The Election Commission has intensified preparations for the West Bengal Assembly elections by reshuffling senior officers and deploying IAS and IPS officers in key poll management roles.
The Rajya Sabha elections saw several candidates elected unopposed, including Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale, while Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana prepare for contested elections.
Ideology is dead; long live the numbers game that is being played with the sole intention of securing a two-third majority in the Lok Sabha for the NDA, observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
'We ourselves hadn't heard it initially. Many people called us. The entire village was overjoyed.'
Twenty rebel Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha MPs have merged with the obscure Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a move seen by political observers as a strategic way to support the BJP-led NDA without immediately joining the saffron party and bypassing legal complexities.
The Election Commission (EC) has suspended a Block Development Officer (BDO) in West Bengal's Nadia district and initiated departmental proceedings against him following violence at a poll training venue where a teacher was allegedly assaulted for objecting to a government advertisement.
A day after 20 rebel Trinamool Congress MPs announced their merger with the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), a senior functionary of the outfit questioned the decision, claiming the party leadership had never been consulted on the move and that such a decision could not be taken unilaterally.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals that a significant number of candidates contesting the first phase of the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections have declared criminal cases against themselves.
The Bhabanipur assembly segment is Banerjee's political bastion, where she is locked in a prestige battle against Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari in what is being seen as a symbolic rematch of Nandigram, where he had defeated her in the 2021 assembly polls.
The internecine war within the Trinamool Congress took a new turn on Thursday with "party treasurer" Aroop Biswas writing to a bank seeking restrictions on the operation of the party's accounts, citing uncertainty over its legitimate leadership amid rebellions by MLAs and MPs.
'Now if you break the party under the 10th Schedule you have to join another party.' 'You cannot join the NDA as it is not a party. You can only join another party, and that is the BJP.' 'So the question to ask is that these so-called 20 TMC Lok Sabha MPs who are parting ways with the TMC, are they ready to join the BJP and accept Narendra Modi as their leader?'
The Calcutta High Court has granted interim protection from coercive action to Trinamool Congress MLA Paresh Ram Das in connection with six FIRs registered against him. The court directed that the investigation would continue and asked the MLA to cooperate with the investigating agency.
The Bharatiya Janata Party Parliamentary Board on Monday appointed party national general secretary Tarun Chugh as the central observer for the election of the legislature party leader in Manipur, indicating the possible formation of a popular government in the Northeastern state.
As the CLP meeting passed a resolution authorising the party's high command to decide the next CM, observers will file a report to the Congress national leadership, who will take the final call.
The simmering tension between former Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB) president Avishek Dalmiya and the current Sourav Ganguly-led establishment came out into the open on Wednesday, with the state cricket body's top brass issuing a strongly-worded rebuttal to allegations of corruption and governance failures barely three months before its annual general meeting.
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has nullified the election of a Congress MLA due to the deliberate suppression of information regarding criminal charges, declaring the runner-up BJP candidate as the elected representative.
In an indirect reference to the meteoric rise of actor-politician C Joseph Vijay as chief minister in his maiden election in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan has said he sometimes wonders how some political forces achieve success in a short span, admitting that their rapid progress leaves him with a "sense of envy".
Maharashtra BJP MLC Pravin Darekar announced the launch of 'Devabhau' and 'Chhava' cooperative taxi services in Mumbai, aiming to counter private aggregators and benefit drivers directly, but the scheme has drawn sharp criticism from social activist Anjali Damania and the Opposition Congress over the proposed use of Mumbai Bank funds and its political branding.
In its list of 26 candidates for Thursday's assembly elections, 13 are from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community -- a demographic that was at the centre of the original Assam agitation.
India has stated it will wait for the outcome of the elections in Bangladesh and the resulting mandate before addressing any existing issues. The country also affirmed its support for free, fair, inclusive, and credible elections in Bangladesh.
West Bengal prohibits victory rallies following election result announcements and addresses concerns regarding agents' access to counting centres.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has expelled two of its Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs), Sandipan Saha and Ritabrata Banerjee, for allegedly engaging in anti-party activities.
The All India Tennis Association (AITA) leadership, led by President Chintan Parikh and Secretary General Sunder Iyer, has pledged to prioritise player welfare, transparent governance, and athlete representation if given a full term. They aim to transform Indian tennis by addressing past administrative issues and fostering a player-centric environment.
Mamata Banerjee has expressed shock over the attack on her nephew and party MP Abhishek Banerjee, raising questions about security arrangements and his subsequent treatment at a hospital. She alleged that there was pressure on doctors regarding his treatment and that the incident could have had fatal consequences.
The appointment of Kerala's Chief Electoral Officer as the Chief Minister's secretary has ignited a political firestorm, raising questions about election credibility and sparking accusations of hypocrisy among political parties.
The Election Commission has ordered repolling in 15 polling stations across two Assembly constituencies in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district following reports of electoral malpractices.
'The real fault line in Assam is not Hindu versus Muslim. It is Assamese versus Bengali -- and within that, the specific anxiety about undocumented Bangladeshi settlers claiming land and altering the demographic balance of the state.'
Through his commitment to democratic norms, debate, dissent and constitutionalism, Jawaharlal Nehru helped ensure that parliamentary democracy took deep root in independent India. Utkarsh Mishra evaluates Nehru's 17 years as India's first prime minister, examining his role in nation-building, democratic institution-building, economic planning, scientific advancement and foreign policy.
Leader of Opposition Ritabrata Banerjee claims 64 dissident TMC MLAs have submitted their names to the Speaker, constituting over two-thirds of the party's Assembly strength, and has called for a floor test to verify their claims of support amidst a widening split within the Trinamool Congress.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed Harsh Malhotra as the president of its Delhi unit, sparking speculation about an imminent reshuffle of the Union Council of Ministers. This move follows the BJP's 'one person, one post' principle and comes as the party prepares for upcoming elections and a review of ministerial performance.
Voting has commenced in 142 constituencies for the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, with significant security measures in place. The outcome will determine whether the TMC maintains its dominance or if the BJP can gain ground in the state.
The Gujarat High Court has disqualified former Indian cricketer Kiran More and three others from contesting the Baroda Cricket Association (BCA) elections, citing a Supreme Court judgment on tenure limits and cooling-off periods.
With Uttar Pradesh assembly elections approaching, an analyst suggests the BJP is in a strong position. Meanwhile, Punjab's political landscape is described as fluid with mixed public satisfaction towards the ruling AAP.
Demands for repolling are generally made by political parties, candidates, polling agents, or even observers, citing specific irregularities such as EVM malfunction, booth capturing, intimidation, or violation of the secrecy of voting.
A month after losing power in West Bengal and facing a rebellion by 58 MLAs, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) confronts an unprecedented challenge to Mamata Banerjee's absolute authority, raising questions about the party's survival and future.
The Election Commission has ordered a repoll in all 285 polling booths of the Falta assembly constituency in West Bengal's South 24 Parganas district on May 21, following reports of severe electoral offences and subversion of the democratic process during the second phase of the assembly elections.
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is grappling with an unprecedented political crisis following its recent electoral defeat, which has seen a significant number of its legislators openly challenging her authority and forming a rebel faction.
Bangladesh is set to hold parliamentary elections with unprecedented security measures in place, following a period of interim governance and political changes.
Counting of votes begins in Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, and West Bengal, with significant implications for regional and national parties.
The 2026 election appears to have reinforced a new political formula in Assam: Strong organisation, continuous grassroots engagement, effective alliance management and welfare-based voter outreach.
