Three trams, decorated with flowers and Poila Baisakh motifs, rolled between Gariahat and Shyambazar on Wednesday, making a quiet yet compelling case for expanding the city’s tram network at a time when the world grapples with an energy crisis ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphAll deputy commissioners of Kolkata Police have been directed to post “action taken” responses to complaints raised on social media, as a confidence-building measure among voters, sources said.Hundreds of people are taking to social media to voice grievances about ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphPolice commissioner Ajay Nand and Calcutta North district election officer Smita Pandey on Wednesday visited several pockets of Ultadanga identified as having numerous “super sensitive” booths.In Basanti Colony and parts of Muraripukur in Ultadanga, at least four polling stations ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphA law firm in central Calcutta is offering pro bono assistance and filing appeals with SIR tribunals on behalf of disenfranchised citizens.The applicants include daily wage earners, a leading leather exporter and a well-heeled food connoisseur. In the past ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphWhile the city feasted to celebrate Poila Baisakh, a 68-year-old Calcuttan in Metiabruz observed a 12-hour fast without even a drop of water.Jitendra Nath Nandi, a former editor of a local magazine and social worker, was on a symbolic ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphPresiding officers and polling personnel have been directed not to share their phone numbers with unknown individuals or accept any help or gifts from anyone, as part of instructions issued by the Election Commission to district election officers (DEOs).In ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphDays ahead of an election where Bengali identity has emerged as a key poll plank, both the Trinamool Congress and the BJP camps worked overtime on Poila Baisakh to showcase their admiration for all things Bengali.In Tollygunge, Trinamool candidate ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphA day after the TMC alleged that the Election Commission had ordered 'intrusive checks' of vehicles of its leaders, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday claimed that central forces tried to search her car when she was ...
16 April 2026 TelegraphElections in the Darjeeling hills are unfolding to a different beat this time, and the beat is unmistakably rap.From hilltop hamlets to bustling towns, campaign trails are echoing with rhymes and basslines as political messaging finds a new voice ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAchievements by sportspersons in and around Siliguri have prompted prominent politicians to make sports a key issue in their campaigns for the Assembly elections, the first phase of which is scheduled for April 23.This renewed focus on sports infrastructure ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphTension gripped the Jalpaiguri Assembly constituency after posters of Trinamool Congress candidate Krishna Das were allegedly torn down on the outskirts of Jalpaiguri town on Tuesday.The party accused BJP-backed goons of vandalism. In protest, Trinamool workers and supporters blocked ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphTrinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee on Tuesday launched a scathing attack on the BJP, the Election Commission and central investigating agencies, a day after the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had arrested Vinesh Chandel, the co-founder of I-PAC that works as ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission is likely to requisition a large number of buses, pool cars and other vehicles for poll duty, raising the possibility of a transport shortage in the city and its adjoining districts ahead of the second phase ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe National Investigation Agency team probing the attack on judicial officers in Mothabari of Malda in north Bengal has informed a special court that a section of the protesters were forced to participate in the agitation.Sources said the NIA ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Trishakti Corps of the Indian Army, headquartered in Sukna on the outskirts of Siliguri, has recently launched the first community radio at a border village in Sikkim, near the India-China border.An army source said they have established 88.4 ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee on Monday declared she was fighting a winning battle, despite being alone, against the might of the BJP election juggernaut comprising the full force of the Centre and 19 NDA-led states and mocked Narendra Modi’s alleged chief ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphSuvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, played the polarisation card on Monday in three public rallies in Malda and North Dinajpur, districts with at least 50 per cent Muslim population.“Earlier, there were three districts in ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA 75-year-old woman died of suspected cardiac arrest in North Dinajpur district on Monday following a verbal duel between her family members and a polling team during a postal ballot exercise.The incident took place in Viti, Maraikura panchayat, in ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphCandidates from all major political parties in the Madarihat Assembly seat in Alipurduar met tea garden workers on Sunday.The programme was organised under the banner of the “My Vote, My Right” campaign by the Paschimbanga Chai Mazdoor Samiti at ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphDilip Singh, the CPM candidate of the Dabgram-Fulbari Assembly segment, on Monday released his election manifesto, outlining a range of development-focused promises for his constituency.While speaking at a news conference at the Darjeeling district CPM office here, Singh highlighted ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Monday arrested three of the four individuals summoned for questioning on Sunday in connection with the incident of seven judicial officers held hostage in Malda's Mothabari on April 1.Those arrested are Golam Rabbani, ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court on Monday directed that the “enhanced security” measures provided to judicial officers in Bengal be continued until further orders, even as it asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to file a status report to explain whether ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe helipad at the Raiganj Stadium turned out to be the centre of political tension in the town on Monday, a day ahead of the visit of Congress MP Rahul Gandhi.On Tuesday, Rahul is scheduled to address a public ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi and his lieutenant Amit Shah emphasised the need to implement the uniform civil code (UCC) in Bengal during their rallies