'The life of his political career is dependent on success in this constituency.'
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.
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.
The EVMs are based on a technology where they work as aggregator of votes in direct elections such as the Lok Sabha and state assemblies.
A four-member team of the Union home ministry, tasked with looking into reasons for the post-poll violence in West Bengal, met Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar at the Raj Bhavan.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
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.
Her victory significantly coincided with a verdict of the Calcutta High Court upholding the Singur land act as constitutional and valid.
The BJP on Sunday congratulated Mamata Banerjee and TMC for winning the West Bengal assembly election for the third successive term and assured that the saffron party will work as a constructive opposition.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
Banerjee, who is pitted against former lieutenant and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat, said that farmers are the pride of West Bengal and the state government is working tirelessly for their development.
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.
Congress chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said the party would deliberate on its failures and do course correction after internal deliberations.
A BJP victory in the high-octane West Bengal election could have turned the fortunes in rival Kailash Vijayvargiya favour, reports Sandeep Kumar.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), questioning the outcome of the recent Maharashtra assembly elections and alleging hypocrisy in the BJP's stance on corruption. He also hinted at internal changes within the MNS, emphasizing the need for discipline and a renewed focus on the party's goals.
The Trinamool Congress on Friday alleged that the Parliamentary democracy system in West Bengal is under threat due to the state-sponsored terrorism and demanded that President's rule should be imposed in the state, if necessary. The Trinamool Congress also demanded that the state assembly elections, due in 2011, should be pre-poned.A delegation of Members of Parliament, including one Parliamentarian from Congress party, today met Union Home Minister P Chidambaram.
CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat spoke briefly to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt on the party's prospects in the coming assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal.
Deliberating on the acute financial crisis the new government faced after taking over from the Left Front regime following Assembly elections, Banerjee said, "I have sought a financial package from the Centre to rejuvenate the economy.
Maintaining that the INDIA alliance is for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and not for assembly polls in any state, the Congress on Friday asserted that the opposition bloc of 27 parties exists and will fight together.
'For the politics of patronage in West Bengal, it has always been important to have territorial control.'
The state government in its special leave petition alleged that it did not expect fair and just investigation by the central agency which is busy foisting cases against the functionaries of ruling Trinamool Congress Party.
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
After an impressive show in West Bengal both in the 15th general elections and the bypolls, Trinamool Congress led by Mamata Bannerjee now plans to make an entry into Uttar Pradesh politics and also contest the assembly elections scheduled to be held in 2012.
The Congress on Wednesday decided to take on Trinamool Congress ally Socialist Unity Centre of India in two seats at South 24 Parganas for refusing to withdraw nominees against it in 29 other constituencies for the West Bengal assembly elections.
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.
In case the EC doesn't hold elections within six months, the duration in which Banerjee has to become an MLA, the Trinamool Congress is ready with Plan B.
The comment comes two days after state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said his party won't beg for seats from the TMC.
Voting is being held at 11,860 polling stations spread over 11 assembly constituencies each in Murshidabad and Birbhum, six in Malda and seven in north Kolkata.
'He is a key fulcrum point in the pan-Indian creation of an effective Opposition to the BJP.'
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said.
BJP chief J P Nadda on Thursday launched 'Lokkho Sonar Bangla' (target to build golden Bengal) manifesto crowdsourcing campaign to seek suggestions from more than two crore people in West Bengal ahead of the upcoming assembly elections.
West Bengal Bharatiya Janata Party chief Dilip Ghosh on Saturday said that the party has to fulfil its long-cherished mission of winning the state not only to expand its ideological footprint but also to secure India's eastern borders, which have turned into a 'transit point for terror elements' trying to create unrest in the country.
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.
The BJP may be in the Opposition in many states, but nowhere is it as divided as it is in Karnataka, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Refusing to attach much importance to the series of defections plaguing the saffron camp in the last few months, Majumdar said those committed to the ideology and cause can never leave the party.
Addressing a big rally in Kolkata to launch the Bharatiya Janata Party's Lok Sabha campaign, Shah launched a blistering attack on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on the issues of appeasement, infiltration, corruption and political violence, alleging she has "destroyed" the state.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has demanded that the Election Commission (EC) accept its error in issuing duplicate voter card numbers within 24 hours, threatening to release more documents on the issue if the EC fails to do so. The party alleged that the EC issued the statement after the TMC announced it would hold a press conference on the issue, and termed it an "Epic Scam." The EC had said it would rectify the issue and update its technology-driven platform, but the TMC insists the EC must accept the error. The party also demanded an in-depth probe into the matter.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday asked the people of West Bengal to end the 34-year-old 'misrule' of the Communist Party of India-Marxist and elect a government of 'aam admi' that would bring development and prosperity to the state.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday asserted that she did not threaten junior doctors at state-run hospitals, who have been continuing cease-work for 21 days now to protest against the alleged rape and murder of a woman medic. Addressing a rally organised by the Trinamool Congress Chhatra Parishad, Banerjee had on Wednesday urged the agitating junior doctors of Bengal to urgently consider returning to duty and said she doesn't want to lodge first information reports (FIRs) against the striking doctors in consideration of their future careers.
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