According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
One more ruling Congress legislator A John Kumar, a close confidant of Puducherry Chief Minister V Narayanasamy, resigned his MLA post on Tuesday, in yet another jolt to the ruling Congress dispensation ahead of the assembly polls due in few months.
Sandeshkhali Block 2, the epicentre of the violent protests triggered by allegations of land encroachment and sexual misconduct involving local TMC leaders, has contributed the largest share of close to 1,000 complaints.
Soren also claimed that his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma indulged in "purchase" of Jharkhand MLAs.
A high voter turnout of nearly 71 per cent was recorded till 5 pm on Saturday in West Bengal's four assembly constituencies where bypolls were held, an official said.
It's a political gambit aimed at the BJP's Suvendu Adhikari who won the seat in 2016 as a TMC candidate, while also retroceding to the land movement that catapulted her to power.
The ruling TMC in West Bengal was rocked by a fresh bout of desertions on Friday with Banerjee quitting the party and several other leaders rallying behind him.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
'Most senior Congress leaders in Assam have a secret understanding with the BJP.' 'They are hobnobbing with the chief minister for their self-interest.'
As BJP leaders went all out to project the event as a moment of national pride, some leaders were directly critical of the ceremony with Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, belonging to the Communist Party of India-Marxist, slamming the state's role in the Ram Temple consecration, saying the line that demarcates religion and state seems to be 'getting thinner and thinner'.
Fifteen years after quitting the Sikkim Democratic Front in 2009, he decimated Chamling's party, scripting history by winning 31 of 32 assembly seats in the Himalayan state in 2024.
'Want PM Modi to leave election management and start corona management'
Mathew Samuel said that steps against corruption are needed and investigations should be fair.
West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain was seriously injured after unidentified attackers hurled a crude bomb at him on Nimtita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night, police said.
Hailing Banerjee as the "real Bengal tigress", the party, which had earlier said that it would join the electoral battle in the state, vowed to "stand in solidarity" with the TMC camp.
The allegations drew sharp reactions from the ruling TMC, which condemned the "vulture politics" of the saffron camp, further requesting it not to politicize the death.
From taking charge of Jharkhand as its youngest chief minister at 38 to establishing himself as a 'fighter' for tribal rights, Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, is an accidental leader thrust into politics after a family tragedy.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday warned the Bharatiya Janata Party not to 'provoke' the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, saying it will not be able to 'bear the consequences' and that his party also knows 'all types of politics', escalating his attack on the saffron party after the arrest of his cabinet colleague V Senthil Balaji.
Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been at the centre of a political storm for nearly a month and has witnessed unprecedented protests over allegations of sexual abuse by scores of women against a local Trinamool Congress leader.
A class 9 student was allegedly raped on April 4 in Hanskhali in West Bengal's Nadia district during a birthday party at the house of the prime accused, a local Trinamool Congress leader's son.
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party managed to notch up a morale-boosting win on its 'Mission Northeast' on Thursday by retaining Tripura emphatically, despite anti-incumbency and newcomer Tipra Motha playing spoilers to its party, while also piggy-backing to power in Nagaland on Neiphiu Rio-led NDPP's shoulder.
Raising slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leaders ended their 24-hour protest at the Mandir Marg police station in New Delhi on Tuesday evening, a day after they were detained while staging a dharna outside the Election Commission's office.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
The division bench said it deemed it appropriate to stay the special court's order and direct that the "accused person shall be treated to be in judicial custody till further orders".
Bengal's Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday appealed for peace and asked "Hindu brothers" to ensure that minorities are protected, as prohibitory orders remained in force after post-Ram Navami violence in two towns of the densely populate Hooghly district.
Over 1.54 crore voters in the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam will exercise their franchise in the 1st phase of polling
Nothing is going to change in a hurry unless attitudes change and punishments are speedy and fair, notes Ramesh Menon.
Elections to the 40-member Goa Assembly are due in two months. Recent visits by Banerjee, Kejriwal and Prime Minister Narendra Modi heated up things in the otherwise "susegad" atmosphere in the small state.
The All India Matua Mahasangha has asked its members to apply for Indian citizenship only after the formation of a new government at the Centre.
'Now Modi ji is saying it is his guarantee that every corrupt person will be made a minister'
The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to stop mass joinings from the Trinamool Congress in West Bengal amid growing resentment within the saffron party over rampant inductions without scrutiny, senior leaders said on Tuesday.
'This is a new Congress. Let the BJP be warned.'
Communal violence took place in West Bengal and Bihar during Ram Navami
West Bengal minister and veteran Trinamool Congress leader Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay is all set to vacate the Bhabanipur assembly seat on Friday as party supremo Mamata Banerjee is likely to contest bypoll from the constituency, party sources said.
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
As state minister Suvendu Adhikari, along with other functionaries, openly air grievances against the Mamata Banerjee-led dispensation, senior leaders are frantically looking for ways to pacify the rebels.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said she has written to the Centre, seeking permission to visit the strife-torn state of Manipur.
His elder brother Om Prakash Chettri, who recently retired from the Army, said Siddhant was passionate only about serving the nation.
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