'We were up to the mark in three departments'
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
A controversy has erupted over A R Rahman's rendition of a popular patriotic song of legendary Bengali poet Kazi Nazrul Islam in a new Bollywood film, with the litterateur's family and singers expressing outrage over the 'distortion' in rhythm and tunes.
During this period, all government and private offices, shopping complexes, malls, bars, sports complexes, pubs and beauty parlours will remain closed.
The move came after West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed Kolkata Police commissioner Anuj Sharma to deploy a nodal police officer in every hospital.
"I am ready to fight the money power (of her political opponents), and (central) agencies (which her party alleges has been unleashed on TMC with a political motive), but I will not bow my head," she said.
The top court, however, granted liberty to all candidates to approach the West Bengal State Election Commission for appropriate relief.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
As part of the Cope India 2023 exercise, five top-notch fighter jets of the two air forces took off in quick succession from the air force base.
In India elections are never fought in a straight line. It's fought on many issues, at many levels, with multiple emotions and with a bit of good luck, too. Sheela Bhatt reports from Rajasthan.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
In a bid to provide reliable data connectivity to the software export companies in the East and North-Eastern India, the Software Technology Park of India will set up two more such parks in West Bengal and one in Manipur.
The go-ahead given to prosecute Arundhati Roy would be seen by supporters of freedom of speech as an announcement that the Right-Wing doesn't feel humbled by the results of the elections, argues Shyam G Menon.
The remarks by the BJP leaders came as 17 opposition parties resolved to fight the 2024 Lok Sabha elections unitedly to defeat the saffron party and work with flexibility by setting aside their differences. They dubbed the planned alliance as "unholy and opportunistic".
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Opposition MPs on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Manipur Chief Minister Biren Singh over the violence.
The home ministry said the West Bengal government is not cooperating with the central teams visiting the state to assess the ground situation and are specifically restraining them from interacting with health workers and touring the affected areas.
With two years to go before West Bengal elects its next government, the BJP's internal objective is to scale down the Trinamool Congress tally from 211 to 45 seats. This amounts to an annihilation of the TMC while enabling the BJP to win a record 250 seats in the 295-member legislature, reports Radhika Ramaseshan
Top leaders of 26 opposition parties were arriving in Bengaluru on Monday for a two-day brainstorming session with a call for unity and are expected to chalk out their joint programme aimed at defeating the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Among other measures, TMC announced Monday that it had formed coordination committees in all districts comprising senior leaders to look into party members' grievances.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
Bharatiya Janata Party's West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh said on Sunday that his party would "restore democracy" in the state if voted to power, warning Trinamool Congress cadres to mend their ways or they will have to either visit hospital or crematorium.
This is a complete betrayal of the mandate of the people of the Sagardighi Assembly constituency, Ramesh said on Twitter.
The Samyukta Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of farmer organisations that spearheaded the 2021 protest, adopted the resolution to "intensify the fight against the policies of the Union government to save farming, food security, land and livelihoods of the people".
Officials in the power department said industrial demand (which accounts for 40 per cent of the state's power consumption) didn't rise last year, contributing to surplus power.
The idle talk at street corners, cafes and public places since May 23 is that the winds of change are blowing across Bengal.
The former BJP president is learnt to have instructed the party leaders to start working on quelling the unrest within party cadre, genuine or sponsored.
Amid some Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) constituents switching sides to the National Democratic Alliance, Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Sunday said the opposition alliance is 'strong' and the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting a 'frantic rejig' of the political landscape as it is worried over the collective strength of the coalition.
Briefing reporters at his office, Army Day Parade Commander Major General Salil Seth said, "Artificial Intelligence is being used for the first time to identify the best marching contingent. As you know all the marching contingents do drills and do drills correctly."
Money 'collected' as donations from traders in Kolkata nurture Bengal's terror networks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
The Congress, which is in the Opposition at the national level, has turned 'feeble and disintegrated', Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana said on Saturday, and suggested that all anti-Bharatiya Janata Party parties, including the Sena, should come together under the UPA banner to provide a formidable alternative.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Then chief minister Jyoti Basu once told an industrialist that capitalists were class enemies and he should expect no sympathy.
With more than a 100 runs still to get, it would be an uphill task for Maharashtra to turn the match around on Day 3.
What is to be done to resist the twin thrusts of the BJP's ideology, majoritarian and a strong centripetal instinct against federalism? asks Aakar Patel.
She claimed that the Centre has not released funds for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) project for the state and other initiatives of its housing and road departments.
Reliance Industries Ltd on Friday reported a 9 per cent rise in its December quarter net profit as a planned maintenance-induced weakness in oil business earnings was offset by stability in retail and telecom verticals. The oil-to-retail-to-telecom conglomerate's consolidated net profit of Rs 17,265 crore, or Rs 25.52 per share, in October-December - the third quarter of the current 2023-24 fiscal - was 9.3 per cent higher than Rs 15,792 crore, or Rs 23.19 a share, earning a year back, according to a company statement. Quarter-on-quarter, the profit was lower when compared to Rs 17,394 crore earnings in the preceding three months ended September 30.
