Association for Democratic33 per cent of 4,092 sitting MLAs were non-graduates.
According to a parliamentary response by the Union health ministry in 2023, around 654,000 families in Delhi are eligible to enrol under the scheme.
A day after its debacle in the Kolkata civic poll, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday announced the formation of its new office bearers committee in West Bengal, axed several members of its old guard and inducted new leaders to strengthen the party in the state.
The Central government has also sent a communication to Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, seeking a detailed report on law and order situation and the steps being taken by the state government in maintaining peace and tranquility after Thursday's attack on Nadda's convoy, government officials said in New Delhi.
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.
Banerjee also appealed to the people of West Bengal not to get provoked over matters concerning the current situation in Bangladesh.
Shah, who was accompanied by BJP national vice-president Mukul Roy, national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargya, was greeted with slogans of 'Amit Shah zindabad', 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' by party workers at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata.
Jagdeep Dhankhar's sudden resignation as Vice President has led to speculation about underlying political tensions and disagreements with the ruling alliance.
In a fillip to the West Bengal unit of the BJP ahead of the 2021 assembly elections, Union Home Minister Amit Shah will be on a two-day visit to the state from November 5 to take stock of the party's organisational matters, sources said.
Ahead of senior BJP leader Narendra D Modi's election rally in Karakat on May 25 to support National Democratic Alliance candidate Upendar Kushwaha, the BJP finally acted against Pawan Singh, who refused to withdraw from the fray.
West Bengal minister and Trinamool Congress leader Shashi told reporters in Kolkata that it is surprising that the BJP had taken a team from Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district and gave a 'false portrayal' to none other than the President of the country.
The students of Jadavpur University said they don't expect anything better from a party like the BJP.
The 34-year-old actor had been maintaining a distance from the saffron party after it failed to unseat Mamata Banerjee's government from power in the eastern state despite a high-pitched campaign.
As the second half of the assembly session began, the speaker asked BJP MLA Agnimitra Paul to read out the last two lines of the motion requesting withdrawal of the suspension order against Adhikari and four other MLAs -- Manoj Tigga, Narahari Mahato, Shankar Ghosh and Dipak Barman.
BJP state president Dilip Ghosh said efforts will be made to pacify the dissidents.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
While TMC leaders ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for lifting an image purportedly from West Bengal, the BJP in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled state took potshots at crashing flyovers in the eastern state over the use of an image in a newspaper ad
As part of the protest, BJP workers burned tyres, blocked roads, and closed shops in Nandigram, alleging that Trinamool Congress-backed criminals were responsible for the killing of Rathibala Arhi, a saffron party worker in Sonachura village.
'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 Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has filed an appeal in the Calcutta High Court seeking the death penalty for Sanjay Roy, who was sentenced to "life imprisonment until death" for the rape and murder of a trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The CBI argued that the crime falls under the "rarest of rare" category deserving capital punishment, while the trial court had ruled otherwise. The West Bengal government has also appealed for the death penalty, but the CBI opposed the state's right to file an appeal, claiming it was the prosecuting agency and therefore had the right to appeal on the grounds of inadequacy of the sentence. The high court will hear the appeals from the CBI, the victim's family, and the convict on January 27.
One hundred and thirty-three candidates will try their luck from the constituencies falling under the districts of West Midnapore, Purulia and Bankura.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
JD-U MP Sanjay Kumar Jha heads a diplomatic mission to Indonesia, Malaysia, South Korea, Japan and Singapore, to seek international cooperation after the Pahalgam attack while highlighting Pakistan's role in cross-border terrorism.
The CAA, enacted by the BJP-led government at the Centre in 2019, aims at granting Indian citizenship to persecuted non-Muslim migrants, including Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians, from Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Afghanistan who entered India before December 31, 2014.
The BJP had no option but to get Jagdeep Dhankhar out of its way for the sake of the Modi government's stability, reveals Sheela Bhatt, the legendary political journalist.
Malik had served as the 18th governor of Goa between November 3, 2019, and August 18, 2020.
Patra, who is yet to join the BJP officially, was fielded from Basirhat Lok Sabha seat.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
'I am happy to join the BJP and will work as a party soldier'
'We are totally in favour of the country on matters of external affairs. Naming representatives for diplomatic multi-party delegations to counter Pak-backed terrorism is the choice of parties, not of the Centre'
Advocate Raju Ganguly, who appeared for Mishra in court, maintained that the suspect did not perpetrate any torture on the victim and referred to the presence of "love bites" on his client's body in support of his claim.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
The saffron party took out rallies in several parts of the state, with BJP workers sporting black badges.
Banerjee accused the BJP of resorting to divisive tactics in the face of anticipated defeat in the initial phases of polling.
Mamata asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.
A purported video of the incident showing the mob beating the women up mercilessly on Wednesday was shared in the social media by Amit Malviya, the head of BJP's IT cell on Saturday.
The appointments holds significance as a large number of senior leaders, who had no organisational post currently, have now been given new responsibilities.
Riding a scooter, Union minister Smriti Irani led a rally of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday as she campaigned for the upcoming West Bengal elections in the South 24 Parganas district.
The Supreme Court on Monday refused to entertain a plea from the BJP seeking a direction to the West Bengal government, state election panel and other functionaries to prepare a comprehensive action plan and deploy sufficient central police forces to ensure free and fair municipal polls in Kolkata.
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
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