2006 West Bengal Legislative Assembly election

2006 West Bengal state assembly election

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All 294 seats in the West Bengal state assembly 148 seats needed for a majority
Registered	48,165,156
Turnout	81.97%
First party Second party Third party   Leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Mamata Banerjee Pranab Mukherjee Party CPI(M) AITC INC Alliance LF NDA UPA Leader since 2000 1998 2000 Leader's seat Jadavpur Did Not Contest[a] Did not contest[b] Last election 36.59%, 143 seats 30.66%, 60 seats 7.98%, 26 seats Seats won 176 30 21 Seat change 33 30 5 Popular vote 14,652,200 10,512,153 5,805,398 Percentage 37.13% 26.64% 14.71% Swing 0.54 pp 4.02 pp 6.73 pp
Structure of the West Bengal Legislative Assembly after the election
Chief Minister before election Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee CPI(M) Chief Minister after election Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee CPI(M)

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.^[1]

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.^[2][3]

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