Scene 1: A man in his mid-30s came out of Totini Balika Vidyalay, along with his wife and mother, at Fatepur in the Falta Assembly constituency, one of the strongest bastions of Abhishek Banerjee, the national general secretary of ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphFor residents of Sindrani-Harinagar village along the India-Bangladesh border under the Bagda Assembly seat in North 24-Parganas, Wednesday marked more than just another polling day — it signalled the end of a decades-long struggle for basic electoral access. Around ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission had assured a peaceful poll. The EC did keep its word. The Election Commission had assured that the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls would not exclude any eligible voter. The poll panel has miserably ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphResident WhatsApp groups buzzed with updates every few minutes on queue lengths outside polling booths, volunteers arranged pick-up and drop-off services for senior citizens, and wheelchairs were provided to those unable to walk or stand for long periods.Housing complexes ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphThe city police received 297 election-related complaints at their Lalbazar headquarters on Wednesday, but only two required actual intervention, sources said.Both calls came from members of Opposition leader Suvendu Adhikari’s entourage — one when he was in Kalighat and ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphThis was an election of many firsts in terms of security arrangements.CAPF everywhere In a large number of polling booths, local police officers were not even in sight, while the central forces managed the ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphA woman in her 50s, a young professional in her 30s, and a college student who just turned 21 all shared one concern on polling day — jobs, or the lack of them.For many voters across the city, unemployment ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphMohammad Rounaque Pareez had a wheelchair ready for polling day.One of his three sons, Mohammad Fahad, a software engineer, had bought it three months ago so his bedridden father could reach the polling station. On Wednesday morning, the wheelchair ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphThis election fractured families across the city.Husbands and wives, brothers and sisters, parents and children found themselves divided — not by political choice, but by who was allowed to vote and who was not.Tens of thousands of residents, whose ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphBhabanipur, TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee's safest political fortress and the BJP's most audacious battlefield in Bengal, voted on Wednesday in a contest heavy with symbolism and high turnout, as the chief minister and challenger Suvendu Adhikari circled the same ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphA Nor’wester thunderstorm on Wednesday evening broke the nearly 10-day dry spell in Kolkata, with weather officials predicting at least 200 to 300 mm of downpour overnight. The Regional Meteorological Centre (RMC) had issued a red alert warning on ...
30 April 2026 TelegraphBengal clocked its highest ever percentage of polling since Independence in both phases of the Assembly election, chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said after voting ended for the second and final phase on Wednesday. “Highest ever percentage of polling ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphPeoples Pulse exit poll has projected a clean sweep for the ruling Trinamool Congress in the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections with 177-187 seats, restricting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to 95-110 seats, Left Front 0-1 and the Congress ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphBengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday alleged that the central forces deployed for the Assembly polls were working in a partisan manner even as over 78 per cent of 3.21 crore electors cast their votes till 3pm on ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe Trinamool and the BJP accused each other of unleashing violence and intimidating voters as Bengal voted on Wednesday in the second phase of the Assembly election.The TMC claimed a child sustained injuries during a lathicharge by central forces ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphIn Sodepur, North 24 Parganas, BJP’s Panihati candidate Ratna Debnath cast her vote on polling day, bringing a deeply personal issue into the centre of her campaign. Debnath, the mother of the RG Kar rape-murder victim, said women’s safety ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee broke away from her usual routine on polling day and went on a tour of the booths as Bhabanipur went to polls in the second phase of the Bengal Assembly polls.The chief minister, even when she was ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphHundreds of fish floated dead on the Teesta river near Jalpaiguri town on Tuesday, raising concerns that anti-social elements had poisoned the water.Residents of South Sukantanagar noticed the dead fish while heading to the riverbank with their cattle on ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphA Class X student died while attempting to escape through a washroom ventilator in the hostel of a private madrasa in Jahangirpur within the Gangarampur police limits in South Dinajpur district late on Monday.Police suspect that Albaksh Hossain, 14, ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission’s decision to engage hundreds of north Bengal-based central government employees for polling duty on Wednesday during the second and final phase of the Assembly elections in Calcutta and six south Bengal districts has led to fears ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi scored three goals in Sikkim on Tuesday, a day before the second and final phase of polls in neighbouring Bengal.The political messaging was loud