Campaigning may have stopped in the Darjeeling hills for the Bengal Assembly polls, but the debate brewed stronger across the region on Wednesday, the eve of the polling day.

The Darjeeling, Kurseong and Kalimpong Assembly seats have never been so keenly contested in nearly three decades as this time.

The Anit Thapa-led Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM), the Ajoy Edwards-led Indian Gorkha Janshakti Front (IGJF) and the BJP are drawing the most crowds to their meetings.

Campaigns might have stopped for the leaders, but their respective supporters continue to canvass on social media.

“This is perhaps the first Assembly elections in the hills after decades when there is a strong three-cornered contest in all three hill seats,” said Suraj Tamang, a Darjeeling resident.

“The campaign is intense on social media and supporters of all three parties are leaving no stone unturned to send across their message to voters,” said a resident.

When Subash Ghisingh and his party, the Gorkha National Liberation Front (GNLF), took control of hill politics after the formation of the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council (DGHC) in 1988, election results invariably went in favour of the hill ruling party.

“From 1991 to 2006, GNLF candidates won three hill seats with ease. There was hardly any contest,” said Tamang.

After the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha unseated the GNLF from power in 2008, the Morcha won the hill seats comfortably in 2011 and 2016.

Even the 2021 election was a direct contest between the Binay Tamang-led faction of the Morcha and the BJP.

This election is also creating a buzz as many residents who had moved out of Darjeeling are returning home to cast their “first vote” after the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

“Everyone is saying that we have to vote as this is the first election after SIR and we need to record our presence," said Pema Sherpa, a resident of Lalung busty in Mungpoo’s Ranju Valley who runs a restaurant near the Darjeeling Motor Stand

Even though the Election Commission of India (EC) has not officially framed the polls in this light, many voters believe the exercise has given the 2026 state election a distinct significance. “There is no doubt that voter turnout will be higher than in previous elections in the hills as many people working outside the region have taken the trouble to return to vote,” said a resident.

Darjeeling recorded one of the lowest voter turnouts in the 2022 GTA polls — only 56.5 per cent.