Election Commission officials said they have deployed around 680 companies of central police forces and over 20,000 state police personnel in over 53 constituencies of South 24 Parganas, Kolkata South and Hooghly districts going to the hustings on Saturday in the fifth phase of polling.
District officials said two pilgrims died on the spot and three, including the woman in the hospital.
A 24-year-old mother of two was allegedly gang-raped and thrown out of a moving auto rickshaw in an unconscious state at Akra in South 24 Parganas district, a Kolkata suburb.
'Technology is streamliming the entire process of aid distribution and making it transparent and digital.'
From small restaurants to mighty software companies, it is businesses, not the government, that create jobs. Yet, in a cruel irony, they have to fight extortive and brutal State power every step of the way, says Debashis Basu.
He was arrested this morning by CBI sleuths.
The prime minister telephoned Banerjee to take stock of the flood situation in West Bengal, and assured the chief minister of all central assistance to mitigate it, the bureaucrat said.
The issue of erecting fences along the international Indo-Bangla border was in cold storage for last several years.
Interestingly, the Muslim representation in West Bengal assembly has dropped this time when compared to what it was in 2016, even as members of the community voted en masse for the Mamata Banerjee camp.
Party leaders are being forced to bite the tongue while answering queries on cut money and alleged arrogance of local TMC leaders.
The division bench said it deemed it appropriate to stay the special court's order and direct that the "accused person shall be treated to be in judicial custody till further orders".
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.
While the state of West Bengal attempts to recover from the devastation caused by the combination of the coronavirus pandemic and the Amphan cyclone, a consortium of 38 footballers have decided to pool in their resources to help the affected people. This consortium -- named 'Players for Humanity', include the likes of Subrata Paul, Mehtab Hossain, Arnab Mondal, Subhashish Roychowdhury, Sandip Nandy, Pronay Halder, Pritam Kotal and Shouvik Ghosh amongst others.
The Bangladesh navy has detained 72 Indian fishermen for allegedly fishing in its territorial waters near southwestern Sharankhola coastlines, officials said on Tuesday.
The BJP has identified West Bengal as a priority state for the upcoming national elections and Shah has set a target of 22 of the state's 42 Lok Sabha seats.
With Communist Party India-Marxist and Trinamool workers clashing in South 24 Parganas district and indulging in violence, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday held a high-level meeting at the state secretariat in Kolkata.
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.
A day after Cyclone Yaas tore through coastal Odisha and Bengal to cause havoc as far as Jharkhand, tornadoes, torrential rains, bridge collapses and swelling rivers continued to plague eastern India as people tried to pick up their lives amid the debris of swept away mud homes and swamped farmlands.
The TMC, which is yet to fully recover from the 2019 Lok Sabha poll setback, when the BJP's tally soared from two to 18, is apprehensive that the AIMIM may act as "spoiler" in several assembly segments.
Bengal ministers Firhad Hakim and Subrata Mukherjee were taken to the Central Bureau of Investigation office on Monday in connection with the Narada sting operation, officials said.
The Army was deployed in Kolkata and its neighbouring districts on Saturday, hours after the West Bengal government sought its help for immediate restoration of essential infrastructure and services in the state.
Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde on Monday said that West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who had earlier objected on certain issues, has a 'positive mind' towards the National Counter Terrorism Centre.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on warned against any attempts to forcibly enforce general strike called on February 20 and 21 by central trade unions and said that her government will ensure normal life in the state on the two days.
Normal life was partially affected in West Bengal on Thursday following a state-wide 12-hour general strike called by Left Parties and trade unions, with the Bharatiya Janata Party also calling a 10-hour bandh to protest against alleged violence by ruling Trinamool Congress in the recent civic polls.
Three Congress workers were killed ahead of Monday's fourth phase of panchayat polls in four districts of West Bengal and at least 100 houses vandalised and looted in South 24-Parganas district on Sunday.
A passenger of an auto-rickshaw was killed and its driver injured when a bomb kept in a bag held by the passenger exploded in South 24 Parganas district on Saturday, the police said
Deaths in the worst-ever hooch tragedy in West Bengal continued unabated on Friday with the toll touching 171 amidst fears of more casualties as authorities suspended the excise officer-in-charge for dereliction of duty.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
Seven people were killed as thunderstorm hit West Bengal, officials said in Kolkata on Saturday.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that she would win the ongoing state polls despite injury and eventually aim for power in Delhi.
'With sufficient gaps between polling dates, the BJP will have time to convert the 'fence-sitter' votes,' observes Payal Mohanka.
Making a strong Hindutva pitch at the hustings in West Bengal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday attacked Trinamool Congress leaders for calling those wearing saffron, sporting tilak and choti as "rakshas", and declared that he does not believe in "seasonal faith".
Four persons, including the wife of the main accused Noor Islam Sheikh alias 'Khora' Badshah, were arrested on Sunday in connection with West Bengal's worst illicit liquor tragedy that claimed over 170 lives in South 24 Parganas district.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
In one of the worst hooch tragedies in West Bengal, 57 people, mostly labourers, rickshaw-pullers and hawkers, died and over hundred have been hospitalised in serious condition after consuming illicit liquor at Mograhat in South 24 Parganas district on Wednesday.
Kolkata and parts of West Bengal were on Wednesday rocked by successive mild tremors in a span of less than two hours, following the massive temblors in Sumatra. The first tremor was felt at 2.42 pm and the second at 4.13 pm, said Regional Meteorological Centre Director G C Debnath. Tremors were also felt in North and South 24 Parganas districts adjoining Kolkata and in Darjeeling and Siliguri in north Bengal, official reports said.
As Pranab Mukherjee was sworn in as the 13th President, a band of his friends in a corner of Bengal on Wednesday recalled with nostalgia the days spent with him.
The MHA had on Friday summoned Bandopadhyay and DGP Virendra asking them to present themselves on December 14 for an explanation on the law and order situation in the state, following governor Jagdeep Dhankhar's report on the attack on Nadda's convoy by alleged supporters of the ruling TMC.
An electorate of 1.44 crore is expected to vote on Wednesday in the crucial third phase of the West Bengal assembly polls spread over three districts of Kolkata and North and South 24 Parganas district to decide the fate of 479 candidates including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
