Former Union minister Dinesh Trivedi is learnt to have been chosen as the next High Commissioner of India to Bangladesh.Although BJP leaders began congratulating him from Sunday afternoon, there was no confirmation on his appointment from the ministry of ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphChief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday mounted a scathing offensive on Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his Saturday address to the nation regarding the failure of the women’s reservation Bill in the Lok Sabha, calling out his “hypocrisy” and ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphSaddam Hossain fears his mother might lose the Indian citizenship she obtained a decade ago and feels nervous every time a BJP leader says “infiltrators” would be pushed back into Bangladesh.Saddam, a man in his early 30s, is a ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphProminent leaders of the BJP who campaigned in north Bengal on Sunday accused the Trinamool Congress of halting the passage of the women’s reservation bill in Parliament.Anti-BJP parties had alleged that the BJP wanted to pass the delimitation bill ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphAmong the many epoch-making events of 2011, an elephantine problem that has lingered since then appears to have ebbed in Bengal’s election season.A herd of 38 elephants that entered Jhargram from neighbouring Jharkhand and remained entrenched in Bengal’s jungles ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphAs Narendra Modi and Amit Shah grab the headlines with their high-decibel election speeches, the RSS has been quietly engaged in a grassroots campaign towards a Hindu consolidation ahead of the Bengal Assembly polls.The BJP’s ideological fountainhead, which has ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphOnce turned away by mainstream schools for being hard of hearing and for struggling with her speech, a girl who often found herself excluded from social circles has carved a quiet, determined path to success, scoring 72.4% in the ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphA student of a private university was allegedly assaulted with cigarette burns and threatened with death by a group of fellow students demanding ₹1 lakh, according to a police complaint filed on Friday.Till Sunday evening, the police had detained ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphKKR’s first victory in seven matches rejuvenated the team’s fans who flocked to Eden Gardens on Sunday.Arnab Ganguly, a resident of Behala, arrived with his 12-year-old son, tickets in hand for Sunday’s match. The purple brigade’s dismal run had ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphA section of students at IIT Kharagpur has sought an open-house interaction with the institute’s director to discuss measures needed to prevent a recurrence of student deaths on campus.Students associated with The Scholars Avenue, which describes itself as an ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphAddressing voters in Bhabanipur on Sunday, Mamata Banerjee said her government had ushered in an era of stability and uninterrupted business, while cautioning that a BJP victory could jeopardise this peace.At her first campaign event in Bhabanipur on Sunday ...
20 April 2026 TelegraphThe Trinamool Congress on Sunday rejected reports that political consultancy firm I-PAC had stopped its work in West Bengal, calling the claim “completely baseless” and an attempt to disrupt its campaign.The reaction came hours after a report said the ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe Enforcement Directorate on Sunday arrested a Kolkata-based businessman after it conducted searches against him and Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Shantanu Sinha Biswas as part of a money laundering probe against an alleged criminal-linked syndicate in the poll-bound state, ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the Trinamool Congress of "betraying" women by preventing the passage of the Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, 2026 in Parliament, and asserted that the women would punish the ruling party in West Bengal ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphIt was the politically charged surprise not many had seen coming in the BJP’s Bengal manifesto. Unveiling it with a flourish, Union home minister Amit Shah announced that a Uniform Civil Code would be introduced if the party won ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe Ramayan is playing out in post-SIR Bengal with a plot twist. Dasharath’s sons have been banished, not from Ayodhya but from the voter rolls, and Kaikeyi is not the agent provocateur.The SIR axe wielded by the Election Commission ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphElections often trigger apparently impossible flips. One such flip was seen on Friday when a "locally influential" Trinamool Congress leader, along with 400 families of migrant workers, took up the Red flag and switched allegiance to the CPM in ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe Enforcement Directorate on Sunday conducted raids at the premises of Kolkata Police Deputy Commissioner Shantanu Sinha Biswas and on another person as part of a money laundering probe against an alleged criminal and his linked syndicate in the ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphBengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday claimed that the defeat of the women’s Bill in the Lok Sabha signalled “the beginning of the end” of the BJP-led government at the Centre, alleging that the legislation was rather aimed ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphShankar Ghosh, the outgoing Siliguri BJP MLA and the party’s candidate from the Assembly constituency, released his manifesto on Saturday, outlining ambitious infrastructure and urban development projects.Ghosh said: “We will follow a master plan to make Siliguri a modern ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi will address four rallies, unprecedented for the Prime Minister on a single day, across four Jungle Mahal districts on Sunday to wrap up his first-phase campaign for the Bengal elections. Party sources said that Modi ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphAround seven lakh new voters have been added to the West Bengal electoral rolls ahead of the assembly polls, with the EC yet to disclose the age or gender break-up of this additional electorate, officials said.Around 3.22 lakh of ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe poll discourse in Bengal points to a dilemma among Muslims, who have traditionally supported the Trinamool Congress but many of whom are now questioning the state government’s commitment to their real uplift and are willing to consider other ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphUttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, campaigning in north Bengal for the BJP on Saturday, claimed Bengal was facing an “identity crisis” and blamed successive state governments.