bengal-to-add-14-000-polling-booths-ahead-of-2026-elections

West Bengal could see a major expansion of its electoral infrastructure, with nearly 14,000 new polling booths proposed ahead of the 2026 assembly elections. The Election Commission has convened an all-party meeting on August 29 to discuss the reorganisation of polling stations, officials confirmed on Saturday.

 

The state presently has just over 78,000 booths spread across 294 constituencies. With the addition of fresh ones, the figure is expected to touch 92,000.

 

An official from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said polling stations with more than 1,200 electors had already been identified for bifurcation to ensure smoother polling. “Booths with over 1,200 voters have already been identified. These will be split to ensure smooth polling. It is likely that the number of booths will go up by 14,000. We will be discussing the rationalisation of booths with the political parties during the all-party meet,” the official stated.

 

The all-party meeting, scheduled at the CEO’s office at 3.30 pm, will seek feedback from political representatives on the revised allocation. Political circles believe the expansion could create fresh organisational challenges, particularly for opposition parties, which may struggle to deploy booth-level agents across the increased network.

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The development also coincides with the Election Commission tightening its scrutiny of voter list revisions in West Bengal. Four officials, Debottam Dutta Chowdhury (ERO) and Tathagata Mandal (AERO) from Baruipur East, and Biplab Sarkar (ERO) and Sudipta Das (AERO) from Moyna, were suspended by the state government following alleged lapses. They are accused of sharing login credentials, compromising data security, and creating irregularities in electoral rolls.

 

The EC had directed that FIRs be filed against the officials, but the state government restricted its action to suspension and departmental proceedings. The lapses, which emerged in Baruipur East and Moyna constituencies, have drawn strong concern from the Commission.

 

Officials said the EC is keeping a close watch on West Bengal’s compliance with its directives as it pushes to complete voter roll revisions and polling station reorganisations well ahead of the 2026 polls.