In another setback to the Left in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress on Sunday won the by-election to the prestigious Kolkata South Lok Sabha seat by a record margin of 2,30,099 votes over Communist Party of India-Marxist, emerging victorious from the constituency for the seventh consecutive time.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
Opposition leaders nominated to the panel of chairpersons to assist the pro tem Speaker are considering not accepting the positions, a source said on Saturday.
While Opposition MLAs in other states are dumping their parties to join the Bharatiya Janata Party, Tripura is seeing a reverse trend.
The grand old party faces the onerous task of rebuilding its moribund organisation, which is struggling to overcome a leadership crisis and regain credibility with the voters.
While the Congress demanded immediate sacking of Chief Minister N Biren Singh, the Samajwadi Party and a few others sought imposition of President's rule in the state that has witnessed sporadic violence in since May 3.
"We will complain. He can meditate, but televisions cannot show it," she said, alleging that this will amount to "violation of the MCC."
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
Suspense mounted on Monday over the stand of two crucial United Progressive Alliance allies -- Trinamool Congress and Samajwadi Party -- over the Presidential poll for which the Election Commission is expected to announce a date shortly. At the heart of the strategy of Trinamool and SP is their clamour for a financial package from the Centre, but the Congress dismissed any possibility of a quid pro quo between any help to states and the Presidential poll.
It said the Congress will infuse new blood in leadership roles without creating new fault lines and cementing its ideological moorings.
Trinamool Congress on Saturday stayed away from the all-party meeting convened by the state Election Commission in Kolkata to discuss the upcoming panchayat polls in West Bengal, prompting the opposition Congress and Communist Party of India-Marxist to accuse the ruling party of disrespecting a constitutional body.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Thursday issued summonses to two Trinamool Congress leaders, including MP and popular Bengali actor Dev, for questioning in connection with its probes into money laundering cases, an official said.
Tripura Trinamool Congress president Pijush Kanti Biswas said TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister will arrive in Tripura on February 6 to campaign for party candidates.
There was no immediate response from the Aam Aadmi Party over the matter.
The Trinamool Congress rose like a phoenix from the Singur and Nandigram movements chipping away at the hold of the Left Front to sweep into the portals of power in West Bengal after 34 years of uninterrupted Marxist rule. The land agitation in Singur and Nandigram is widely credited for Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee's meteoric rise and the dramatic change in her political fortunes
The ruling party received Rs 742 crore in 2018-19, a rise of 70 per cent from the previous year.
Police have leveled serious charges, including attempt to murder, assault with intent to outrage the modesty of a woman, and causing grievous hurt, against arrested Trinamool Congress strongman Tajemul Islam in the Chopra flogging case, a senior police officer said on Tuesday.
Sources said the reshuffle will also aim at an image makeover for the party hit by school jobs scam probe.
The report was earlier listed in the agenda of the lower house for December 4 but was not tabled.
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.
Expressing his resentment over the "attitude of some junior doctors of Murshidabad Medical College and Hospital," Kabir, the Bharatpur MLA in Murshidabad district said, "They agitate and protest in airconditioned rooms while the masses suffer on streets."
A group of around 130 Dalit families in West Bengal's Purba Bardhaman district have been facing discrimination for centuries, being denied access to a local temple. The families, belonging to the traditional community of cobblers and weavers, have been ostracized and face economic hardship due to this caste-based practice. Despite recent attempts by the administration to resolve the issue, the situation remains tense and the families are left with few options.
Dev had been serving as the national spokesperson of the Congress and its women's wing chief.
A total of 78 Muslims were in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections this year, a significant drop from the last polls when 115 Muslim candidates were fielded by various parties.
A clash between the activists of Communist Party of India - Marxist and Trinamool Congress in West Bengal claimed one life and left six others injured, including two policemen, said a police official.The police further said that the deceased was a Trinamool Congress supporter, while the four injured victims were CPI-M supporters.The collision began today morning in three villages under Khanakul, Arambagh and Purshura police stations.
The TMC and the Congress are at daggers drawn over the recent instances of 'poaching' by the Mamata Banerjee-led camp.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
A woman was stabbed to death in Kolkata after being chased and allegedly stabbed multiple times outside a popular eatery by three people, including a minor. Police suspect the attack was an honor killing, as the victim was reportedly having an extramarital affair with one of the suspects. The three suspects have been arrested.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
Threadbare discussion & political consensus is required over the Bill: Railway Minister.
Trinamool Congress on Monday ruled out any action against Dinesh Trivedi, who resigned as railway minister, saying that he has been asked to attend the parliamentary party meeting which party chief Mamata Banerjee is expected to attend.
The parliamentary committee scrutinising the Waqf bill is set to propose that existing 'Waqf by user' properties will remain so if not in dispute or are government facilities but they must be registered before the new law takes effect, providing little relief to Waqf bodies in their unverified title claims.
Kumar, who hosted the first such meeting, said they were working in the national interest and accused the BJP of acting against the national interest as it was trying to change the country's history.
Polling for the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 20, 2024, with 49 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
Trinamool Congress strongman Shajahan Sheikh, accused of sexual abuse and land grab in West Bengal's Sandeshkhali, was on Thursday suspended from the party for six years, TMC leader Derek O'Brien said.
The National Testing Agency, under fire over the lapses in the conduct of NEET and UGC-NET, is gearing up to conduct on Sunday a retest for the medical entrance exam for 1,563 candidates who were earlier awarded grace marks to make up for the loss of time at six centres.
The Trinamool Congress will launch a Nandigram type of movement with its rally at Lalgarh on Monday in 'Jungle Mahal' prior to the assembly elections in West Bengal next year.
The party also doubted "there is no way of knowing with certainty as to whether these weapons were indeed recovered during the search or whether they were surreptitiously planted by the CBI or NSG".
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.
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