Page 13 - West Bengal Assembly Polls

HC grants leave to ED to file contempt petition against Bengal govt

The Calcutta High Court on Wednesday granted leave to the ED to file a contempt petition against the West Bengal government over the state police not handing over custody of suspended TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh to the CBI, despite an order to that effect. Appearing for the ED, Deputy Solicitor General Dhiraj Trivedi prayed for leave to file the contempt petition and sought an urgent hearing of the matter, claiming that it was losing precious time of Sheikh's custody to the CBI. The high court had on Tuesday directed the transfer of investigation to the CBI into a mob attack on ED officials when they went to search the premises of Sheikh in Sandeshkhali in North 24 Parganas district on January 5 in connection with a ration scam probe. A division bench comprising justices Harish Tandon and Hiranmay Bhattacharyya granted leave to the ED to file the petition. Meanwhile, the West Bengal government on Wednesday sought urgent listing of its plea in the Supreme Court challenging the high .

Sandeshkhali violence: Mayawati urges Bengal govt to punish culprits

Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) supremo Mayawati on Friday urged the Mamata Banerjee government to take 'strict action against the culprits

Those questioning law and order situation trying to malign Bengal: Mamata

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday said that those questioning West Bengal's law and order situation in the backdrop of the attack on Enforcement Department (ED) officers were trying to malign the state. Banerjee asserted that Kolkata has been adjudged the country's safest city for years as per the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). "I am not bothered about criticisms against me. But, I will protest if anyone tries to malign the state. Those questioning the law and order situation are trying to malign the state," she said, addressing the 'Students' Week' programme here. Three ED officers were injured and several of their vehicles vandalised as hundreds of supporters of TMC leader Shajahan Sheikh attacked them on Friday. The attack happened when the ED team went to Sheikh's house in Sandeshkhali for a raid in connection with alleged irregularities in the state's ration system.

Mamata Banarjee, INDIA alliance leaders back Kharge for Prime Minister post

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was the first to propose the name of the Congress President as the prospective PM face of the INDIA alliance

Bypolls: BJP wins 3 seats, Oppn parties get four with SP retaining Ghosi

Dealing a crushing blow to Kerala's ruling LDF, Congress candidate Chandy Oommen on Friday retained for the party-led UDF, the Puthuppally assembly seat, which his father and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy held for over half-a-century. Chandy Oommen trounced his main rival Jaick C Thomas of CPI(M) by a huge and historic margin in the bypoll. The 37-year-old Oommen defeated Thomas by a margin of 37,719 votes in the bypoll battle that saw a nearly month-long vigorous campaigning by leaders of the Congress, CPI(M), and BJP for their respective party candidates. While Oommen gathered 80,144 votes, Thomas could get only 42,425 votes. Though the BJP leadership exuded confidence of a good show in the politically significant bypoll, the saffron party could not feature prominently in the contest. BJP candidate Lijin Lal finished a distant third, falling behind the LDF contestant by gathering a total of 6,558 votes. Analysts agreed that the outcome was on expected lines, with the sympa

WB assembly passes resolution to observe Bengali new year as State Day

The West Bengal assembly Thursday passed a resolution by an overwhelming majority to observe 'Poila Baisakh' or Bengali New Year as the State Day, even as the opposition BJP demanded that June 20, 1947when the state's legislature had agreed to partition Bengal be commemorated as foundation day. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who spoke at length to explain the motion said the decision to observe the Bengali New Year, a day when most people in Bengal gift each other new clothes and businesses start a new ledger, said the day would be celebrated irrespective of any approval from the governor with whom she has crossed swords over appointment of university officials. The resolution was passed by an overwhelming 167 members or 73 per cent of those voting and present, favouring it. Sixty-two MLAs of the BJP, who want to observe June 20 as the State Day, voted against it. The lone ISF MLA in the house abstained from the motion. The resolution under Rule 169 was tabled in the assembly, ...

