Page 15 - West Bengal

West Bengal backing BJP's development agenda, says PM Modi ahead of polls

In a post on X, the Prime Minister highlighted the enthusiasm witnessed during the roadshow and expressed confidence in public support for the BJP

BJP deleted over 9 mn names during SIR to grab power in West Bengal: Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday accused the BJP of deleting names of over 90 lakh people from the voter lists to grab power in the state and asserted that her party will win the upcoming elections. Addressing a public rally at Minakhan in North 24 Parganas, the TMC supremo said the ruling party would move a court to ensure that all those deleted from the electoral rolls are reinstated. "You deleted names of over 90 lakh people to grab power in Bengal, but we will win," she said while attacking the BJP over the Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state. Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the SIR exercise in the state. The TMC supremo also alleged, "People are being tortured in BJP-ruled states for speaking in Bengali. It terms Bengali as a foreign language, and described Bengali-speaking people as infiltrators.

Former Union minister Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury dies at 89 in Kolkata

Former Union minister Abu Hasem Khan Choudhury died in Kolkata due to age-related ailments, his family said. Choudhury, popularly known as Dalu, was 89. He is survived by wife and a son, Congress's Malda Dakshin MP Isha Khan Choudhury. His death marks the end of an era in the politics of Malda district, where he remained a key figure for decades. Choudhury, a veteran Congressman, had been suffering from multiple age-related complications. He died at a private hospital in Kolkata late on Wednesday, his family said. The last rites will be performed in Malda on Thursday. Born on January 12, 1938, into the prominent Khan Choudhury family of Malda, Dalu Choudhury entered politics under the guidance of his elder brother, the venerable ABA Ghani Khan Choudhury, also a former Union minister. After his brother's demise, he emerged as the principal political figure in the family and played a crucial role in maintaining the Congress's hold over the district. He served as an MLA of the Kali

RG Kar victim's mother enters West Bengal polls, vows to defeat Mamata

Declaring the Chief Minister as her primary adversary, Debnath stated that the Chief Minister failed to save her daughter from the horrific crime at the RG Kar Medical College and hospital

Centre deploys 150 more CAPF, state police companies in Bengal for polls

The Union Home Ministry on Wednesday ordered the deployment of 150 additional companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and state armed police battalions in West Bengal to ensure free and fair Assembly elections, an official communication said. With this, the total deployment has been increased from around 2,400 companies to 2,550, according to sources. Earlier, 480 companies were deployed, followed by an additional 1,920 companies announced on March 19, with instructions to complete deployment by April 17. The latest deployment includes 95 companies of CAPFs, comprising the CRPF, BSF, CISF and SSB, and 55 companies from state armed police forces drawn from Assam, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, the communication said. The forces are to be inducted by April 18, it added. A senior EC official said the move is aimed at strengthening security arrangements across sensitive constituencies. "The Commission has assessed the ground situation and dec

West Bengal polls: How BJP became Trinamool Congress' main challenger

As the Left and Congress declined, BJP has consolidated anti-TMC votes in the last decade, emerging as the main challenger to Mamata Banerjee and TMC

Bengal: Congress replaces 7 candidates for second phase of Assembly polls

The party has nominated Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from Baharampur, Pradip Prasad from Bhabanipur, while Mausam Noor, who recently joined the Congress, will contest from Malatipur

We will move court again to resist voter deletions, says CM Mamata

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday hit out at the BJP and the Election Commission over voter deletions during the SIR exercise and said her party will move a court again to resist the removal of electors from the rolls. Her comments came after nearly 91 lakh voters' names were deleted from the electoral rolls following the completion of the Special Intensive Revision in the state. "You will not be able to defeat the TMC by deleting names. We will move a court again to resist the exclusion of names," Banerjee said while attacking her principal challenger BJP over the roll revision exercise. Banerjee had in February argued in the Supreme Court as she sought an intervention in the SIR process. The EC figures, which pushed the total deletion to over 90.83 lakh names from the original voter base of 7.66 crore in October 2025, showed that the proportion of removal of electors now remains at over 11.85 per cent. Addressing a poll rally at Arambagh in Hooghly district

TMC writes to ECI over 'compromised' officials, raises neutrality concerns

Polling for the 294-member Assembly in West Bengal will take place in two phases on April 23 and April 29, while counting of votes is scheduled for May 4

Bengal polls: BJP releases 6th list, fields Rakesh Singh from Kolkata Port

As per the list approved by the Central Election Committee, Rakesh Singh has been fielded from Kolkata Port

Bengal's new electoral map: SIR hits TMC bastions, jolts BJP's Matua belt

West Bengal's 2026 assembly elections will be fought on an electoral map radically redrawn by the SIR, which has wiped out over 90.83 lakh names from the rolls, upending the arithmetic in scores of constituencies and throwing both the TMC's citadels and the BJP's expansion zones into fresh uncertainty. The state's electorate has shrunk from 7.66 crore to 6.77 crore, forcing the TMC and the BJP to fight the two-phase elections later this month on terrain very different from the one on which Mamata Banerjee stormed back to power in 2021. The deepest cuts have come in the districts that have long determined who rules Bengal -- the minority-heavy belts and the southern zone that have underpinned the TMC since 2011, and the Matua-refugee pockets of North 24 Parganas, Nadia and parts of north Bengal that powered the BJP's rise after 2019. Yet the political fallout is not uniform. The TMC's once-formidable cushions in south Bengal appear thinner, while the BJP remains entrenched in north .

