Bengal Elections: More parties in fray but over 80% don't open their account

With less than 24 hours for the first phase of Bengal assembly elections, India Today DIU brings to you an analysis of political parties in West Bengal.

The first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections is set to begin on Saturday and 28 political parties are contesting in the first two phases. The political parties contesting in West Bengal have mushroomed in the last three decades. 12 political parties contested in the 1951 assembly elections and 11 parties fought in 1987. The number of political parties, thereafter, grew to 35 in the year 1991, and further to 54 in the last assembly elections in 2016. Small parties have been unable to make any impact in the elections even as the number of parties has grown significantly over the years.