Bengal governor to meet family members of workers killed in bridge collapse

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose left for Malda on Friday morning where he would be meeting family members of the workers from the district killed in the railway bridge collapse in Mizoram. Bose boarded the Yuva Express after the Vande Bharat Express, in which he was scheduled to travel to Malda this morning, was cancelled due to some technical glitches. The governor after reaching Malda will visit the houses of the workers killed in the Mizoram bridge collapse, sources in the Governor's office said. Bose, who travelled in the second class of Yuva Express, took telephone calls on the moving train and addressed public grievances and issued instructions. "He also talked to Jadavpur University officiating Vice Chancellor and students over the phone in connection with the current fiasco there," the source said. The under-construction railway bridge in the Bairabi-Sairang new line project near Aizawl collapsed on Wednesday killing 22 workers and injuring three. Bodies of four missi

Bengal governor approaches Isro for tech to curb ragging on campuses

West Bengal Governor C V Ananda Bose has reached out to the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) for identifying an appropriate technology solution to curb the menace of ragging on college and university campuses, a statement issued by Raj Bhavan on Thursday night said. A first-year undergraduate student died earlier this month after allegedly being ragged and sexually harassed in a hostel of Jadavpur University, sparking an outcry in West Bengal. "C V Ananda Bose, Hon'ble Governor of West Bengal and Chancellor of the universities, contacted the Chairman of ISRO for identifying appropriate technology to effectively contain and eliminate the menace of ragging in the university campuses," the statement said. Bose has also held discussions with a Hyderabad-based firm over the issue. "They are trying to develop an appropriate technology solution using multiple sources such as video analytics, image matching automatic target recognition and remote sensing," the governor said in the

Bengal Panchayat polls: No info received on sensitive booths, says BSF DIG

BSF informed that the State Election Commission has set up a total of 61,636 polling booths to conduct elections for 3317 Gram Panchayats

BJP's tactics won't work, TMC will win 240 seats in 2026 polls: Abhishek

Senior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Sunday asserted that more the BJP uses intimidatory tactics against West Bengal's ruling party, the more number of seats it will get in the 2026 assembly polls, as people will resist the saffron camp's gameplan. Banerjee, while addressing a rally at Chopra in Uttar Dinajpur district, claimed that the Trinamool Congress will win not less than 240 seats in the next assembly elections. He also maintained the BJP government at the Centre was intimidating opposition parties through frequent CBI and ED raids. "From 184 seats in 2011 assembly polls, we got 211 seats in 2016. It went up to 213 seats in the 2021 elections. And keep in mind, TMC will not get less than 240 seats in the 2026 polls. The more the BJP's conspiracy against us grows using its agencies, the more our seats will go up, with people resisting their gameplan," he said. Banerjee recalled that during the 2021 polls, people had ignored the repeated visits by BJP leaders to Bengal and .

Committee to look into displacement in WB post-poll violence announced

The committee will inquire into the rights of the displaced persons for rehabilitation and to return to their place of abode and place of work

Bengal post-poll violence: Victims' families hold protest march in Delhi

A demonstration was also staged at India Gate, where the families raised slogans, Save West Bengal and We want President's Rule in Bengal

WB: Counting underway for Asansol Lok Sabha, Ballygunge Assembly bypolls

The counting of votes, which began at 8 am, for the Asansol Lok Sabha seat and Ballygunge Assembly seat bypolls is underway in West Bengal on Saturday.

Will Asansol bypolls see Trinamool's first victory in the Lok Sabha seat?

The bypolls are scheduled on April 12 and the counting of votes will take place on April 16

Bengal Guv attacks Mamata govt, alleges violence, trampling of human rights

West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar paid tribute to Mahatma Gandhi on his death anniversary, and launched another attack on the Mamata Banerjee government

SC grants protection from arrest to Bengal CM's poll agent in murder case

The Supreme Court granted interim protection from arrest to SK Supiyan, who was the election agent of Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, in connection with a murder case under the CBI's investigation.

2021: Mamata Banerjee's magic prevails in Bengal as BJP bites dust

Mamata Banerjee's battle cry 'Khela Hobe' (game will happen) was emblematic of the hostility and confrontation that lay in store for West Bengal in 2021 amid a raging pandemic and political turmoil

CBI files fresh case against 25 in West Bengal post-poll violence

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) said on Friday that it has registered one more case against 25 persons in connection with the post-poll violence in West Bengal.

HC quashes case against Mithun Chakraborty linking him with poll violence

The Calcutta High Court quashed a police case alleging that cine star Mithun Chakraborty's uttering dialogues from his films at a public meeting here had caused political violence in West Bengal

WB's finance plenipotentiary: Why Amit Mitra is important to Mamata

The former state finance minister has acquired a new powerful advisory role that must build on his earlier achievements