All posts tagged: West Bengal polls 2026

Bengal assembly polls: 61.11 per cent voting recorded till 1 pm amid violence

Bengal assembly polls: 61.11 per cent voting recorded till 1 pm amid violence

Published by Webster

Over 61 per cent of the 3.21 crore electors exercised their franchise till 1 pm in the second and final phase of polling in West Bengal amid attacks on a few candidates, even as tension gripped the Bhabanipur seat briefly as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP`s) Suvendu Adhikari took swipes at one another in the same booth area. Voters queued up from 7 am outside booths in Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, Nadia, North and South 24 Parganas, and Purba Bardhaman districts, which form Bengal`s electoral and political core. Of the total electorate eligible to vote in this phase, 1.57 crore are women, and 792 are third-gender, news agency PTI reported. Till 1 pm, West Bengal recorded 61.11 per cent polling with Purba Bardhaman registering the highest turnout at 66.8 per cent, followed by Hooghly at 64.57 per cent, and Nadia at 61.41 per cent. Howrah registered 60.68 per cent polling, while North 24 Parganas recorded 60.18 per cent. Kolkata North and Kolkata South recorded 60.18 per cent and 57.73 per cent turnout, …

Mamata Banerjee says BJP misused Election Commission to invalidate her candidature in Bhabanipur| India News

Mamata Banerjee says BJP misused Election Commission to invalidate her candidature in Bhabanipur| India News

Published by Parlour News

West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the BJP, with the help of the Election Commission, tried to get her candidature from Bhabanipur seat in south Kolkata cancelled by attempting to file false cases against her, but the bid was foiled by TMC workers and the public. West Bengal Chief Minister and Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee speaks during an election campaign for the upcoming West Bengal assembly election (@AITCofficial X/ANI Photo) Banerjee, while addressing an election rally at Keshiyari in Paschim Medinipur district, accused the BJP of “forcefully” deleting the names of 90 lakh voters from the electoral rolls during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). “The BJP, with the EC’s help, tried to invalidate my candidature from Bhabanipur by trying to file false cases against me, but we foiled their game plan,” Banerjee, who is contesting against Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari to retain her seat, said without elaborating further. She accused the BJP of “plotting to forcefully capture votes through fraudulent means as they don’t have the guts to fight …

India’s ‘newest voters’ caught in SIR adjudication trap in West Bengal

India’s ‘newest voters’ caught in SIR adjudication trap in West Bengal

Published by Parlour News

Dinhata residents Manmohan Barman and Md. Mujjamel Khandakar are among India’s newest voters, with their citizenship recognised through an international agreement, but that has not stopped the Election Commission of India from putting them into the uncertain category of “electorate under adjudication” ahead of the West Bengal Assembly election. Mr. Barman, 66, and Mr. Khandakar, 64, are both now residents of the Dinhata Assembly constituency, in the Cooch Behar district. Just over a decade ago, however, they lived in Dasiarchara, an Indian enclave located deep within Bangladeshi territory. In July 2015, they were among 989 people scattered across 111 such Indian enclaves who chose to relocate to India after the Land Boundary Agreement (LBA) was signed, when the territory of those enclaves was absorbed into Bangladesh. At the same time, 14,854 residents of 51 Bangladeshi enclaves located within Indian territory also became Indian citizens as per the LBA. Over the past ten years of living as neighbours at a settlement for those who relocated from the enclaves, Mr. Barman and Mr. Khandakar have voted in …

Bengal polls: Will increase tea garden workers’ daily wages to ₹300 after we form govt., says TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee

Bengal polls: Will increase tea garden workers’ daily wages to ₹300 after we form govt., says TMC MP Abhishek Banerjee

Published by Parlour News

TMC National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee during a public rally on January 2, 2026, ahead of the West Bengal Assembly election. | Photo Credit: PTI Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly election, Trinamool Congress National General Secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday (January 3, 2026) promised higher wages for tea garden workers if they come back to power in the State. The TMC leader also addressed issues of healthcare in tea gardens during an outreach program in north Bengal’s Alipurduar, with tea garden workers.  “I agree that it is not possible to run a household on $250… when Didi forms the government for the fourth time, my first priority will be Alipurduar… I will ensure that your daily wage is increased to ₹300 per day,” Mr. Banerjee said while answering a question posed by a tea garden worker. He further added that if they come back to power in the next term, they will implement this promise of a higher wage within seven days of forming the government.  When the TMC government came to power in 2011, the tea garden labourers had a daily wage of ₹67, which was increased to ₹250 over the last …