Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
According to the sources, he wrote to TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee apprising her of his decision to resign from the party's primary membership.
A day after quitting the Congress, former Goa chief minister Luizinho Faleiro on Tuesday arrived in Kolkata, where he is likely to join the Trinamool Congress, party sources said.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
Tiwary is in line to contest the Bengal assembly election from a constituency in Howrah district.
President Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other leaders celebrated Raksha Bandhan on Thursday.
He said his supporters were apprehensive that joining TMC would invite the "outside party" to Goa which will split votes.
In yet another jolt for the Trinamool Congress dispensation, West Bengal forest minister Rajib Banerjee quit the Mamata Banerjee cabinet, joining the growing list of dissenters who have put the ruling camp in a tight spot ahead of the assembly elections.
The CBI officials opened the seal placed on Sheikh's home by the ED to enter the premises. They are also conducting videography and mapping the area for their investigation.
Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, currently facing recommendations for expulsion from the Lok Sabha in a cash-for-query row, was tasked with strengthening the party's organisation in West Bengal's Nadia district ahead of the 2024 general elections, in a clear message of support from the TMC.
The raids continued for nearly seven hours during which the ED sleuths seized a number of documents.
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.
After the video clip of his comments went viral, Giri apologised for making such a remark.
Besides the national capital, polling will be held Saturday in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, all 10 seats of Haryana, eight seats each in Bihar and West Bengal, six seats in Odisha, four seats in Jharkhand and one seat in Jammu and Kashmir. Simultaneously, polling will be held for 42 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Babun Banerjee expressed displeasure over the party re-nominating Prasun Banerjee from Howrah Lok Sabha seat in West Bengal.
Clashes broke out between two groups during a Ram Navami procession in West Bengal's Hooghly district on Sunday evening, police said.
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.
Whether the age-old cry of kendrer banchana will be able to drown out pangs of Sandeshkhali, the EVM will tell.
Hours after quitting as the MLA of the West Bengal Assembly, Rajib Banerjee on Friday resigned from the primary membership of the Trinamool Congress, intensifying speculation that he might soon switch over to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
Around 25 BJP MLAs led by Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari then walked out of the assembly, claiming that several party legislators were roughed up by TMC MLAs inside the House.
Trinamool Congress supporters held demonstrations defying lockdown norms in various places, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered to court arrest on Monday against the arrest of two West Bengal ministers in the Narada case by the CBI.
The MGP, which had won three seats in the 2017 polls, is currently left with only one MLA after two of its legislators joined the ruling BJP.
The feisty TMC boss also accused the CPI-M of ruining her party's relationship with the Congress, its ally in the Opposition bloc INDIA at the national level.
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.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
Six Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, including Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, were suspended from the West Bengal assembly over staging protests in the House in view of unrest in Sandeshkhali.
Amid the ongoing impasse over the swearing-in of two newly elected Trinamool Congress MLAs, Speaker Biman Banerjee on Thursday summoned a special session of the West Bengal Assembly and asserted that the functioning of the House is not solely dependent on the Governor.
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'.
The CBI has "sought permission from the Lok Sabha Speaker to prosecute Suvendu Adhikari, Saugata Roy, Prasun Banerjee and Kakali Ghosh Dastidar", who were all TMC MPs when the operation was allegedly conducted, the official explained.
The Bharatiya Janata Party surprised many with its latest list of Lok Sabha candidates for West Bengal, nominating a protester from Sandeshkhali for the Basirhat constituency and changing the seats of its two incumbent MPs -- the party's former state chief Dilip Ghosh and ex-Union minister Debasree Chowdhury.
Shah said BJP worker's family had complained that his body had been taken away forcibly.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Mahua asserted that despite all efforts by the Bharatiya Janata Party to "sound the death knell" for constitutional democracy, India is too great a country to be destroyed by the fascists.
TMC ministers, leaders and activists hit the streets in the districts and blocks across the state to protest against the alleged assault on the eight-member TMC team at the Silchar airport on Thursday.
"My decision to join the BJP was a wrong one and I can feel that today. I did not bother to tell the BJP about leaving that party. I always felt unwanted there. They tried to use me and asked me to badmouth Mamata-di. I could not do that," she said.
A majority of its Trinamool Congress coucillors switched over to the BJP.
Politicians and sportspersons condemn police action and detention of protesting wrestlers
Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress were stopped by police on Friday from visiting the trouble-torn Sandeshkhali, escalating the political tensions in the state as the leaders accused West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of fostering a 'lawless situation' and attempting to 'communalise' the issue.
Mitra, who had resigned from the BJP a few days ago, is considered close to veteran leader L K Advani.
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