Voting is being held at 11,860 polling stations spread over 11 assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and Birbhum, six in Malda and seven in north Kolkata.
The march to the secretariat in Howrah district was organised by the Left parties to protest against what they called attack on democracy, and unemployment and lawlessness in the state during Trinamool Congress rule.
According to TMC sources, the chief minister had called Dhankhar from a polling booth at Boila in Nandigram constituency, where she is pitted against her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the Bharatiya Janata Party, and alleged that supporters of her party were not being allowed to cast votes by saffron camp workers.
Banerjee, clad in her trademark white saree, greeted hundreds of people who thronged the streets during the march which took place amidst heightened security.
'The RSS-BJP fight against TMC excesses seem to have been limited to fighting the assembly poll, not coming to the defence of ordinary Bengalis who are being crushed daily by Trinamool goons,' points out Virendra Kapoor.
Accusing Trinamool Congress of creating widespread fear psychosis through "terror and intimidation" in West Bengal, the Left parties on Tuesday sought Election Commission's intervention to ensure free and fair polls.
In yet another jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party, the party's Alipurduar district president, Ganga Prasad Sharma, joined the Trinamool Congress on Monday, as senior leader of the state's ruling party Mukul Roy, who also switched sides two weeks ago, claimed that this was the 'beginning of the saffron party's end' in the state.
The home ministry dispatched a terse reminder to the West Bengal government on Wednesday to submit a detailed report on the post-poll violence in the state, warning it that the matter will be taken 'seriously' in case it fails to do so, and asked it to take necessary measures to stop such incidents 'without any loss of time', officials said.
With the declaration of results for the Tripura Assembly polls on Thursday, the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in the state by winning 32 seats and its ally Indigenous People's Front of Tripura (IPFT) winning one.
The opposition Trinamool Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist failed to open their account in the AMC.
Whatever the outcome from the assembly elections, what's evident is that West Bengal has entered an era of identity politics, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Mayank Mishra reports on how the Trinamool Congress government in West Bengal has been extending patronage to the ruling party cadre.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and party's candidate for Karimpur assembly bypoll Jay Prakash Majumdar was on Monday allegedly beaten up by Trinamool Congress activists at Phipulkhola area of Nadia district when he was entering a polling booth.
Senior TMC leader Subrata Mukherjee sought to know if it was an attempt by the BJP to divert attention from 'the historic launch' of the ruling party's report card.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday slammed Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for seeking en bloc voting by Muslims for the Trinamool Congress and said had his party made a similar appeal to Hindus, it would have been criticised and censured.
'We defeated together in Bengal, now we will defeat in UP. This is a promise to Didi, we will emerge winners. Warm welcome and greetings to Didi in UP,' the SP chief tweeted sharing a picture with Banerjee.
Having emerged as the face of opposition resistance to the Narendra Modi juggernaut after the TMC's triumph in the assembly elections, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is locked in an unequal battle as she squares off with "lightweight" rivals in her own lair--Bhabanipur.
He said the Bharatiya Janata Party's 'Parivartan Yatra' is not for changing a chief minister, MLA or minister but ending infiltration and transforming the condition of West Bengal.
A purported video clip where Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is seen sitting on a wheelchair and moving her plastered leg back and forth has gone viral on social media, giving her rivals an opportunity to claim that she was playing up her injuries to win sympathy.
"This is a budget to deceive the masses. It's an anti-farmer, anti-people and anti-country budget," Banerjee said while addressing the inaugural ceremony of Uttar Banga Utsav.
Union Home Minister and top Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah on Thursday set a target of 200 out of the total 294 seats in the 2021 West Bengal assembly elections and to come to power in the state, party sources said.
Former chief minister of Goa and Congress veteran Luizinho Faleiro, resigned as an MLA and a primary member of the party on Monday claiming the state party unit is run by a 'coterie' of leaders even as he praised Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee saying the country needs a leader like her to take on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Police earlier fired tear gas shells and lathicharged GJM supporters
'Those who win indulge in shooting, looting, throwing bombs and burning houses.'
'It's a classic conflict between the old and the new BJP. The new BJP is made up of turncoats and the old of veterans who slogged for decades when the BJP barely existed in West Bengal'
The cabinet also agreed to the proposal to remove the governor from the post of the 'visitor' of private universities and give it to the state's education minister instead.
Beset by troubles on multiple fronts within, the Congress faces the danger of imploding with party veterans Ghulam Nabi Azad and Kapil Sibal on Wednesday sharply questioning the decision-making process, saying there are 'no monopolies', and demanded convening an urgent meeting of the Congress Working Committee for a 'dialogue'.
Taking a serious view of violence after the assembly poll results in West Bengal, the Calcutta high court on Friday ordered the state home secretary to file a report mentioning the places where the post-poll violence occurred and the steps taken to contain the violence.
Five people were killed, including 4 in the firing by Central Industrial Security Force personnel, during the fourth phase of polling
Over one crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise to decide the political fate of 342 candidates.
'Mamata is synonymous with Bengal, its culture, language, traditions.'
A day after Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal allegedly threatened to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist workers and have their women raped, his wife Nandini Pal on Tuesday apologised for her husband's controversial comment and said there was another part of the story.
Shah, who held a closed door meeting to take stock of the party organisation, said he could 'sense massive public anger' against the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC government in the state and gave a call to 'uproot' it in the state polls.
Banerjee, Adhikari alleged, was playing with the sentiments of the people of Nandigram. "That will not work this time and her party will be democratically dumped into the Bay of Bengal."
Amit Shah, who missed campaigning in Bihar, made a two-day trip to Bengal starting November 5 to oversee BJPs preparedness for the state polls.
If the BJP wins Bengal, would Kishor's indiscretions have played a significant role in that victory? Victory for the TMC would be another badge of honour in his CV, but defeat would raise an unsavoury question: Which party was Kishor actually working for? asks Payal Singh Mohanka.
West Bengal BJP Yuva Morcha president and member of Parliament Saumitra Khan has claimed that law and order has collapsed under the Trinamool Congress government and President's rule will be imposed in the state by December.
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.
"If municipal elections can take place in Hyderabad and Assam, why not here. The situation is worse than Kashmir and is similar to that of Iran and Iraq. Didi (Mamata Banerjee) has proved that West Bengal's law and order is not conducive to go for polls," he said while addressing a party meeting in Kolkata.
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP is manipulating electronic voting machines to increase its vote share.
