Amid the rhythmic chug of the train, a chorus of voices rises, each bearing its tale of hope and despair.
Muslims across the country celebrated Eid-ul-Fitr with religious fervour and festivities.
The police seized a huge quantity of explosives and banned firecrackers during raids in different locations in rural West Bengal and arrested at least 100 people for their alleged involvement in running illegal manufacturing factories, a senior state police official said on Tuesday.
The state declared only 4834 sensitive booths on which only CAPFs are deployed but actually, there were more sensitive polling booths, DIG Guleria said.
The SEC, which held a meeting on Sunday evening, went through reports of vote-tampering and violence which affected polling in many places, and passed the order, an official said.
The political war of words over Manipur intensified on Saturday with the BJP raising the incidents of atrocities against women in West Bengal and Rajasthan and questioning the 'silence' of the opposition, which termed it as a diversionary tactic to avoid debate on the situation in the north-eastern state.
The people of West Bengal have lost faith in the state police and therefore their demand for deployment of central forces, Nayak said.
The repolling started at 7 am amid tight security with four central forces personnel deployed in each booth, besides state police. Till 11 am, 10.9 per cent voter turnout was recorded.
The Congress, which had held its sway in these two Muslim majority districts during the Left Front rule of 34 years and the following 10 years of the TMCs reign since 2011, has not been able to open its account in this election.
The TMC has won in 34,560 gram panchayat seats, besides leading in 705 seats, according to the SEC as of 11.30 am on Wednesday.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Railways cancelled 234 trains while 340 trains have been affected so far due to protests against the Agnipath scheme for recruitment in the defence services, the Railways said on Friday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday asserted that the Union government is making record investment for railway infrastructure modernisation.
The national capital, parts of which reeled under heatwave conditions for the past few days, had some relief on Wednesday with strong winds and partly cloudy skies witnessed during the day.
Actor-politician Shatrughan Sinha, who joined the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha election, lost to Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from Patna Sahib constituency in Bihar by 2.84 votes.
'The last three phases, the Trinamool gained more than expected due to Covid mismanagement by the Centre.'
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
At least 22 more people succumbed to the infection, raising the toll in the state to 10,480.
A brief overview of North Bengal districts' constituencies
Over 84 lakh voters in West Bengal will decide the political fate of 283 candidates on Thursday, when 35 assembly constituencies go to polls in the eighth and final phase, amid a raging second wave of Covid-19.
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.
Nine MLAs, including Babul Supriyo, took oath as ministers in West Bengal on Wednesday, in a major reshuffle of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's cabinet.
BJP chief Amit Shah had set a target of winning 22 Lok Sabha seats out of 42 seats in West Bengal.
Normal life in West Bengal was partially affected on Friday due to the 12-hour state-wide bandh called by the Left Front in protest against police action on its activists during their march towards state secretariat Nabanna.
Unseasonal rain since Wednesday has, meanwhile, hampered culling in Bankura, Birbhum, Coochbehar, Hooghly, Nadia, South Dinazpur, Bardhaman and Murshibadbad districts. There were reports of resentment among poultry owners for not getting the promised compensation.
Referring to the violence in Malda, he refuted Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's statement that it was a result of tussle between Border Security Force officials and locals.
Banerjee said the state is targeting to shift at least 10 lakh people to safer places in a bid to avoid any loss of life.
TMC on a roll, wins 13 out of 17 zilla parishads in WB
Muslims across the country have joined the agitation, apprehending that the move could be a precursor to a country-wide NRC.
Complying with the Election Commission's order, the West Bengal government on Wednesday removed seven officials from their existing posts and replaced them with different officials as desired by the poll panel.
The death toll due to Monday's havoc caused by Cyclone Aila in West Bengal rose to 45 on Tuesday.
Principal Secretary of the state health department Bibek Kumar, in his letter to the secretary of the Union ministry of health and family welfare on Friday, described the list as "an erroneous assessment" and said Bengal, keeping in view the parameters set by the Centre, has earmarked four "red" zones -- Kolkata, Howrah, North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore.
The list, which is a mix of seasoned political players and greenhorns, has 17 women candidates, five more than the last elections, constituting roughly 41 per cent of the candidates.
'It was planned in such a manner that it was made to look like a communal incident.'
A eight-member central team, headed by Joint Secretary in Union Agriculture Ministry E K Majhi, will visit drought-hit districts of West Bengal on Wednesday.
A fearless competitor who used brain and brawn in equal measure, Subhas Bhowmick was one of the most fascinating characters in Indian football through the 1970s with his muscular built and equally expressive carefree opinions.
Results of the panchayat polls indicated a paradigm shift in state politics with the baton of main opposition party passing from the Left to the BJP.
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A blast in New Jaipaiguri in West Bengal has killed four persons and injured seven. The police and the Intelligence Bureau are suspecting the involvement of the dreaded Inter-Services Intelligence funded, Kamtapur Liberation Organisation. The powerful bomb was planted on a cycle.
The West Bengal government on Monday reinstated its seven senior officials who were removed from their posts early last month on the directive of Election Commission, to their previous postings.
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