Nearly 9.1 mn names deleted from Bengal electoral rolls after SIR exercise

Nearly 91 lakh voters have been deleted from the electoral rolls in West Bengal following the Special Intensive Revision exercise in the state, according to data released by the Election Commission. The poll panel is yet to announce the finally altered voter base for the state after the roll revision process. According to official data released on February 28, 63.66 lakh names, around 8.3 per cent of the electorate, were deleted since the SIR process began in November last year, reducing the voter base from about 7.66 crore to just over 7.04 crore. More than 60.06 lakh electors, who were placed in the "under adjudication" category, were part of the 7.04 crore voter base. Over 27.16 lakh of 60.06 lakh 'under adjudication' voters have been deleted during a scrutiny by judicial officers, the EC data said. More than 32.68 lakh of those in the 'under adjudication' category have been retained and included in the final rolls. The final deletions, since the beginning of the SIR process,

The long reach of West Asia war: Sheffield of the East waits and watches

Furnaces cool faster than they should as Howrah's foundry belt sputters, with West Asia tensions choking fuel lines, snarling cargo routes, and stretching workdays thinner

SC flags high exclusion in Bengal voter roll revision, denies relief

Top court notes high rejection rates in SIR exercise, declines interim relief on appeals, and asks appellate tribunals to frame procedures for handling cases uniformly

From Congress era to Left reign to TMC rule: Mapping Bengal's political arc

West Bengal's political culture has undergone a transformation across three distinct phases, marked by Congress dominance, the Left rule, and the rise of Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress

Mamata demands PM's resignation over silence on Pak's 'Kolkata threat'

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not raise Pakistan's threat to attack Kolkata, during his poll rallies in West Bengal a day earlier. "You (PM) target Bengal during election rallies; but when Pakistan talks of attacking Bengal, you do not utter a word. You should resign," she said at a poll rally here in Nadia district. "Why did the prime minister not raise the issue during his rally in Bengal? When Pakistan's defence minister says they will attack Kolkata, why didn't the prime minister say that 'we will take strong action'?" she posed a day after Modi addressed a poll rally in West Bengal's Cooch Behar. "Just like we do not accept any threat to the country, we will also not take the threat to Kolkata lying down," she said. Pakistan's Defence Minister Khawaja Asif on Saturday warned India that it would respond with a strike in Kolkata to any "future misadventures". "If India tries to stage any false flag operation this

PM Modi, Shah star campaigners for BJP for West Bengal Assembly polls

The list also includes BJP chief Nitin Nabin, Union Ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, JP Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan and Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath and Himanta Biswa Sarma

Tribunal orders Cong candidate's name to be restored in final roll in WB

Congress candidate Mohtab Sheikh, whose name was earlier put under the adjudication cases column of the final electoral roll on February 28, was a happy man Sunday evening after a tribunal ordered that his name be reinstated. A relieved Sheikh told mediapersons, "Justice has finally been delivered. My name has been cleared and restored, and I can now proceed with filing my nomination." This was apparently the first such ruling by any tribunal involving a candidate to resolve an ongoing adjudication case due to "logical discrepancy", an Election Commission (EC) official said. In the significant development, the tribunal headed by former Chief Justice of the Calcutta High Court, T S Sivagnanam, directed that the name of the Congress nominee from Farakka in Murshidabad district be restored to the voter list. Sheikh said, "My name had been struck off during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process, preventing me from filing nomination despite being officially nominated by my party.

PM Modi to launch BJP's Bengal campaign from Cooch Behar on Sunday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Cooch Behar district on Sunday to launch the BJP's campaign for the West Bengal assembly elections, a senior party leader said. Modi is scheduled to address the BJP's 'Bijoy Sankalpa Sabha' at the historic Ras Mela grounds in the afternoon, marking the start of the party's intensified outreach in north Bengal, with the aim of consolidating grassroots support in a region that has become a saffron stronghold over the years and a critical electoral battlefield. During the rally, the PM is expected to outline the party's vision for a "developed West Bengal", highlight issues raised in the BJP's recently released 'People's Chargesheet' against the ruling TMC in the state, and focus on governance, law and order, and alleged corruption. This will be Modi's first election rally in the state, following the declaration of assembly polls, and the fourth public meeting at the Ras Mela grounds, after his previous rallies at the same venue during his .

NIA investigates Malda SP, BDO offices to probe judicial officers' gherao

A major political storm had erupted in West Bengal as seven judicial officers, including three women, were held hostage by villagers in Malda district