The welfare schemes of the government, particularly Lakshmir Bhandar, have had a major impact on the electoral outcome.
Polling began at 7 am on Saturday for 44 seats in the fourth phase of the West Bengal assembly elections amid tight security, officials said.
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.
Following a debacle in the West Bengal assembly election, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury has said he does not want to contest any future election in an alliance which has the Indian Secular Front (ISF) as a partner.
The move came after a nine-member delegation of Bharatiya Janata Party MPs from West Bengal met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and sought his intervention and action against the perpetrators of the crime.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
The West Bengal Congress unit issued a denial and said the state president meant "TMC and BJP are just the opposite sides of the same coin as both are venomous and spread lies".
Mamata asserted that she will never allow the implementation of CAA in West Bengal.
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.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Bose, who completed a year as the governor on Tuesday, said his priority is the well-being of the people of the state.
The assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase while Jharkhand polls will be held in two phases, the Election Commission of India announced on Tuesday.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has decided to deploy 125 companies of central forces in West Bengal by February 25 for the ensuing assembly elections, a senior official said on Friday.
Earlier last week, the Election Commission had written to all national and state parties asking them to follow all COVID-related guidelines during public meetings, rallies and other activities.
Trinamool Congress supporters held demonstrations defying lockdown norms in various places, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee offered to court arrest on Monday against the arrest of two West Bengal ministers in the Narada case by the CBI.
Naturally, the West Bengal chief minister is not leaving anything to chance, reports Ishita Ayan Dutt.
Over 84 lakh voters in West Bengal will decide the political fate of 283 candidates on Thursday, when 35 assembly constituencies go to polls in the eighth and final phase, amid a raging second wave of Covid-19.
Supreme Court Judge Justice Indira Banerjee on Friday recused from hearing a plea field by kin of two Bharatiya Janata Party workers, who were killed in poll related violence on May 2 in West Bengal, seeking court monitored probe and transfer of cases to the Central Bureau of Investigation or Special Investigation Team (SIT).
'Neither will I congratulate Mamata Banerjee... nor do I wish to say I 'respect' the people's verdict'
Congress President Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that West Bengal has been taken on a road of destruction under the 34-year Left Front rule and assured that the Congress-Trinamool alliance is determined to free the state from this "misrule".
While naming him as the NDA candidate for the Vice President's post, the BJP had described him as 'Kisan putra', a move seen in the political circles aimed at reaching out to the politically significant Jat community which had participated in huge numbers in the year-long farmers' protests against agriculture reform measures unveiled in June 2020.
The Congress has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for holding political rallies amid the rise in coronavirus cases in the country.
Voting is underway in three Lok Sabha and 33 assembly seats across 10 states where by-elections are being held on Saturday.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Ahead of the crucial third phase of assembly polls, Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday said that West Bengal was the 'worst-governed' state in the country and blamed the CPI-M and its cadres for spreading violence and turning the state into a 'killing field'.
At least 22 more people succumbed to the infection, raising the toll in the state to 10,480.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata. Also, a number of film personalities have been nominated as candidates in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal.
The BJP holds 28 of the 59 Rajya Sabha seats that will soon face election.
Addressing the party's national executive, Nadda also reached out to Sikhs, who are in majority in poll-bound Punjab, by listing a number of measures the Modi government has taken for the community, including expediting action against 1984 riots accused, facilitating foreign grants to gurudwaras and keeping langars outside the review of the Goods and Services Tax.
'The Election Commission is conducting the National Register of Citizens in Bihar through the backdoor.'
Dismissing suggestions that the Rail Budget was West Bengal-centric, Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said those raising the issue are 'humiliating' the state and advised journalists not to ask 'politically manipulative' questions.
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.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday shown black flags at Sitalkuchi, where four villagers died after firing by central forces during the elections, while 'go back' slogans were raised at Dinhata during his visit to Cooch Behar district to meet people allegedly affected in post poll violence.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday offered prayers at a Matua temple in Bangladesh's Orakandi, the birthplace of Hindu mystic figure and Matua community's spiritual guru Harichand Thakur.
The Trinamool Congress MP said he is unable to bear various incidents that are happening in West Bengal.
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.
A BJP victory in the high-octane West Bengal election could have turned the fortunes in rival Kailash Vijayvargiya favour, reports Sandeep Kumar.
The six week-wait for who will rule Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal will end on Friday as counting of votes for assembly elections begins.
West Bengal minister Jakir Hossain was seriously injured after unidentified attackers hurled a crude bomb at him on Nimtita railway station in Murshidabad district on Wednesday night, police said.
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