High-stakes Tamil Nadu, West Bengal election begins in India amid voter roll row

Voters in India will head to the polls on Thursday as important state elections kick off, particularly in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. In West Bengal, the most intense competition is taking place, with voting for 152 out of 294 seats across 16 districts in the first phase. There are 1,478 candidates contesting these seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is making a strong effort to remove Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from power. Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is aiming for a fourth consecutive term in a state where the BJP has never been in charge. A second phase of voting is planned for the following week. These elections are happening amid a dispute over significant changes to the electoral rolls, which has raised political tensions in West Bengal before the voting takes place. In Tamil Nadu, elections will occur in one phase across all 234 constituencies, with over 57 million voters eligible to participate. The votes on Thursday are part of a larger series of state elections that will test support for Modi's party. Earlier this month, polling also took place in Kerala, Assam, and Puducherry, which is a federally-administered territory. For the BJP, these elections are a chance to see if they can grow in areas where they have had difficulties, while opposition parties are assessing their ability to challenge the BJP’s power. The situation is most clearly highlighted in West Bengal, where the elections are taking place amidst the controversy regarding the revision of electoral rolls.