Sporadic incidents of violence were reported from various places that went to polls on Saturday during the first phase of the West Bengal assembly election, even as the overall poll situation was largely peaceful with 79.79 per cent turnout recorded till the end of voting, an official said.
The protests were triggered by the two attacks on their colleagues.
Trouble erupted in Godapur village under the Town police station area, where an idol was found vandalised, following which the members of two communities indulged in heavy stone-pelting, District Magistrate Kaushal Kumar said.
Asserting that Uttar Pradesh has undergone a complete transformation under his government, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday that there have been no riots since 2017, strict action has been taken against the mafia and the state is in the frontline of implementing welfare schemes, ensuring the ease of doing business and fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventy-one parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states voted in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections.
A youth was injured in a clash and 35 people were detained in Jammu, which witnessed a shutdown for the fifth consecutive day on Tuesday as the protests demanding an AIIMS in Jammu continued unabated.
Laxman Chandra Seth, believed by the vast population of the area to have been the villain of the historic anti-farmland acquisition movement in 2007, said the two built their political careers by misleading the innocent people of Nandigram. Now their lies are back to haunt them.
Here are 8 factors to watch out for, says psephologist Yogendra Yadav.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee directed the director general of police to instruct all the superintendents of police to take strong action against those who carried arms in the rallies.
The final phase saw voting in all 13 seats of Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
The reshuffle had politics at its heart, so the biggest complement of new ministers, both Cabinet rank and below, came from UP, which will see assembly elections in a few months.
More than two crore voters in Bihar will decide the fate of 1,066 candidates on Wednesday across 71 assembly segments in the first phase of elections.
Stating that at least 16 people of different political parties have lost their lives in the post-poll violence in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying unable to digest defeat in the state elections they were sending central ministers to incite unrest in Kolkata.
Banerjee had on Tuesday confirmed her presence at the ceremony to be held on May 30.
'The Bodos and the Assamese were at each other's throats, the Assamese Muslims and the Bengali Muslims were at each other's throats, the Bengali speaking Muslims and Hindus were coming together against the Assamese speaking caste Hindus and the plains tribes and vice versa.'
"Our organisation in Uttar Pradesh will lend support to the alliance," he said.
The great Indian election is over and now the wait for the results is shrinking with every passing moment. Though exit polls hint at a cakewalk for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his National Democratic Alliance, there are some battles which will be keenly observed on the result day.
The combined Left parties drew a blank in the polls to the assembly which they had run with an overwhelming majority for 34 long years, with their vote share dwindling to a mere 5.47 per cent in 2021.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
The politicisation of ethnic sentiments in the state has coincided with the ascent of the BJP and increased activities of far right Hindu outfits, which organised rallies and other events on religious occasions such as Ram Navami a festival not very popular in West Bengal- unlike states in north India.
The incident, allegedly triggered by the local police objecting to a procession being taken out for immersion of a Durga idol late Monday night in flagrant violation of social distancing norms, had set off a pitched battle between security personnel and devotees.
The fate of 189 candidates, including 15 women nominees, will be decided in the first phase of the polling in Chatra, Gumla, Bishunpur, Lohardaga, Manika, Latehar, Panki, Daltonganj, Bishrampur, Chhatarpur, Hussainabad, Garhwa and Bhawanathpur.
The protests against farm laws saw a fair share of controversies as well with climate activist Greta Thunberg and pop sensation Rihanna making their way to India's prime time debates and terms such as 'toolkit' and 'andolanjeevi' entering the Indian political lexicon.
An FIR lodged at the police station alleged that the actor had used dialogues like 'Marbo ekhane lash porbe shoshane' (Will hit you here and the body will land in the crematorium) and 'Ek chobole chobi' (A snakebite will turn you into a photograph, meaning will kill you) at a rally after joining the BJP on March 7. The complainant alleged that these dialogues caused post-poll violence in the state.
Among the major political parties, chief minister Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal-United is contesting in 35 of the 71 seats, followed by its ally Bharatiya Janata Party (29), while the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal has fielded its candidates in 42 and its coalition partner Congress is in the fray in 20 assembly segments.
Modi wants to paint the entire country with saffron, Abu Azmi, a Samajwadi Party MLA said.
Parrikar said the Congress leader had sought to create a hype over the situation in state as he was worried about losing his party post if he failed in the number game.
There have been media reports that the LJP was unhappy over the return of the Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular into the National Democratic Alliance fold and contempleting fielding candidates against JD-U nominees.
Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said the violence in Akuluto constituency in Zunheboto district left one dead and two injured.
Congress leader Shakeel Ahmed on Thursday stuck to his guns justifying his controversial comments that whenever there are riots in this country, the Inter-Services Intelligence in Pakistan and the Bharatiya Janata Party rejoice.
'Manik Sarkar may have been able to hang on if he hadn't been a follower of the CPI-M's all-time hardliner Prakash Karat,' argues Amulya Ganguli.
With this phase, election will be over in 424 seats and polling in the remaining 118 seats will be held on May 12 and 19.
The violence fanned out to Asansol areas, prompting police to suspend Internet services and clamp prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the CrPC in the trouble-torn areas of the district.
In January this year, permission was denied for the BJP president's chopper to land in Malda district to hold a rally. However, authorities permitted Shah to hold the public meeting at the last minute.
'The partnership of Amit Shah and Narendra Modi has made their biggest mistake. They have been very successful for their party in the last two years, but this batting pair has made the biggest political mistake of their life so far, which is calling Kejriwal a chor. It will backfire on them.'
The first phase of UP polls in 73 assembly constituencies on Saturday witnessed an "exemplary" 64.22 per cent voter turnout.
With almost all opposition parties and several trade unions backing the 'Bharat Bandh' and many announcing parallel protests in support of the farmers, the Centre has issued an advisory directing all the states and Union Territories to tighten security and ensure COVID guidelines are followed.
Massive campaigning by BJP's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi may have given the saffron party a slight edge over the ruling Congress, believes PB Chandra
Nowhere else has caste, power politics, and generational change come together to form a combination so potent that it is combustible.
EC said it has decided to 'withdraw' the press note announcing the elections to RS seats from Goa, Gujarat and West Bengal.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances