Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi to meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed rallies in West Bengal, promising to address infiltration issues, resolve the Gorkha issue, and tackle corruption if the BJP wins the upcoming elections.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP-led central government of using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law as a front for the Delimitation Bill, which she claims will divide the country. She asserted that her party will fight this move at every step.
In a first, the Bihar assembly polls this time saw no voting day deaths and no re-polling being ordered in any constituency.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, along with families affected by the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, met with the Chief Election Commissioner to voice their concerns and demand a halt to the revision process.
The West Bengal government has filed FIRs against five state government employees for alleged lapses in electoral roll revisions, following an Election Commission ultimatum. The action comes after the EC directed the state to initiate criminal cases against the accused for adding fictitious names to voter lists.
'The reason why they rushed through the bill was they wanted to avoid using the 2026 Census because the 2026 Census by their own decision will be a caste census.' 'The BJP knows that a significant share of the OBCs who will get captured in the census, for the first time after the 1931 Census, are against the BJP. Only a segment of the OBCs are in their favour.' 'So they wanted to avoid the OBC reservation among women, which is a demand of a lot of Opposition parties.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the BJP-led central government of attempting to suppress voting rights through voter roll revisions, describing Prime Minister Narendra Modi as the 'biggest infiltrator'. She framed the upcoming assembly elections as a fight for democratic rights and Bengal's social harmony.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised the ruling TMC in West Bengal, alleging corruption and appeasement politics, while promoting the BJP's development agenda ahead of the assembly elections.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin celebrated the defeat of the Constitution Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, emphasising the unity of the south and the triumph of democracy. The bill aimed to implement reservation for women in legislatures in 2029 and increase Lok Sabha seats. Stalin criticised the bill as weakening the balance of the union and asserted Tamil Nadu's commitment to justice, dignity, and federalism.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of betraying women by obstructing the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026, which aimed to reserve 33 per cent of seats in Parliament and state assemblies for women. Modi asserted that women in West Bengal would punish the TMC in the upcoming assembly elections.
Banerjee is personally present in court room one along with her lawyers. A gate pass was issued in the chief minister's name on Tuesday.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has announced a significant increase in Lok Sabha seats for the five southern states following delimitation, countering misinformation and clarifying the timeline for women's reservation implementation.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) faces a significant setback as several of its Rajya Sabha MPs, including key figures like Raghav Chadha and Sandeep Pathak, resign from the party, with some reportedly joining the BJP.
EVMs can't be used in presidential, vice-presidential, or Rajya Sabha polls because they only count simple votes, not the preference-based system needed for these elections.
The BJP has released its election manifesto for West Bengal, promising a hardline stance on infiltration, financial assistance for women and unemployed youth, and the implementation of the Seventh Pay Commission for state employees.
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor criticised the government's decision to link women's reservation with the expansion of Parliament, calling delimitation a 'political demonetisation'. He argued that women's reservation should be implemented immediately based on existing parliamentary strength.
These civic body bypolls were a litmus test for the BJP, as they were its first big electoral battle after coming to power in Delhi in February this year.
The Delhi government, now led by the BJP, has withdrawn all cases filed by the previous AAP administration against the Union government, the Lieutenant Governor, and several senior bureaucrats.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the central government of pressuring the outgoing Governor C V Ananda Bose to resign and alleged that his replacement, R N Ravi, is a BJP cadre.
The Election Commission will conduct phase two of the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in 12 states and Union territories between November and February, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar announced on Monday.
Poll preparations for Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, and Delhi have begun, and the preliminary conference of chief electoral officers of these states will be held in Delhi in the first week of June.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of presenting a misleading picture of West Bengal's development and employment situation during a rally in Kolkata, alleging that he is acting more as a BJP campaigner than as the Prime Minister.
AICC General Secretary K C Venugopal has released an open letter to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, alleging secret deals with BJP leaders and the central government, raising questions about the LDF government's functioning ahead of the Assembly elections.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed poll rallies in West Bengal, attacking Mamata Banerjee's TMC and promising development if the BJP wins the state elections. He accused Banerjee of appeasement politics and vowed to prevent the construction of a Babri Masjid-like structure in Bengal.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah addressed poll rallies in West Bengal, promising to tackle corruption and illegal immigration if the BJP comes to power. He criticised the current TMC government and outlined the BJP's plans for the state.
Several opposition parties on Wednesday decided to jointly oppose the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, even as they reiterated support for women's reservation, with Mallikarjun Kharge alleging the move is politically motivated.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, has reassured the public that individual data collected during the upcoming census will remain confidential and cannot be used for any purpose other than statistical aggregation.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accuses the TMC of objecting to the omission of names from electoral rolls due to fears of losing the 'infiltrator' vote bank in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.
Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation, alleging manipulation of voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal. She also questioned the abrupt resignation of Governor C V Ananda Bose and accused the BJP of anti-women policies and spreading misinformation.
According to reports, the exit polls will be banned from 7 am on Monday when polling for the first phase in Chhattisgarh starts till 5:30 pm on December 4 when the Delhi Assembly polls end.
'The jail staff told me Kasab was served only jail food and not biryani.' 'They told me that Kasab was beaten regularly after court proceedings.' 'And they filled Kasab's bottle with urine so that whenever he felt thirsty he used to drink urine.'
India needs to examine some way in which, assuming that there is either no vaccine or a delay in administering it to everyone, voting can be made safer, notes Aakar Patel.
The Election Commission is ramping up preparations for a special intensive revision of voter lists across India, assessing the progress made on mapping current electors with voters as per the last SIR in different states.
The Election Commission is expected to initiate a phased, pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list, prioritizing states with upcoming assembly elections. This cleanup exercise aims to weed out illegal foreign migrants and ensure accurate electoral rolls.
Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will to polls in 2026 and they are amongst the states where the voters' list cleanup exercise will begin first.
Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list commenced in nine states and three Union territories on Tuesday, amid objections from several parties with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the anti-SIR offensive in West Bengal with a rally in Kolkata and alleging 'silent, invisible rigging' through the exercise.
For successive governments the Election Commission remains a 'holy cow', where unhealthy precedents are allowed to be nurtured since Independence, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Election Commission (EC) clarified that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is not required to appear for a hearing regarding discrepancies in the spelling of his name in the voter list. The correction will be handled administratively. The EC also issued instructions to ensure timely delivery of notices related to voter list discrepancies.
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