and clear on his verified Facebook page when he asked: “How ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphIf the first phase of the Assembly polls was about the impact of SIR deletions on the Muslim-majority pockets, the second phase will reveal how Hindus, especially members of the Matua community, react to deletions and whether it could ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphWard 98 of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation has long stood as an outlier, an urban pocket that held on to the Left even as the rest of Bengal moved on. Located in the Netaji Nagar area under the Tollygunge Assembly constituency in ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphTwenty-six senior police officers from across the state have been posted at six police districts on the city’s fringes, outside Kolkata Police jurisdiction, to reinforce security and manage law and order during Wednesday’s polls.Of the 26 officers, four have ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphPolling stations have been set up in 69 housing complexes across the state, several of them in Calcutta and adjoining districts, that go to the polls on Wednesday.According to Election Commission sources, 57 of the 69 housing complexes are ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphSome of Calcutta’s richest neighbourhoods and some of the poorest stand next to each other in Ballygunge. Few constituencies going to the polls on April 29 have as stark a contrast as Ballygunge. It is also one of the ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphCalcutta and its adjoining districts vote on Wednesday. Here is a low-down of all you ought to keep in mind before stepping out to vote — or not.Polling begins: 7amEnds: 6pm. Anyone who queues up by that time will ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphIn the narrow, impoverished lanes of Bhangar on Calcutta’s fringes, Nawsad Siddique, the sitting MLA and chairman of the Indian Secular Front (ISF), in a white kurta and a taqiyah (cap) on the head, was moving from door to ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe appellate tribunals approved the inclusion of 1,468 voters in the electoral rolls and struck off six names on Monday night.These 1,468 voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the second and final phase of elections on Wednesday.“The ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe second phase of the Bengal elections could decide who would run Bengal for the next five years, given that the first phase was a closely fought battle in the post-SIR scene.Polling will be held for 142 seats spread ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphNotes from the reporter’s trips to Ghatal in West Midnapore and Karandighi in North Dinajpur before the April 23 vote If not the cruellest, it is certainly a quite hot and humid April afternoon ...
29 April 2026 Telegraph“Messi” Biswas must dodge a professor and an alumna of Jadavpur University to score a goal on his home turf.Can he? May 4 will tell.Aroop Biswas, a senior Trinamool leader and minister who has represented the Tollygunge Assembly seat ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphKolkata and Salt Lake go to the polls on Wednesday, but for commuters travelling to homes and offices through the stalled Chingrighata Metro site, the bigger hope is that the end of voting will clear the way for work ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphBJP workers thronging Arjun Singh’s house-cum-office in North 24 Parganas, about 43 kilometres away from Kolkata, believe the game is over for the Trinamool in the jute-mill belt of Kakinada-Jagatdal following Sunday night's violence.The jute mill belt, which covers ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe Calcutta High Court on Tuesday refused to intervene in a petition filed by the ruling Trinamool Congress seeking restraint on the UP IPS officer Ajay Pal Sharma.Justice Krishna Rao of the Calcutta High Court refused to pass any ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphA total of 1,468 people whose names were restored to the West Bengal electoral rolls after tribunal orders linked to the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) process will be eligible to vote in the second and final phase of the ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphMovement of people and vehicles on Bangladesh border routes in West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas has been restricted ahead of the final phase of the Assembly polls on Wednesday, with exemptions for medical emergencies, voters returning to cast their ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe Calcutta High Court has reprimanded the West Bengal government for failing to comply with its order to hand over land to the BSF to fence the India-Bangladesh border in the state, noting that only eight-kilometre stretches of the ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphAt the edge of Bhatar Assembly seat, around 130 kilometres from Kolkata, potato farmers sat at a tea stall discussing the grind of survival, barely noticing the SUVs speeding on the highway carrying tourists towards Birbhum and Election Commission ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe high court on Tuesday expressed faith in the “competent authorities” and said it was confident they would not resort to preventive detention or arrest of persons except where it was “absolutely essential”.The court was referring to an order ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphA fourth-year student of the electronics and electrical communication engineering department was found dead at IIT Kharagpur on Tuesday morning — the second death in 10 days on campus and the eighth since January 2025.Soham Halder, 21, from Barasat, ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphAs the city heads to the polling booths on Wednesday, millions will not be able to get their fingers inked.Fatima Anwar is one of them. A resident of Dr Sundari Mohan Avenue in the Entally Assembly constituency, Fatima is ...
