West Bengal Legislative Assembly election, 2006

West Bengal state assembly election, 2006

← 2001 8 May 2006 2011 →
All 294 seats in the West Bengal state assembly
First party Second party Third party   Leader Buddhadeb Bhattacharya Mamata Banerjee Manas Bhunia Party CPI(M) Trinamool Congress INC Alliance LF NDA UPA Leader since 2000 1982 Leader's seat Jadavpur did not stand Sabang Last election 201 60 26 Seats won 21-2 (by-polls) Seat change 176 - 3 (by-polls) 30 +3 (by-polls) 5 Percentage 49.7 35.93 5.98% Swing +6.68 -7.14 -2.00%
Chief Minister before election Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee LDF Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee LDF

The West Bengal state assembly election of 2006, part of a series of state assembly elections in 2006, was scheduled to occur in five phases. The election took place in the following manner — for 45 assembly constituency (AC)s occurred on April 17, 2006; 66 ACs on April 22, 77 ACs on April 27, 57 ACs on May 3,and 49 ACs on May 8, 2006. 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.

Total number of ACs in the state is 294. Elections were held for all 294 constituencies. Total electors numbering 48,165,156 voted in 53,293 polling stations. The electoral turnout was 81.92% of possible voters.^[1]

The Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Front won the election. 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 has been ruling the state of West Bengal for the last three decades, the world's longest-running democratically elected Communist government.^[2]