The judgement day here is finally here for the state of West Bengal. After a record 92% average voter turnout during the two-phase election, the Assembly Election results are set to be out later in the day, with counting to start around 8 AM.
Historically, the West Bengal Assembly has had 294 seats, thus making 148 the magic number - the majority mark parties must achieve in order to win the eleciton.
However, heading into counting day, the total seats that will be taken into consideration stands at 293 instead of 294. That is because of The Election Commission has scrapped the Falta election that was conducted on April 29.
A constituency located in South Kolkata, the EC cited that there were “electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process” during the election on April 29. Therefore, a repolling has been announced on May 21.
This effectively means Falta will not be taken into considering heading into today's counting. But what does this mean for the fate of the election? Nothing much changes, except there might be a slight change in the majority mark.
Instead of the traditional 148 majority mark, any party picking up 147 seats could dominate the narrative, though Falta will later come into play in the off chance the election goes right down to the wire.
In 2021, the Falta constituency was won by the TMC, with Sankar Kumar Naskar winning by a margin of 40,000 votes against BJP candidate Bidhan Parui.
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