class Hindu families, and transport workers.