Over one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 342 candidates.
Political commentators say the final outcome of the West Bengal assembly elections would depend on how some crucial factors play out this time. Mayank Mishra explains.
"I have been congratulated many times for scoring goals but I could never imagine that I will shake hands with the biggest cricket star," Goalpi said, beaming with excitement after getting a prized selfie with Tendulkar.
A POCSO court in North 24 Parganas district recently sentenced four persons to 20 years in jail and two others to 10 years in connection with the case of the woman who is now 22 years old.
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.
An electorate of 1.44 crore is expected to vote on Wednesday in the crucial third phase of the West Bengal assembly polls spread over three districts of Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas district to decide the fate of 479 candidates including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
In order to prevent the spread of the Omicron variant of coronavirus, the West Bengal government on Thursday announced that it has suspended all the flights coming to Kolkata airport from the United Kingdom from January 3 onwards till further notice.
Fresh poultry deaths were reported from a farm in South 24-Parganas in West Bengal on Wednesday, raising fears that the dreaded H5N1 virus might be spreading to the organised sector after affecting backyard poultry. District health officials told PTI that there had been no instance of avian flu in the area earlier. Blood samples have been collected from the farm situated at Benerpukur, health officials said.
Protests were held in different parts of Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, Hooghly, Howrah, Birbhum, South 24 Parganas, Jalpaiguri districts, and Trinamool Congress supporters briefly blocked roads in some areas.
A woman on Thursday lodged a police complaint, alleging that she was abducted by three persons from outside her residence in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali where allegations of sexual abuse against Trinamool Congress leaders have been levelled.
The state government, however, has not sent any report as sought by the Union home ministry on "serious security lapses" during Nadda's two-day visit to West Bengal.
Armed with sticks, they set ablaze thatched structures near a fishing yard in Belmajur area of Sandeshkhali, venting their fury against the elusive TMC leader Shahjahan Sheikh and his brother Siraj. The torched structure, it was revealed, belonged to Siraj.
Those leaving were mostly engaged as masons, maids and housekeepers in the country, another BSF official said.
State Chief Secretary Malay Kumar De wrote that 'firm and appropriate actions' were initiated in all cases of violence without any delay.
West Bengal and Odisha have evacuated lakhs of people from vulnerable areas to safety as severe cyclonic storm 'Yaas' is nearing the coast and is expected to make landfall near Dhamra Port in Bhadrak district early on Wednesday morning.
At least seven pilgrims were killed and nine injured, four of them seriously, when a stampede broke out at the Gangasagar mela in South 24 Parganas district of West Bengal early on Thursday.
Hours before the counting for West Bengal assembly polls, four Trinamool workers were on Thursday injured when some unidentified men hurled bombs at the party office in Titagarh area of North 24 Parganas district.
The severe cyclonic storm, which brought in its wake heavy rain coupled with gale wind till early Sunday, uprooted hundreds of trees and snapped cables in Kolkata and in the coastal districts of North and South 24 Parganas and East Midnapore, bring life to a near-halt.
The sharks, weighing between 6 kg and 120 kg, were being ferried to different markets in Kolkata for supply to five-star hotels.
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The meteoric rise of Shajahan Sheikh from a modest background of a helper in a local transport company to becoming the so-called 'tiger' of Sandeshkhali is what Bollywood film scripts are made of. And so does his fall.
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.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier objected on certain issues, has a 'positive mind' towards the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
Protestors continued to target railway properties in Bihar and West Bengal on Saturday to vent their ire against the Agnipath defence recruitment scheme disrupting train services in the eastern region for the fourth day in a row, while demonstrations were held on roads in Odisha and Jharkhand.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Tarak Nath Haldar was admitted to M S Bangur hospital while Mohammad Azizul Rahman was admitted to Budge Budge Rural Hospital on Sunday, Chief Medical Officer Health, Sachidananda Sarkar told PTI.
Two children died and over 400 others were hospitalised after eating food at an iftaar party in North 24 Parganas district in West Bengal, Minister of State for Health Chandrima Bhattacharya said on Tuesday.
The TMC claimed that the victims were supporters of the party and were targeted by miscreants hired by the Bharatiya Janata Party, a charge denied by the saffron party.
Instead of arresting suspects and handing them over to the police for trial, BSF soldiers are often accused of taking the law in their hands, says Syed Tashfin Chowdhury
For ex-Central Bureau of Investigation additional director general Upen Biswas, who had cracked the Rs 800 crore Bihar fodder scam, fighting the coming Assembly elections in West Bengal is an "experiment with honesty."
A senior Maoist leader identified as Anukul Chandra Naskar alias Pareshji, who is also a politburo member of the CPI (Maoist), was arrested by a joint team of the Andhra Pradesh Police and Assam Police.
A Trinamool Congress legislator on Sunday threatened to not support any bill tabled by the government in the West Bengal Assembly in the future and abstain from voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha polls in the state if 'atrocities' on his loyalists allegedly by a rival faction continued, even as the Bharatiya Janata Party said the collapse of the Mamata Banerjee government was just a matter of time.
The Bharatiya Janata Party dubbed the arrest as scripted and claimed he was in the safe custody of West Bengal Police.
The system lay centered at 5.30 am over Southeast Bay of Bengal, about 450 km west-northwest of Car Nicobar (Nicobar Islands), 380 km west of Port Blair (Andaman Islands), 970 km southeast of Visakhapatnam (Andhra Pradesh) and 1030 km south-southeast of Puri (Odisha).
The Calcutta high court on Monday directed the police to arrest Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, who has been accused of sexual atrocities and land grab by villagers in Sandeshkhali area, while clarifying there is no stay on it.
'We cried our hearts out as we saw our huts going underwater. It was hard to believe that I was fast asleep at the same spot just 15-20 minutes ago'
The apex court, however, allowed the West Bengal unit of the BJP to continue with its proposed public rallies and meetings under its "Ganatantra Bachao Yatra".
Four people, three belonging to RSP and one to CPI-M, died in poll-related violence at Basanti in South 24 Parganas district and another was killed at Domjur in Howrah district, IG (Law & Order) Raj Kanojia told media persons in Kolkata.
The state government has its own security forces like the Eastern Frontier Rifles and was not deploying them, the MHA said.
The family members of Partha Bag, one of the victims of the mysterious fire at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre in Mumbai, have demanded a probe. Bag's relatives have said that the Central Bureau of Investigation should undertake the probe.Questioning the mysterious circumstances that led to the deaths of Bag and another research student, Bag's neighbours also accused BARC of not providing adequate security.