The highest polling percentage of 86.32 was recorded in the Purba Medinipur district, followed by Jhargram (84.74 per cent), Paschim Medinipur (84.71 per cent), Bankura (84.27 per cent) and Purulia (81.77 per cent).
Senior MHA officials referred to intelligence inputs regarding a possibility of a sudden surge in the activists of the Maoists and issued an alert for the police of the four states.
Noting that the number of unicorns in India has reached the 100-mark this month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said that even in the phase of the Covid pandemic, Indian startups have been creating wealth and value with entrepreneurs emerging from smaller cities and towns as well. In his monthly 'Mann ki Baat' radio broadcast, the prime minister said that on the fifth of this month the number of unicorns in India reached the 100-mark. "The total valuation of these unicorns is more than USD 330 billion, that is, more than 25 lakh crore rupees. "Certainly, this is a matter of pride for every Indian," he said.
The septuagenarian leader has with this victory, broken the record of veteran leader SC Jamir, who helmed the northeastern state thrice.
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.
Bankura continued to top the maximum temperature chart at 43.7 degrees Celsius, while Panagarh in Paschim Bardhaman district followed closely at 43.5 degrees Celsius, the weather office said.
Agitators squatted on railway tracks at various places, leading to cancellation, short-termination and diversion of several trains.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Friday held Jharkhand and DVC responsible for the current "man made" flood in the southern part of the state and contended that it was caused due to the unplanned and enhanced discharge of water from dams and barrages in the neighbouring state without information.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various places that went to polls on Saturday during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly election, even as the overall poll situation was largely peaceful with 79.79 per cent turnout recorded till the end of voting, an official said.
Addressing her first rally in a district after being injured at the hustings in Nandigram, Banerjee said as long as she has her voice and her heart functions, she will continue to fight.
The move came after a nine-member delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators of the crime.
Tribals constitute 7-8 per cent of the state's population, and are a deciding factor in 47 assembly seats and seven Lok Sabha constituencies spread across the Junglemahal districts of Purulia, Paschim Medinipur, Bankura and Jhargram in southern Bengal and Jalpaiguri and Alipurduar in the north.
A video of Bharatiya Janata Party state president Dilip Ghosh apparently suggesting West Bengal chief minister should wear bermuda shorts to display her injured leg has triggered controversy with the ruling Trinamool Congress slamming it as a 'distasteful comment' and women expressing outrage over the remark in social media.
Over 1.54 crore voters in the eastern states of West Bengal and Assam will exercise their franchise in the 1st phase of polling
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy 125 companies of central forces in West Bengal by February 25 for the ensuing assembly elections, a senior official said on Friday.
The resolution expressed "disapproval" against the controversial Gujarat-cadre officer being "forced upon Delhi" as its police commissioner.
The BJP, which has emerged as the main opposition party in West Bengal after winning 77 seats in the assembly polls last year, failed to win even a single civic body.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leader, who travelled by road from Jharkhand to this West Bengal town to address a rally after being denied permission earlier for landing helicopter in the state, targeted the Trinamool Congress chief for opposing the Central Bureau of Investigation's attempt to quiz the Kolkata police chief in connection with the ponzi scams.
'Being a woman chief minister we certainly expect from her some decency that goes well with the culture and tradition of Bengal, and with the values of a Bengali woman'
BJP has announced the name of former Deputy Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen Subrata Saha, credited for establishing the Army Design bureau for Make in India for the army, as its candidate from Rashbehari constituency.
At least 12 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) reached West Bengal on Saturday morning as the state prepares to go to elections, officials said.
Adhikari joined the BJP amid Shah's two-day visit to West Bengal ahead of the assembly elections in 2021.
BJP chief Amit Shah said the ruling TMC has 'surpassed the violent legacy of the communist rule' in West Bengal.
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Her campaign in the high-stakes constituency will begin at 11 am on Monday with an 8-kilometre roadshow from Khudiram More to Thakurchowk in Nandigram Block 2, followed by a public meeting in Jansabha Boyal II.
Adhikari, the face of the Nandigram movement that catapulated Mamata Bannerjee to power in 2011, sent his resignation letter to the chief minister by fax, which he then forwarded to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar by e-mail.
Earlier, four men claiming to be Maoists turned up at the Urma railway station at around 2000 hrs and told the assistant station master and two porters to stop train services and leave immediately, Divisional Railway Manager A K Halder said in Purulia.
The Central Bureau of Investigation wishes to write "the last chapter" of the Purulia arms drop case as the agency wants to know the name of a politician, if any, who had helped the main accused Kim Davy escape from Mumbai airport.
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Four days after Trinamool Congress heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari resigned from the state cabinet, Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee and election strategist Prashant Kishor on Tuesday met him, following which the party claimed that 'all the issues have been resolved'.
Within hours of assuming office, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday initiated a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy, transferring 29 top-level police officers, mostly those who were shifted by the election commission prior to the polls.
Purulia district in West Bengal, where Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had said, people are worse off than those in Orissa's poorest Kalahandi area, has since turned the corner.
In a daring attack, a group of over 25 Maoists attacked a police camp belonging to the joint forces in Purulia district, West Bengal, injuring ten police personnel, the police said on Sunday. In a retaliatory raid by the forces on a nearby village, three ultras were injured. Purulia Superintendent of Police Rajesh Yadav said Maoists, aided by villagers belonging to the People's Committee against Police Atrocities, raided the Gurpana police camp at approximately 11.30 am.
With barely a week left for the panchayat polls in West Bengal's Purulia district, maoist ultras have killed two CPI-M leaders in consecutive days. Dubraj Hembram, a local committee member of the party, was shot dead by a gang of maoists at his village Hitinglohar on Monday night.
Inclement weather conditions on Saturday hampered culling in West Bengal with the operations yet to begin in Purulia and Howrah districts where outbreak of avian influenza has been confirmed.
According to the sources, he wrote to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee apprising her of his decision to resign from the party's primary membership.
While, the BJP accused the ruling TMC of orchestrating his killing, the charge was rubbished by the party.
'A great loss for the fraternity. Your work will be missed & cherished.'
An unidentified aircraft caused a security scare in Mumbai airspace on Saturday after it was spotted by an Etihad Airways flight and reported to the air traffic control, official sources said.
The BJP announced its list of 148 candidates for the last four phases of assembly election in West Bengal, rewarding around 20 turncoats and fielding party heavyweights Mukul Roy and Rahul Sinha.
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