The Election Commission is expected to initiate a phased, pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list, prioritizing states with upcoming assembly elections. This cleanup exercise aims to weed out illegal foreign migrants and ensure accurate electoral rolls.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar polls was a mandate against infiltrators in the country because citizens will never favour those parties that support such illegal immigrants.
Taking a dig at a section of Bangladeshi politicians, who said the country has legitimate claims over Bengal, Bihar and Odisha, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday wondered whether Indians 'would have lollipop' when external forces would try to occupy Indian lands.
'Women are likely to have voted because of the numerous welfare schemes. The CAA consolidated minority votes and the BJP's booth-level organisation in Bengal is weak.'
Justice Gavai's comment came while the apex court bench, also comprising Justice Augustine George Masih, was considering a fresh plea seeking an inquiry into the recent violence in West Bengal during anti-Waqf law protests.
Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday challenged Home Minister Amit Shah to debate with him on his three press conferences in which the Congress leader alleged 'vote chori' by the Bharatiya Janata Party in collusion with the Election Commission.
'The chief minister believes the poorest of the poor have the first right on government resources.'
The death of a 24-year-old nurse at a private nursing home in West Bengal's Hooghly district has triggered political unrest and allegations of a cover-up. Opposition parties are demanding a fair investigation into the circumstances surrounding her death, alleging foul play and potential sexual assault.
Indrani Roy/Rediff.com explains what strengthened the saffron party's foothold in this eastern region of the country
Communist Party of India (Marxist) general secretary Karat dismissed a suggestion that the CPI (M) considered the EC as its 'enemy.'
Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in 2026.
The CMs with lowest assets are West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with assets worth over Rs 15.38 lakh, Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu and Kashmir, with assets worth over Rs 55.24 lakh, and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who has assets worth Rs 1.18 crore.
The couple met during morning walks, and the relationship grew over time.
The Election Commission is ramping up preparations for a special intensive revision of voter lists across India, assessing the progress made on mapping current electors with voters as per the last SIR in different states.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the respective legislative assemblies.
The elections are not only a means for TMC to prove its wide, unopposed mass allegiance but also a way to bargain for national leadership among regional political parties in the road to New Delhi.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Voters in 30 assembly constituencies of West Bengal and 47 of Assam exercised their franchise on Saturday.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
The BJP has said it needs more time for campaigning.
The convoy of West Bengal's Leader of Opposition, Suvendu Adhikari, was allegedly attacked by TMC workers during a protest in Cooch Behar. Bulletproof glasses of Adhikari's vehicle were smashed. TMC denies involvement, calling it a 'well-scripted drama'.
A female student of primary school was killed in Kaliganj in West Bengal's Nadia district on Monday after bombs were allegedly hurled from a Trinamool Congress victory celebration rally taken out even before the results of the assembly bypoll were officially announced.
Association for Democratic33 per cent of 4,092 sitting MLAs were non-graduates.
Protests against the Waqf Act turned violent in parts of West Bengal on Friday, with demonstrators setting ablaze vehicles, disrupting traffic and rail movement, and injuring several policemen. The unrest erupted in Suti, Murshidabad district, where protesters defied prohibitory orders, hurled stones at security personnel, and torched police vans and public buses during processions. Police responded with lathi charges and tear gas, while some officers were forced to seek refuge in a nearby mosque. Similar protests were held in Malda and Kolkata, prompting Governor C V Ananda Bose to direct the state government to take swift action against those responsible. The governor also contacted Union Home Minister Amit Shah and held discussions with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Waqf (Amendment) Bill, which was recently passed by both houses of Parliament, aims to improve the management of Waqf properties, safeguarding heritage sites and promoting social welfare.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'In times of adversity, families unite, but the reverse is happening in the Lalu family.'
The Mamata Banerjee government will table the anti-rape bill in the West Bengal Assembly on Tuesday.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
The draft of the anti-rape bill, scheduled to be tabled by the Mamata Banerjee government in the West Bengal assembly on Tuesday, proposes capital punishment for persons convicted of rape if their actions result in the victim's death or cause her to become vegetative.
EVMs can't be used in presidential, vice-presidential, or Rajya Sabha polls because they only count simple votes, not the preference-based system needed for these elections.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee slammed the Sealdah court's decision to award life imprisonment till death to Sanjay Roy, the sole convict in the rape-murder of an on-duty doctor at the state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital in Kolkata. Banerjee said the incident was a "rare, heinous and sensitive crime" and she has been seeking capital punishment for Roy. She said the state government would challenge the verdict and move Calcutta High Court, which has granted permission to file an appeal against the Sealdah court order.
What about Uttar Pradesh Pradesh, Rajasthan, Delhi, Gujarat and Bihar? Mamata asked.
Addressing a massive Martyrs' Day rally in Kolkata, Banerjee gave a clarion call to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party in the 2026 assembly elections and eventually oust it from power at the Centre, declaring, "If this linguistic profiling doesn't stop, our resistance movement will reach New Delhi."
Prorogation is discontinuing a session of Parliament or a legislative assembly without dissolving it.
The CPI-M leader was the chief minister of the state from 2000 to 2011.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
Former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar has requested a government bungalow, as per his entitlement, following his resignation. The Union Housing and Urban Affairs Ministry is considering his request.
Sukanta Majumdar, the state BJP president, said, "Amit Shah has set a target of 35 seats. We will achieve that".
The RSS which catapulted Jagdeep Dhankar to national prominence after 21 years of hibernation could not come to his rescue when BJP higher ups decided to seek his resignation, points out Prakash Bhandari.
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