Voting for the first phase of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly Elections is scheduled for Thursday (April 23) in 152 constituencies. On one hand, the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC) is attempting to return to power for the fourth consecutive term. On the other hand, the BJP is making every effort to oust Mamata Banerjee's government. Following the Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the number of voters in the state has decreased by approximately 9.1 million. Surprisingly, most voters' names have been deleted in seats where the TMC has a strong vote bank. The impact of SIR will clearly be visible in the elections.

There are six seats in Bengal where the Muslim vote share is the highest. These six seats also represent Mamata Banerjee's core voters. These seats are known as Bengal's Chicken Neck. If the BJP tightens its grip on these seats, a new era is sure to dawn in Bengal. Let's find out which are these Muslim-majority seats? How strong is the TMC here? What are the BJP's preparations for these seats?

Why mention Chicken Neck?
In fact, eight districts of North Bengal fall within the area known as the Siliguri Corridor or Chicken Neck. The 40-kilometer-long Siliguri Corridor connects the seven northeastern states with the rest of India. These seven states are Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Tripura. These seven sisters, the Siliguri Corridor, border Nepal on one side, Bangladesh on the other, and China about 200 kilometers away.

TMC's Chicken Neck in Bengal
Of the 23 districts of West Bengal, six are Muslim-majority districts, known as the TMC's Chicken Neck. These six districts are Murshidabad, Malda, North Dinajpur, South 24 Parganas, North 24 Parganas, and Birbhum. These districts account for 118 of the 294 seats in the Bengal Legislative Assembly, or 40% of the total. Mamata Banerjee's core voters reside in these six seats. Mamata Banerjee's lifeblood resides here.