“First the Congress, then the CPM, and now, 15 years of Trinamool Congress ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphAssam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma focused on the Gorkhas and the tea population as he campaigned in the hill town of Kalimpong on Saturday to drum up support for the BJP.The BJP leader, who has been campaigning in ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe proposed road to connect Raiganj, the district headquarters of North Dinajpur, with Barsoi in the Katihar district of Bihar, has been a recurring electoral issue for nearly 25 years.Political parties across the spectrum — the Congress, the Trinamool ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphIn the midst of conventional modes of election campaigning, a different picture has emerged in the Dinhata Assembly constituency of Cooch Behar district.Moving beyond meetings, rallies, public gatherings, and leaflet distribution, local theatre artistes have taken to street plays ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphMany voters whose names were deleted from the post-SIR electoral rolls published on February 28 — and who did not even get a chance to be heard by a judicial officer — now have nowhere to turn.Most of them ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA Kolkata Police constable was suspended on Saturday for allegedly trying to influence electors during postal voting, a senior officer said.Constable Masud Karim of the reserve force has been placed under suspension with immediate effect after a preliminary inquiry ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has issued a set of directions for the installation of CCTV cameras inside and outside polling booths to ensure the smooth streaming of videos during the voting on April 23 and 29. The installation of CCTV ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphChief minister Mamata Banerjee will interact with representatives of the Gujarati and Marwari communities on Sunday before launching her formal campaign in the Bhabanipur Assembly seat from April 25.Sources in the Trinamool Congress said Mamata’s meeting with representatives of ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA 100-year-old telephone directory, a chair in a saloon car used by Rabindranath Tagore and a clock made in London in 1855 were some of the relics in a 125-year-old railway workshop in Liluah that fascinated a group of ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphSector officers have been directed to monitor the presence of polling agents of all candidates at multiple stages of voting, according to a recent Election Commission directive issued to district election officers (DEOs).The instruction requires sector officers to verify ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphCBSE schools have on Thursday asked parents to submit the names of students who wish to appear for the second Class X board exam.The results of the first exam were announced on Wednesday, and schools must submit the final ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe state primary education board has deferred the publication of the merit list for the appointment of special educators in government and aided schools following objections raised by the Election Commission.The EC, which earlier prevented the board from conducting ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphPolice seized six country-made single-shot guns and 14 cartridges from a Bihar resident on Saturday afternoon, five days ahead of the first phase of polls in Bengal.Sohail Akhtar, 43, from Bihar Sharif, was arrested when a team of officers ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphTwo app-cab driver brothers were arrested on Saturday for allegedly snatching gold jewellery, mobile phones and around ₹10,000 from a woman passenger on Thursday night.Pappu Yadav and his brother Bihari Yadav, from Gaya in Bihar, were arrested after the ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA woman who works as a notary in a district court has, over the past two months, authenticated hundreds of affidavits confirming that two different spellings, variations or names refer to the same individual.Most declarations were for voters flagged ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA third-year mechanical engineering student from Gujarat was found dead at IIT Kharagpur on Saturday morning. His death is the seventh on the campus in 15 months.Police suspect Jayveersinh Dodiya, 21, jumped to his death from the seventh-floor terrace ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphPolling officials leave for their booths a day before voting, while those assigned to remote areas leave two days in advance.The Supreme Court has said the final electoral roll should be frozen only two days before polling, after including ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA green platform has prepared a charter of demands to protect the environment and submitted it to all parties contesting the upcoming elections.Sabuj Mancha, a collective of environmental crusaders, organised a rally from Ruby to Jadavpur to raise awareness ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphA third-year student of Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur died on Saturday morning after allegedly jumping from eighth floor of a hostel building, police said.The deceased has been identified as Jaiveer Singh Dodia (21), a mechanical engineering student from ...
