LIVE Blog: Mamata's Martyrs' Day Rally
Days after the sweep in the panchayat polls, West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will hold the Martyrs' Day rally, which will be the last before the next General Elections, on Friday. The rally, which is the annual mega political event of the ruling party, is held at Esplanade in downtown Kolkata. This year's rally has assumed significance as the TMC swept the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Left and Congress in the violence-marred panchayat polls. Moreover, Mamata's rally comes just a few days after 26 anti-BJP parties formed an opposition alliance, named 'INDIA', to deny Prime Minister Narendra Modi a straight term in the coming year.
Kolkata Municipal Corporation Elections : Live updates here
Voting for the much-awaited Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) election began at 7 AM on Sunday. A total of 40.48 lakh electorates are eligible to vote in the KMC elections in 144 wards. At present, the KMC is ruled by the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamool Congress (TMC). Election has been delayed by around one and half years due to the COVID-19 pandemic even as the term of the elected members of the KMC ended in May 2020. The election is expected to see a direct contest between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling TMC. The other partcipants in the elections are the Congress and CPI (M), who also campaigned aggressively for the polls in a bid to revive their fortunes after the assembly elections debacle.
Live: Results of West Bengal's Bhabanipur bypolls 2021
The results for the high voltage bypoll in West Bengal's Bhabanipur assembly constituency, where state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is a candidate, are coming out on Sunday. The elctoral battle is a must win for Mamata Banerjee in order to remain the West Bengal Chief Minister. The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of West Bengal Minister and TMC veteran Shobhandeb Chattopadhyay. Chattopadhyay resigned to pave the way for Banerjee to contest and get elected to the assembly after she was defeated by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram.To challenge Banerjee, the BJP has fielded lawyer Priyanka Tibrewal, the Left has nominated young advocate Srijib Biswas while the Congress decided not to contest in a gesture to the ruling party in a changed political scenario. Follow all update here:
Calcutta HC hearing on Narada case: LIVE Updates
A five-judge larger bench of the Calcutta High Court is hearing the bail plea of three Trinamool Congress (TMC) lawmakers including two West Bengal Ministers and a former Kolkata Mayor in the Narada case. The CBI had arrested the four accused on May 17. Earlier, the Division Bench of the high court had ordered the house arrest of the four veteran politicians. Though the CBI had filed a petition against the house arrests in the Supreme Court, the top court had passed a scathing remark on the probe agency forcing it to withdraw the plea.
LIVE: Calcutta HC hearing on Narada case
The Calcutta High Court is on Wednesday hearing four arrested West Bengal politicians' plea seeking a review of the stay order put on their bail granted by a lower court. West Bengal Ministers Firhad Hakim, Subrata Mukherjee, MLA Madan Mitra, all belonging to the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC), and former Kolkata Mayor Sovan Chatterjee were arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the Narada sting operation on Monday morning. Though a special CBI court granted bail to all four, in a dramatic turnaround, the high court put a stay on the bail on Monday night.
LIVE: Results of Bengal Assembly Elections 2021
West Bengal, the eastern state of India, witnessed high-octane, high-pitched, often violent elections over the last one month. The elections to 292 of 294 seats were held in eight phases between Mar 27 and Apr 29. Elections have been postponed in two seats- Samergunj and Jangipur- due to the death of two candidates. Primarily, the ruling TMC and its Opposition BJP have locked horns while the Left-Congress-ISF have stitched an alliance, named Sanjukta Morcha- to capture power in the state. For all updates, follow our LIVE Blog
LIVE Blog: Final phase of Bengal polls underway
The eighth and final phase of prolonged West Bengal assembly elections is underway on Thursday. The final phase covers 35 assembly constituencies spread across four districts, Malda (06), Murshidabad (11), Birbhum (11) and Kolkata (07). 753 coys of Central paramilitary forces have been deployed out of which 641 coys of CAPF will be involved in protecting polling stations. Remaining forces will be used as QRT & some will be kept in reserve. State armed and unarmed police forces will also be used. Presently, 753 coys of CAPF are in WB as 318 companies have already been released from election duties. For Birbhum, ECI has appointed six additional police observers. Meanwhile, a repoll is conducted at polling booth no. 126 in Cooch Behar's Sitalkuchi. While the ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) and its prime challenger Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are fighting to capture power in the state, the Left-Congress-ISF-led alliance Sanjukta Morcha are striving to stay relevant in the Bengal politics.