With his exit, the TMC will lose a crucial, politically influential vote catcher in the Jungalmahal region and areas in minority-dominated Murshidabad, and the BJP will get a face it badly needs, especially in rural Bengal, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Announcing the name of candidates for the West Bengal assembly polls, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday said she will be contesting from the Nandigram constituency as announced earlier.
TMC's campaign in the seat in south Kolkata is already underway with the Election Commission announcing the by-poll on Saturday, following a request from the state government to avoid a constitutional crisis.
Bypoll to the Bhabanipur assembly seat in West Bengal, from where chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee plans to contest, would be held on September 30, the Election Commission announced on Saturday.
Banerjee, who lost the election in Nandigram, has to win this bypoll to retain the chief minister's post.
Mathew Samuel said that steps against corruption are needed and investigations should be fair.
Violence had rocked West Bengal's rural polls on Saturday, leaving 15 people dead while ballot boxes were vandalised, ballot papers torched, and bombs thrown at rivals in several places.
While the first house has been rented for a year, according to neighbours, the other house has been rented for six months. Both houses are located at a distance of approximately 100 metres from each other in the Reyapara area.
The district officials named 306 other unrecognized Islamic education institutions in their report as illegal.
West Bengal, which is governed by the Trinamool Congress, became the second state after Congress-ruled Punjab, where such a resolution has been tabled and passed.
Over the last few months, Dutta has been vocal about his opposition to election strategist Prashant Kishor and the way he was handling party affairs.
A woman who had suffered burns in the petrol bomb attack in Bogtui village in Birbhum district last week died in a hospital on Monday, raising the toll to nine, a police officer said.
She said the Election Commission is being apprised of the alleged acts of impropriety by police personnel from outside.
It is noteworthy that, rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Suvendu Adhikari formally tendered his resignation to party chief and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday.
Supreme Court Judge Justice Indira Banerjee on Friday recused from hearing a plea field by kin of two Bharatiya Janata Party workers, who were killed in poll related violence on May 2 in West Bengal, seeking court monitored probe and transfer of cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation or Special Investigation Team (SIT).
"If a film Kashmir Files is made, then at least, there should also be film 'Lakhimpur Files', where farmers were crushed under the wheels of a jeep," the SP president told journalists in Sitapur district on Wednesday when asked for his opinion on the Bollywood movie.
Though the BJP failed in its effort to dislodge Banerjee from power, it's for the first time that it will be the main opposition party in the state assembly, rising from a measly three seats in 2016 to 77.
Though the BJP is running too close for comfort, populist schemes and support among Muslims may help Mamata Banerjee overcome the challenge, observes Aditi Phadnis.
'A pro-Modi wave and anti-incumbency will be incomplete without strong candidates.'
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
Dhankar wins vice presidential election by bagging more than 500 votes.
Former Bengal pace spearhead Ashoke Dinda, who is fighting from the Moyna constituency in Purba Medinipur district, said the BJP desperately wants BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly to join the party.
He further stated that other details regarding the same will be disclosed after a meeting scheduled to take place on November 26, which marks the first anniversary of the farmers' protest against the three farm laws, the repeal of which was recently announced by the Centre earlier this month.
Once a reviled practice in the state, both the parties seem to have endorsed a record number of turncoats this time -- triggering a wave of discontentment among their loyalists.
The byelections are of critical importance to Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who lost the assembly poll to Bharatiya Janata Party's Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram.
The Filmfare OTT Awards honoured the cast and crew of OTT movies and doffed their hat to their talent and hard work.
The school also said they have discontinued the practice of reciting verses from different religions, including Sikhism, Hinduism and Islam, in the assembly, and now only the National Anthem will be sung.
Three women officers of the Indian Air Force on Monday made history as they became the country's first 'All Women Crew' to fly a Medium Lift Helicopter.
Hundreds of local people and party activists accompanied her, shouting the slogan of 'Mamata Banerjee Zindabad!'.
Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday elevated her nephew and MP Abhishek Banerjee as the party's all-India general secretary, the second-most important post in the organisation, a senior leader in Kolkata said.
Preliminary investigation revealed that the aircraft had crashed into the mountains after it swerved to the right, instead of turning to the left due to inclement weather.
Since the purported seizure on Friday night, social media has gone abuzz with gossip about her alleged relationship with the senior Trinamool Congress leader.
A large voter turnout of more than 80 per cent despite sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of vote fraud on Thursday marked the second phase of West Bengal assembly polls.
Branding Trinamool Congress rebels as 'traitors' like Mir Jafar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party for fielding the turncoats in the polls leaving saffron party old-timers shed tears.
High drama was witnessed on the first day of the budget session of the West Bengal assembly on Monday as Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was forced to table his inaugural address with Bharatiya Janata Party legislators staging a protest in the House over alleged violence in the recently concluded civic elections in the state.
The Trinamool Congress on Monday wrote to Kolkata Police Commissioner Soumen Mitra seeking 'necessary action' under the law against the Central Bureau of Investigaton officials who arrested three senior party leaders 'illegally'.
All eyes are on battleground Nandigram that is goin to the polls on Thursday with the chief minister engaged in a fierce contest with her protege-turned-rival Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.
On Monday, the TMC leader had alleged that the returning officer of Nandigram did not order recounting of votes even after she demanded it as he feared for his life.
The report alleged that several government school students "shivered in biting cold while government officials were busy with an event".