19 April 2026 TelegraphThe number of post-SIR adjudication deletions in many Assembly segments of Calcutta and three neighbouring districts has outstripped the lead margins of the Trinamool Congress in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.The numbers suggest how the large-scale SIR culling is ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphSachep Pradhan, now in his late 40s, has witnessed Darjeeling’s turbulent political struggle for identity and autonomy from the front row and bears the scars of a personal loss, but the “homeland” of his dream has never seemed more ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphBhajanlal Sharma, the chief minister of the BJP-ruled state of Rajasthan, on Friday campaigned for Shankar Ghosh, the sitting MLA and the BJP candidate for the Siliguri Assembly seat.Sharma is the third chief minister from a BJP-ruled state whom ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College (JFEC) has been granted autonomous status for the next five years by the University Grants Commission (UGC), allowing the institution greater academic and administrative independence.Following the UGC’s directive, the Maulana Abul Kalam Azad University ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphBengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Himanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of the neighbouring state of Assam, on Friday.While she trained guns on Modi to counter his narrative that ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphA sense of urgency appears to be cutting through Darjeeling’s otherwise laid-back electoral temperament, with many residents saying the coming elections carry a weight beyond the ordinary because of the recently concluded special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphHimanta Biswa Sarma, the chief minister of Assam, continued his attack on chief minister Mamata Banerjee and her party as he campaigned in north Bengal on Friday, alleging that the Trinamool Congress government was formed with the support of ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe Darjeeling district CPM leadership on Friday alleged that employees of the Trinamool Congress-run Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) are being forced to participate in campaigns for the Assembly elections.Veteran CPM leader Ashok Bhattacharya, who is the election agent of ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphBengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday branded the Narendra Modi government’s delimitation Bill an attempt to fragment India, hours before the proposed constitutional amendment was defeated on the floor of the Lok Sabha.“Do what you will, you will ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list has had little impact on the campaign in at least 25 Assembly constituencies in three Jungle Mahal districts because the number of electors whose names were deleted is negligible.The BJP ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe Bharatiya Gorkha Prajatantrik Morcha (BGPM) has decided to organise two processions, which will begin simultaneously from two ends of Darjeeling town, on Monday.While BGPM chief Anit Thapa will lead one march from Ghoom, the party's Darjeeling candidate, Bijay ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has directed that all central forces deployed on poll duty in Bengal will now carry lathis. Until now, only CRPF personnel carried batons during area domination marches or booth duty, but under the new instructions, forces ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphGovernment college teachers cannot be appointed as presiding officers for the Assembly elections, the high court ruled on Friday.The EC had argued that it required presiding officers for around 90,000 polling booths across Bengal and that it had no ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphCalcutta University’s syndicate has decided that 80% of its postgraduate seats will be reserved for undergraduate students who exit colleges at the end of their third year in 2026, the vice-chancellor said on Friday.CU has around 6,000 postgraduate seats.“The ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe district election officer of Calcutta South on Friday visited parts of the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, where one of the most closely watched electoral contests is set to take place.Randhir Kumar, the DEO, interacted with voters at roadside shops, ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphBengal has reported 303 cases of “political clashes” since the model code of conduct came into effect on March 15, but only 149 arrests have been made so far, according to police sources.On Thursday, all police commissionerates and district ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphIncome tax personnel searched properties linked to Debasish Kumar, the Trinamool Congress candidate from Rashbehari; Miraj D. Shah, one of the four proposers for chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s candidature from Bhabanipur; and Kumar Saha, a party leader in Kalighat, ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphInside SPM-NIWAS in Joka, retired judges sat in tribunals deciding who qualified as a voter and who did not. Outside, hundreds of disenfranchised voters from across Bengal gathered through the day, hoping for a chance to present their cases ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe fourth edition of Poila Baisakh Bird Count, a citizen-science initiative to document birds across Bengal during this time of the year, kicked off on Friday. It will continue till Sunday.Birdwatchers can register by logging into the eBird mobile ...
