Naoda/Malda/Suri: Forty-one people were arrested as episodes of sporadic violence were reported across parts of Bengal in the first phase of polling.Five were held after BJP candidate Subhendu Sarkar alleged he was assaulted by villagers at Kumarganj. Sarkar first alleged BJP agents were denied entry at Banihari booth. Around noon, he reached the spot and…
Kolkata: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday praised the Election Commission for conducting the first phase of Bengal polls with “minimal violence” and a “record turnout,” attributing the high voter turnout to a “storm of change” sweeping the state.Speaking at a rally in Krishnanagar, Modi said: “In the elections I have seen in the past…
Nandigram: During the polls of 2021, a wheelchair-bound Mamata Banerjee chose Nandigram’s Boyal as her anchorage, scripting one of the defining moments of a razor-edge contest. In 2026, it was Suvendu Adhikari — once her opponent, now facing aide-turned-foe Pabitra Kar — choosing the same Boyal as his basecamp. It’s here that all eyes tracking…
Kolkata: At least four voters in West Midnapore, Malda and Birbhum died—two after returning from poll booths, one inside a booth and one on the way to the polling station —even as a scorcher of a sun beat down on Thursday, the day the first phase of the Assembly election was conducted in Bengal. The…
Mothabari (Malda): “Apnara naam tulte esechen? Vote dite parbo? (Have you come to enlist our names? Can we cast our votes?)” — these were the cries that greeted TOI as hundreds of deleted voters mobbed this correspondent at Mothabari on polling day.Only in the first week of this month, this nondescript village made headlines after…
Kolkata: Pool cars are to be taken off roads from April 24 instead of April 27 with random requisitioning for poll duty, a pool car association has written to cops and schools. Many schools have decided to start online classes till the end of polls.Urgency rose after a few pool cars were allegedly intercepted while…
Behrampore/Shamsherganj: On the eve on elections in Murshidabad, cops visited homes of many voters who were knocked out by SIR, warning them not to go anywhere near polling booths on Thursday. However, on poll day, many disregarded those warnings and turned up near polling stations to register their protest at being left out.Clutching his voter…
Mothabari (Malda): “Apnara naam tulte esechen? Vote dite parbo? (Have you come to enlist our names? Can we cast our votes?)” — these were the cries that greeted TOI as hundreds of deleted voters mobbed this correspondent at Mothabari on polling day.Only in the first week of this month, this nondescript village made headlines after…
Kolkata: Trinamool Congress on Wednesday sparked a fresh political row ahead of the first phase of the Bengal assembly elections, accusing an Election Commission-appointed police observer of holding a “clandestine” meeting with a BJP candidate.The party in power alleged that the observer, Parmar Smit Parshottamdas, bypassed official protocol to meet Gour Sundar Ghosh at a…
Kolkata: Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday night held a strategy meet with key functionaries and fine-tuned the election blueprint to ensure a high turnout for the first polling day on Thursday. Shah tasked functionaries with ensuring that each polling station is manned until voting concludes.In a series of meetings that continued till 3am…
