Though buses and trains plied normally in Bengal and TN, office attendance was less.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday attacked Union Home Minister Amit Shah over violent protests against the new citizenship law, saying his job is not to set the country on fire but to put it out. Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas' slogan, she said the BJP government has brought "satyanaash" (disaster) for everyone in the country.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Sporadic incidents of violence and allegations of booth jamming marred the voting process in the second phase.
Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for the state, told a bench comprising Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose that whenever there is an allegation that a probe is not being carried fairly, the court takes the facts into account and then transfers the case to CBI after a prima facie conclusion.
Dhankhar in his letter claimed that the state of governance in the state was 'cliff hanging' and had been further strained by the barbarity witnessed in the Birbhum killings.
Resident Doctors' Association of the AIIMS in Delhi, which earlier decided not to join the strike, announced withdrawal of all non-essential services from noon after a junior doctor at its trauma centre was assaulted in the early hours of Monday.
Claiming that the BJP is "planning to change Bengal into Gujarat", she said, "I am ready to go to jail but will not allow it to happen."
Gandhi made the demand during her brief conversation with the prime minister in the Lok Sabha on the first day of the Monsoon session Just before the House met for the day, Modi took a round to greet various leaders.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
Key provisions of the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) which came into law this year may violate certain provisions of India's Constitution, a report issued by an independent research wing of the United States Congress has claimed.
"Gandhi's disqualification is illegal and the case is also bogus. I am sure that a higher court in Gujarat will do justice to Gandhi," said Raut, whose party is an ally of the Congress in Maharashtra.
Sporadic violence was reported on Thursday in the fifth and last phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal covering four districts of north Bengal with 30 per cent voter turnout reported till noon.
Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been at the centre of a political storm for nearly a month and has witnessed unprecedented protests over allegations of sexual abuse by scores of women against a local Trinamool Congress leader.
Reacting to the charge by Banerjee, the Congress held her responsible for the growth of RSS in the state.
Over 86 lakh voters will decide the political fate of 284 candidates in this phase.
'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
Banerjee had on Tuesday confirmed her presence at the ceremony to be held on May 30.
Tuhin Mondal, the content creator, was arrested from his house in Bapujinagar in Taherpur police station area.
The vandalism at the prestigious university, founded by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, has snowballed into a major political row, after some ruling TMC supporters and varsity authorities filed police complaints against each other.
The displacements were a result of a combination of increasing hazard intensity, high population exposure and high levels of social and economic vulnerability, a report says.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story depicts how women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State.
Modi later contended at a rally at Gangarampur in Dakshin Dinajpur, that Banerjee has been abusing him almost every other day as he raises questions on Trinamool Congress track record of "corruption".
The BJP, which leads the ruling coalition at the Centre, hit right back, dismissing her allegation as 'baseless' and asserting she will be ousted from power 'democratically' after the assembly elections due next year.
This is possibly the last election in Bengal where two sides are squaring off against each other. Don't expect the BJP to be a bystander five years hence, says Devanik Saha.
'They have a voracious appetite.' 'But there are many places where they go and they lose.'
Trouble continues in Lalgarh in West Bengal state as Tribals and members of the People's Committee against Police Atrocities continue their violent protests.
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.
The high commission of India in Dhaka and the assistant high commissions in Chittagong, Rajshahi, Sylhet and Khulna have been assisting in the voluntary return of Indian nationals, he said.
Schools, shops, markets and business establishments remained shut in and around Baduria, including Keosha market, Banshtala, Ramchandrapur and Tentulia, where prohibitory orders are in force.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday filed her nomination for Nandigram assembly seat, where she will take on her former protege and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Suvendu Adhikari and exuded confidence of winning it saying she has never returned empty-handed from the land of anti-farm land acquisition movement.
After much delay, the controversial Communal Violence Prevention Bill was on Monday cleared by the Union Cabinet after removal of certain provisions, reducing the role of the legislation in handling of riots and making it neutral between communities.
The students of Jadavpur University said they don't expect anything better from a party like the BJP.
Modi accused the TMC of killing the aspirations of the middle-class people in the state and said the ruling party in West Bengal is known for 'triple T -- Trinamool Tolabaji Tax'.
Expressing deep concern over the recent act of violence against doctors, Vardhan stated that incidents of assault on doctors are reported from different parts of the country and this leads to sudden strike by doctors, gravely affecting the healthcare services.
The CBI team, consisting of around 20 members, went inside the house where charred bodies of seven people were found.
Chowdhury, the leader of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha, claimed that his account was hacked as he was delivering a speech at a party office in West Bengal's Murshidabad district when the social media post was made.
"If you show us (threaten us with) ED, we will also send proof against BJP leaders to the agency. A section of BJP ministers and leaders is hand in glove with the coal mafia. They even stayed at hotels run by them during elections," she said.
TMC MP writes to Mark Zuckerberg, raises issue of Facebook's alleged bias towards the BJP.
Mamata said that she raised the issue of violence in Tripura in which TMC workers were allegedly assaulted by BJP workers.