18 April 2026 TelegraphThe Calcutta High Court on Friday set aside the Election Commission’s order directing assistant and associate professors of government colleges to be deployed as presiding officers for the Bengal Assembly elections to be held on April 23 and April ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphChief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday alleged the BJP-led NDA government at the Centre was using the proposed amendment to the women's quota law in Parliament as a front for the Delimitation Bill that would "break the country into ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphSuvendu Adhikari on Friday alleged that the ruling Trinamool Congress was issuing "fake press identification cards" to its workers to gain access to polling stations and influence the election process.The Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing West Bengal ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphMetalled thoroughfares have replaced the murram roads in the erstwhile Maoist hotbed of Lalgarh, Dalilpur Chowk, around 170 km west of Kolkata.Back in 2008, it was at a nondescript road intersection here that the People's Committee Against Police Atrocities ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphFor the first time in six decades, no member of Malda’s influential Khan Choudhury family in Kotowali is contesting from their traditional Congress bastion, the Sujapur Assembly constituency this year, disappointing party workers and supporters in the area.Sujapur, around ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphGautam Deb, the Trinamool candidate from the Siliguri Assembly constituency, on Thursday unveiled an ambitious roadmap aimed at transforming Siliguri into a “world-class city,” with a strong emphasis on infrastructure, urban planning and upgrading administration.Deb, who also serves as ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphDrive down Major Arterial Road from Action Area 1 as Biswa Bangla Gate approaches and your attention will be riveted by a work of art to the left. The facade of one of the highrises, Sankalpa 2, has come ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphIf you want to understand the true spirit of Poila Baisakh in Salt Lake, don’t look for it in almanacs, temple rituals or even Rabindra sangeet playlists. Look instead at the morning walkers, the jewellery shops, the sari counters, ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphBharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s annual day at Science City auditorium brought together excited students, proud parents, and distinguished guests. Themed “Manjari: bunch of buds,” the event commenced with Guru vandana – prothomo adi tobo followed by an orchestra performance.The stage ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphSalt Lake Point School, that celebrates 50 years in 2026, organised a colourful exhibition roping in students from nursery to Class XII.The event, at the CD Block school, was inaugurated by Kalpana Sen Barat, a former college principal and ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphNewtown Daycare hosted its annual sports day, without any picking winners. The school, in New Town’s CE Block, caters to children who are neurotypical as well as those with special needs.“This event is not about competition,” said Sharmili Shah, ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphFire services minister and local MLA in the outgoing government Sujit Bose was hospitalised for three days. He fell ill on April 9, three days after submitting his nomination. “I was feeling uneasy since the morning and in the ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphWith elections just days away, Poila Baisakh proved to be a ripe opportunity for political leaders to connect with voters. Several Left Front leaders were seen at a probhat pheri on the first day of the Bengali New Year, ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphIt was Gulzar saab who had suggested my name — or so I was told when filmmaker Prakash Jha called me out of the blue sometime around 1993-94. He was then working on a film titled Didi, with Rajit ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe world calls him Rocket; Asha Bhosle called him Rocky.Guitarist-arranger-composer Rocket Mondal has shared both stage and studio space with the legendary singer, even directing her during recordings. Even today, the memories feel vivid.A resident of the Metropolitan area ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphFor years, cars have taken much of the blame for air pollution due to their emissions. But a study of 31 junctions across the city shows that seemingly innocuous factors — such as the mix of vehicles on the ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphWhat is the marker of the health of a river? Clear-looking waters? Fresh breeze? Lack of human activity? Apparently, it is the presence of dolphins.