By reben10.ramjit@gmail.com 
In West Bengal, the BJP crossed the halfway mark, maintaining a substantial lead over the incumbent Trinamool. Voter participation was exceptionally high: the State recorded an overall turnout of approximately 92.93 per cent across two phases—93.19 per cent in the first phase on April 23 and 91.66 per cent in the second on April 29—the highest recorded in the State since Independence. The election was also marked by controversy over the Election Commission of India’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, conducted ahead of the polls, which removed approximately 91 lakh voters from the revised list. The Trinamool argued the exercise risked disenfranchising genuine voters; the BJP defended it as a correction of bogus entries and entries linked to undocumented migrants. The matter remained under judicial scrutiny during the campaign.
In Tamil Nadu, actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), contesting its first Assembly election, was ahead in 110 of the 234 constituencies as of the latest trends. The AIADMK-led alliance was leading in 62 seats, while the ruling DMK alliance, which had won 159 seats in 2021, was ahead in 61. Vijay contested from two constituencies—Perambur and Tiruchirappalli East—and was leading in both. His party’s performance cut across urban centres and rural constituencies, including traditional DMK strongholds.