29 April 2026 TelegraphThe Trinamool-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) will intensify its drive against the use of plastic carry bags across the Siliguri civic area.Gautam Deb, the mayor, spoke on the issue on Sunday: “There were some gaps on our part in ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe family of Umesh Roy, a migrant worker from Dalla in Malda, alleged that he was kidnapped by a labour contractor on Sunday.Umesh’s father, Hiren Roy, lodged a complaint at the Habibpur police station, under whose jurisdiction Dalla falls, ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphCalcutta University is considering a special supplementary exam for a large number of students from its affiliated colleges who failed to clear minor (pass) papers — mainly in science subjects — in the fifth semester.Vice-chancellor Ashutosh Ghosh said the ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe ministry of home affairs approved an extension for the Bengal director general of police (DGP) for six months from April 30 on Monday.Siddh Nath Gupta, a 1992-batch IPS officer of the Bengal cadre, was scheduled to retire by ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphVoting machines in the Bidhannagar Assembly constituency will feature both the Congress and the CPM symbols after a gap of two decades. The Congress and the Left Front had contested in alliance in 2016 and 2021, while in 2011 ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission on Monday challenged the order passed by a single bench of the high court relaxing some of the restrictions imposed by the poll panel on the movement of motorbikes.The commission moved a division bench of the ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphVehicle restrictions will be enforced on several roads across the city on Tuesday, Wednesday (polling day) and May 4 (counting day), police said on Monday.Kolkata Police Commissioner Ajay Nand said multiple stretches will also be declared “no parking” zones ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphNortheast Frontier Railway (NFR) has restored a century-old steam locomotive of the Darjeeling Himalayan Railway (DHR), originally built in Glasgow, at its workshop in Assam’s New Bongaigaon.The initiative aligns with Indian Railways’ plan of heritage conservation and public engagement, ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe CPM and its Left allies on Monday wrapped up their campaign for the second and final phase of the Assembly polls with a calibrated appeal to consolidate anti-BJP votes.While underlining Trinamool Congress's alleged goonda raj, the CPM especially ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi reached Gangtok on Monday under uncertain skies and amid heightened anticipation, completing a journey that the weather had cut short last year at Bagdogra.Since Monday morning, there had been much uncertainty over Modi’s two-day visit ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee, the septuagenarian generalissima of the ruling Trinamool Congress, delivered her fiery final flourish for Bengal 2026 with a march through Jadavpur. The Bengal chief minister led over 100 political programmes in 42 days since her March 16 ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged residents of Calcutta to ensure that the City of Joy becomes the city of the future, as part of his appeal to people to vote for the BJP in the second and ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphTrinamool Congress MP from Arambagh in Hooghly, Mitali Bag, suffered injuries on Monday afternoon when BJP workers allegedly attacked her car in Goghat while she was travelling to attend an election campaign rally of the party’s national general secretary ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphAround 1,500 troublemakers have been arrested as the Election Commission began preparations to hold peaceful, free and fair elections to the 142 Assembly segments spread across seven south Bengal districts on Wednesday. “The way troubles were created in several ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe echoes of the 1955 Margaret’s Hope firing still linger in the tea gardens of Darjeeling, where bullets once felled workers demanding more rights. Decades later, their descendants continue to fight quieter battles over wages, land and survival.On June ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphIn the aftermath of the RG Kar rape case, where a postgraduate trainee doctor was brutally raped and murdered while on duty, at Kolkata's state-run RG Kar Medical College and Hospital, the question of women’s safety, especially at night, ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe Centre has extended the service of West Bengal Director General of Police (DGP) and Inspector General of Police (IGP) Siddh Nath Gupta by six months from his scheduled superannuation on April 30, an order issued on Monday said.The ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphTMC MP Mitali Bag on Monday alleged that her vehicle was attacked and vandalised by BJP supporters in West Bengal’s Hooghly district while she was on her way to attend a rally of party general secretary Abhishek Banerjee during ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphWith the focus shifting to the second phase of polling on April 29 across 142 seats in seven districts, and with millions expected to cast their ballots, voters have been advised to follow key guidelines at polling stations.Polling booths ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe West Bengal Assembly election campaign is intensifying, with political parties stepping up their efforts. The BJP has notably expanded its campaign outreach this time, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi leading the charge.Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday exuded ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphA CISF jawan posted outside a BJP candidate’s residence in Barrackpore was shot at late on Sunday in a violence-prone area that is set to vote in two days. Four men have been arrested, while police said a search ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe doorbell has replaced the loudspeaker.The familiar crackle of “Bandhugon” over a neighbourhood public address system — that dependable soundtrack of election season in Calcutta — is fading. In its place is something quieter and more personal: the doorbell, ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe freedom of choice that defines Calcutta can be the casualty of a BJP victory in the state polls, fear many voters.Senior BJP leaders say the fears are misplaced and, to a large extent, a construct of the “Marxist ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe constituency exemplifies many things good about south Calcutta: leafy neighbourhoods, streets dotted with chic cafes, sprawling parks, an iconic lake and several crowd-puller Durga Pujas. Rashbehari also borders the most high-profile battleground this election, Bhabanipur.Rashbehari also has its ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphA vote against corruption or a vote to preserve one’s identity and culture? While Bengal debates broader issues that impact millions across generations, many voters are also focused on everyday problems that few seem to care about.A road that ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphKartik Banerjee looks tired and under stress. “There is uncertainty,” Kartik, a younger sibling of Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee, tells The Telegraph Online sitting at his Kalighat Road office on Monday morning.Outside the office is a crowd of ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphThe effect of the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is so acute in the Kolkata Port Assembly constituency that it worries every party, including the BJP. Rakesh Singh, the BJP candidate from the constituency, said that several ...
28 April 2026 TelegraphA day after his unsparing critique of the Mamata Banerjee-led Bengal ruling dispensation in Bengal, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday issued a statement condemning the Saturday murder of his party's supporter Debdeep Chatterjee, accusing Trinamool of running a ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday sharpened the BJP’s outreach to Matua and other Hindu refugee communities in Bengal, asserting that giving citizenship to displaced Hindus was the party's "historical responsibility" while trying to reassure the crucial Matua electorate ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphFactional infighting within Trinamool Congress intensified in the Harishchandrapur Assembly constituency of Malda after phase one of voting on April 23.The discord began a few months back when the party replaced outgoing MLA and minister of state Tajmul Hossain ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphIn the run-up to first phase of the Assembly elections in Cooch Behar, foresters had their eye on a herd of elephants that had strayed near human settlements.A source said the herd, comprising eight to 10 jumbos, moved into ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA CISF jawan was injured in a firing incident outside the residence of BJP candidate Pawan Singh in Bhatpara of West Bengal’s North 24 Parganas district late Sunday night, prompting the Election Commission to seek a report, officials said ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA 65-year-old resident of Behrampore’s Kunjaghata in ward 4 was allegedly attacked by Papai Ghosh, Trinamool leader and the town committee president, and his aides on Saturday night.Sources said victim Mahadeb Ghosh is not known to be a worker ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA BJP polling agent and his minor daughter were allegedly assaulted at Hatiduba, in ward 18 of Gangarampur municipality, in South Dinajpur district on Friday night.Police arrested Anwar Hossain, 43, a Trinamool Congress leader, on charges of assaulting Satya ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphOnce a goonda, always a goonda.That’s what Trinamool Lok Sabha MP Mahua Moitra said in reference to Union home minister Amit Shah addressing chief minister Mamata Banerjee with “Ei Didi”.Shah, who has been stationed and campaigning vigorously in Bengal, ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee on Sunday, campaigning ahead of the April 29 polling day, raised concerns over the security of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) while asserting that her party would cross the 100-seat mark in the second phase.