Wednesday's expansion shows that Modi still has a keen eye on Bengal. The BJP is gearing up for the panchayat elections in Bengal next May and the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
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 group has more than 9000 fans from across the state and the masks have been sent out to the members in various districts like Bardhaman, Asansol, Nadia, North, South 24 Parganas. They will be sporting the masks on Wednesday.
Two presiding officers were removed following allegation of influencing voters and an election agent of Communist Party of India-Marxist detained for interrogation after postal ballots were recovered from him, the sources said in Kolkata.
Police personnel in adequate strength were deployed across the state to maintain law and order, officials said.
The successful implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act in parts of West Bengal has meant that fewer hands are available today to craft mud and straw into the idols that are central to goddess Durga's homecoming every autumn.
Rajeev Kumar, the Kolkata police commissioner, is known for his impeccable investigating and electronic surveillance skills.
Bird flu has spread to fresh areas in affected West Bengal districts of Howrah, Birbhum and Nadia, while a large number of chickens died in North 24 Parganas, which is still not among the 13 affected districts.
TMC on a roll, wins 13 out of 17 zilla parishads in WB
With these states imposing lockdowns anew, the health ministry emphasised that the restrictions should be utilised to focus on containment, surveillance and testing in the containment and buffer zones as the key strategy for early detection of cases and fatality management.
The issue of erecting fences along the international Indo-Bangla border was in cold storage for last several years.
Shah said Banerjee will not be in a position to oppose the implementation of the CAA as she will cease to be the chief minister after the assembly polls likely in April-May this year.
While man and a woman were reported killed when trees came crashing down on them in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, a 13-year-old girl died in a similar incident in adjoining Howrah. No casualties have been reported from Odisha yet.
Aggrieved by the violence that marked the panchayat poll in West Bengal which claimed at least 12 lives and left 43 injured, several candidates who were in the fray had met the SEC officials and demanded the repolling.
Families of the 40 CRPF jawans, who were martyred in the dastardly terror attacks in Pulwama, have not yet been able to comprehend the huge void left behind.
The National Investigation Agency on Saturday arrested Abdul Mazeed Momin, an absconder, in connection with the Burdwan blast, taking the total number of arrested persons to 17.
Branding Trinamool Congress rebels as 'traitors' like Mir Jafar, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party for fielding the turncoats in the polls leaving saffron party old-timers shed tears.
The death toll due to Monday's havoc caused by Cyclone Aila in West Bengal rose to 45 on Tuesday.
Though the BJP is running too close for comfort, populist schemes and support among Muslims may help Mamata Banerjee overcome the challenge, observes Aditi Phadnis.
States spent much more in the first three months of the current financial year compared to the corresponding period last year.
Addressing a daily media briefing to give updates on the COVID-19 situation in the country, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal said most of the Markaz event-related cases have been found in states with high burden of the disease, such as Tamil Nadu (84 per cent), Telengana (79 per cent), Delhi (63 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (59 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (61 per cent).
Once a reviled practice in the state, both the parties seem to have endorsed a record number of turncoats this time -- triggering a wave of discontentment among their loyalists.
Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Tapas Pal tendered an unconditional apology on Tuesday for his threat to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist workers and having their women raped after he was asked by an embarrassed party leadership to do so following widespread outrage.
The RSS on Sunday said it has not abandoned its commitment to build a grand Ram temple in Ayodhya and sought speeding up of the case proceedings in the Supreme Court.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Thursday that at least 72 people have died due to Cyclone Amphan and urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to visit the affected districts and provide help to 'rebuild those areas from scratch'
India's neglect of villages shows up in many other ways.
He was arrested near Tilbitha railway station in this district, the police said on Sunday.
Indrani Roy deconstructs the controversy over Trinamool Congress MP Tapas Pal controversial remarks on rape.
This is the first time in many years that the BJP has been elected to the gram panchayat level in every district of the state.
It is a complete mayhem in West Bengal, Manipur and Odisha with more than 60 dead
The TMC expects to emerge victorious by way of a majority of minority votes and a minority of majority votes, notes Arun Bhatnagar, a retired IAS officer.
Several relatives of the killed workers said they were not officially informed about their loved ones by any government authority.
Many anticipate that by the 2021 assembly elections in West Bengal, the BJP may come to power, says Mohammad Sajjad.
Anoyara Khatun, 18, now leads 80 groups of children, who are fighting against evils like child marriage, trafficking, child labour, besides other issues related to health and education.
Results of the panchayat polls indicated a paradigm shift in state politics with the baton of main opposition party passing from the Left to the BJP.
West Bengal with its porous borders has turned into an easy transit point and secure hideout for the agents of terror outfits like Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh and Pakistani secret service Inter-Services Intelligence.
This is one of the biggest casualties suffered by the elite COBRA unit that undertakes special jungle warfare ops.