“Dolphins are at the top of the food chain; sensitive to pollution, habitat disruption, and ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphA major fire at a Border Security Force fuel storage facility in North 24-Parganas on Thursday claimed the life of an assistant sub-inspector, triggering concern over safety protocols at sensitive installations.The incident occurred at the strategically significant BSF camp ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphCPM state secretary Md Salim on Thursday called upon voters to reject the BJP and the Trinamool Congress in the Assembly elections, alleging that the two parties contributed to the harassment and hardships faced by common people.Addressing an election ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphChief minister Mamata Banerjee addressed three public meetings in north Bengal — one in Alipurduar district and two in Cooch Behar district — with an apparent aim to woo the Rajbanshi community and tea garden dwellers. “We have paid ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphAssam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Thursday stepped up the BJP's campaign in north Bengal, raising issues of alleged infiltration, border security, welfare schemes and governance, while drawing comparisons with his state.Addressing public meetings in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court has dismissed a petition challenging the mass transfer of IAS/IPS and other officers in Bengal by the Election Commission, observing that such shifts are “common and routine”, but kept “open” the issue relating to the “question ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphFive youths died in two separate incidents under the Sitalkuchi Assembly constituency, Cooch Behar, during the 2021 Assembly elections. As Bengal prepares to vote again, the bereaved families still battle raw grief and await justice.In Jorpatki village, four young ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court's Thursday order allowing persons whose names are cleared by appellate tribunals by specific cut-off dates — April 21 and 27 — to vote in this year's Assembly elections on April 23 and 29, has put polling ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe Kamtapur State Demand Council (KSDC), which has been carrying out peace talks with the Centre along with Jibon Singha, the self-styled chief of the Kamtapur Liberation Organisation (KLO), over the demand of a separate Kamtapur state, has announced ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphSenior TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee on Thursday challenged Union home minister Amit Shah to be present in the city on the day of counting, even as he accused the BJP of intimidating party workers ahead of West Bengal polls."If ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphA single Judge bench of the Calcutta High Court on Thursday observed that the Election Commission was changing its rules again and again. “It has been seen that the Election Commission is changing its position again and again. According ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphTwenty three per cent of the 1,475 candidates contesting the first phase of the Bengal Assembly polls have declared criminal cases in their affidavits, according to a report by Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) released ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court on Thursday invoked Article 142 of the Constitution of India to direct the Election Commission to ensure deleted voters who are cleared by the appellate tribunals be included in the electoral rolls before the first and ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphFlagging the lack of trust between the West Bengal government and the Election Commission, the Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea challenging the transfer of more than 1,000 administrative and police officers by the poll panel in the ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphA thunderstorm on Thursday morning brought brief respite from the searing heat that had gripped the city over the past few days.Rainfall, however, remained negligible, with the spell mainly marked by flashes of lightning and frequent claps of thunder. ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphPolice have begun compiling a list of polling stations located in narrow lanes and streets, where bike-borne quick response teams (QRTs) could be more effective than four-wheel patrol units.Such polling premises are also likely to receive additional CCTV coverage ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphSeveral college principals have told Calcutta University that undergraduate students will struggle to write their exams unless they have at least three months of classes in each semester.They said the number of class days has fallen to 40 to ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe district election officers (DEOs) of Calcutta North and Calcutta South toured their respective Assembly constituencies on Thursday as part of a confidence-building exercise to encourage residents to cast their votes.Smita Pandey, DEO, Calcutta North, visited parts of Tiljala ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in 2025-26 marks a new trajectory for the Indian state in a post-CAA and NRC regime, aiming to determine the authenticity of citizens through bureaucratic infrastructure.Much like the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphA flicker of hope for a few. Too little, too late for others.The Supreme Court has ordered that individuals cleared by appellate tribunals for inclusion in the electoral rolls at least two days before the Assembly elections will be ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThey are remarkable performers not just in the Class X board exams, but in the larger test called life.Metro highlights four CBSE students whose marks tell only part of their stories — shaped as much by courage and conviction ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphThe number of Parsis in Calcutta has dwindled to 347 — the lowest since the 1980s — mirroring a trend across the country.The Parsis had settled in Calcutta in the mid-18th century and there were about 1,600 Parsis in ...
17 April 2026 TelegraphIn an innovative strategy to highlight the “anti-industry policies” of the ruling Trinamool Congress government, Raiganj Assembly constituency’s CPM candidate Jibananda Singha has turned his personal Tata Nano car into a campaign tool.Singha, a 60-year-old businessman and a veteran ...
16 April 2026 Telegraph