“After the first ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission on Sunday ordered a probe into alleged intimidation on Trinamool MP Abhishek Banerjee’s political turf in Diamond Harbour town after a video on social media purportedly showed bike-borne goons threatening residents on Friday night, days ahead ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphBengal’s traditionally tongue-in-cheek election campaign has got a snazzy digital makeover with AI-generated images, crisp Insta videos, quirky messaging and campy music that appeals to the K-pop generation complementing the old-school wall graffiti and slogans.As politics embraces technology, parties ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphMatching industrial incentives offered by rival states and resolving persistent land constraints that have dogged projects for decades should be key priorities for the incoming government if it hopes to attract investment and break out of Bengal’s long stagnation, ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphManifesto 1 Manifesto 2 These are not election manifestos of two different parties but of the same one: the Trinamool Congress.The first is the party’s main manifesto, unveiled by ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA school in Calcutta, whose campus will be used for the Assembly polls from Monday, has made alternative arrangements for Class X and XI students to take the Cambridge Assessment International Education (CAIE) exams at another institution.Several schools offering ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA homemaker was found dead in her Garia home in Calcutta on Sunday while her eight-year-old son was sleeping in the next room.Her husband, a teacher at a private institution, is reportedly missing. Police suspect that the husband killed ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphIn a late-night order on Sunday, the Union ministry of home affairs announced that the probe into the recovery of crude bombs from Bhangar on Saturday would be handed over to the National Investigation Agency. The agency has already ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphThree women died in two separate road accidents across the city on Saturday night and early on Sunday morning. Around 3 am on Sunday, a motorcycle collided with a scooter on Red Road.Police said scooterist Mohammad Azharuddin, a resident ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphAutonomous and minority colleges have begun — or are set to begin — their undergraduate admission process even before the publication of the Plus II board results.St Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata, has started accepting undergraduate application forms online from ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphPolitical parties across the spectrum stepped up their outreach on Sunday, starting early, skipping the afternoon break and campaigning till late evening.In the evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Mamata Banerjee held roadshows in the city, capping ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphWith barely two days left for the second and final phase of the Bengal elections, fear of disenfranchisement loom over millions of voters who have been erased from the revised electoral rolls.Appellate tribunals led by former judges are deciding ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has directed the installation of more than 700 cameras on narrow and congested lanes leading to polling stations ahead of the April 29 elections, officials told police and other poll authorities at a meeting on Sunday.Sources ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphTwo autism centres are training young adults to vote through simulated polling exercises.Simulation helps individuals with autism become familiar with an otherwise unfamiliar process—standing in a queue, waiting their turn and following instructions, said those working with them.The familiarity ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphAs long as art endures, as long as a semblance of sanity persists in this world, the photographs of Raghu Rai will live on.In post-Independence India, Rai and Kishor Parekh were towering presences who shaped an entire generation of ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphIn West Bengal's political imagination, Bhabanipur is no longer just another south Kolkata assembly seat. It is Mamata Banerjee's political refuge and home turf, the BJP's chosen psychological battlefield, where the stage is set for what many in Bengal ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday alleged that while the BJP-led Centre has brought armoured vehicles for the Assembly elections in the state, it failed to prevent the terror attack at Pahalgam a year ago.Addressing an election ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday took part in a spectacular roadshow in north Kolkata as the BJP intensified its campaign ahead of the second and final phase of the West Bengal assembly polls. Amid chants of 'Bharat ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphIn Bengal’s polling booths, participation remains high, but belief is thinning, as many voters said they go for NOTA (none of the above) option in the EVM as they are politically exhausted, unrepresented, and forced to choose between rejection ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphVoters stepping out on April 29 for the second phase of polling may face rain and thunderstorms across large parts of south Bengal, according to the latest weather update.Districts including Kolkata, Howrah, Hooghly, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphSporadic incidents of violence were reported in Howrah and Haroa areas of West Bengal in the run-up to the second phase of polling on April 29, a senior police official said on Sunday.In Howrah town, clashes broke out between ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphA high-level coordination meeting involving poll officials, police officers and commanders of central forces from three election districts under Kolkata will take place here on Sunday to review preparedness for the upcoming second phase of the West Bengal assembly ...
27 April 2026 TelegraphCongress chief Rahul Gandhi condemned the killing of a party supporter in Asansol and offered condolences to the victim’s family, linking the act of violence to “TMC's reign of terror”. According to the state Congress unit, Debdeep Chatterjee was ...
27 April 2026 Telegraph