over the past few days, aiming to consolidate Hindu votes.In recent rallies, the two top ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA 68-year-old man from Bagda in North 24-Parganas has discovered that official records have credited him with three “sons” he claims he never fathered — an anomaly that has now cost his daughter her name on the voters’ list.Nitya ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAn outgoing BJP MLA, who is also contesting in these Assembly elections, received an appointment letter tasking him with election duty, followed by a showcause notice for failing to attend training.Deepak Barman, the BJP candidate and sitting MLA from ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Enforcement Directorate on Monday arrested Vinesh Chandel, one of the co-founders of I-PAC, the political consultancy firm of which Bengal's ruling Trinamool is a key client, in connection with an alleged coal scam. Chandel was arrested in Delhi, ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphCalcutta: On the birth anniversary of the architect of the Constitution, a protest at Esplanade condemned what speakers called a “brazen violation” of the founding document in the contentious revision of electoral rolls in poll-bound Bengal.“Our vote is not ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAs multiple communities marked their New Year and harvest festivals, the city came alive with prayers, rituals and celebrations, reflecting its enduring spirit of cultural harmony on Tuesday.The Sikh and Punjabi communities marked Khalsa Sajna Diwas, which coincides with ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphVinesh Chandel, one of the three co-founders of I-PAC, the political consultancy working with the Trinamool Congress, has been accused of splitting alleged proceeds of crime into legal funds through banks, and unaccounted cash.Chandel, a graduate from the National ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has introduced a six-month course on artificial intelligence (AI) for physics teachers at the ICSE (Class X) and ISC (Class XII) levels. The course on “AI-Native and Entrepreneurial Education” is ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphPriyanka Tibrewal, the BJP candidate from Entally, alleged on Tuesday that she was stopped from campaigning in a pocket of eastern Calcutta’s Pragati Maidan area after a mob attacked her supporters.According to police, Tibrewal had the necessary permission to ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission of India has asked the state government to put on hold the interviews and aptitude tests conducted to shortlist candidates for teaching jobs in government-aided primary schools until the model code of conduct remains in force, ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA city-based cardiologist’s offer of a ₹500 discount to patients who chant “Jai Shree Ram” is “discriminatory” and “contrary to the ethics of the medical profession,” several doctors said on Tuesday.PK Hazra, the cardiologist, has offered the discount at ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA city-based research institute that has been analysing SIR numbers and highlighting the unfair burden of exclusion on minorities has now prepared a guide on how to file appeals with tribunals tasked with deciding the fate of disenfranchised voters.Sabar ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA young woman had applied as early as November 2025 for the right to vote. Her application hasn’t received a response yet.Srijita Adhikari, 19, a resident of New Garia, said her disappointment may be less than those who have ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe father of the first-year NUJS student found dead outside the boys’ hostel on Monday said his son may have slipped and fallen from a water reservoir atop the seven-storey building while trying to take a photograph.Jevin Joss, father ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAs many as 597 non-bailable arrest warrants were pending across Calcutta police’s jurisdiction as of Monday.About a fortnight before the elections, all police units have been asked to execute the warrants at the earliest. Calcutta police commissioner Ajay Nand ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe Supreme Court’s order on Monday effectively closed the door on lakhs of disenfranchised voters hoping to participate in the upcoming Assembly elections. Many such voters said they were “hurt” by the way the Election Commission sidelined them.Instead of ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphTwo major exhibitions of colourful chromolithographs of Hindu gods and goddesses — once mass-produced in Calcutta in the late 19th and 20th centuries — are being held in two leading American museums.The biggest and most focused of the two ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphOne ISC school has written to parents, and several others are encouraging students to take six subjects in Class XI and not “only five”.A norm introduced by the Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) requires ISC (Class ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphThe name of an IIM Calcutta teacher, whose father is a war veteran, has been deleted from the electoral rolls.Nandita Roy, 39, a resident of Lake Gardens who had earlier taught at IIM Lucknow, said her name was in ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphPolice commissioner Ajay Nand issued an order on Monday stating that the social media conduct of some police personnel violated the government servants’ rules and reminded one and all to abide by the code of online conduct introduced by ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAn IPS officer of the rank of superintendent of police from the Odisha cadre will oversee the Bengal Assembly elections as a police observer.Appointing Saravana Vivek M as the police observer, the Election Commission said in a notification that ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphA booth with 150 or more deleted voters will be tagged as a “super sensitive booth”, the district election officer (DEO) of Calcutta North said on Monday.Smita Pandey, the DEO, said they apprehended trouble in such booths and took ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphAn 87-year-old man who has lost his right to vote went to the SIR tribunal in Joka on Monday afternoon to “tell the judge that my name was deleted unfairly”.Thakurpukur resident Manmatha Nath Bhowmik travelled about 3km by bus ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphSchools are tweaking schedules and weighing short-term shifts to online classes as election dates draw near.Bengal will vote on April 23 and 29. However, several schools said their transport services are already affected as buses are requisitioned for election ...
15 April 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday claimed that 19 states and the Centre have come together to counter her, and that she is single-handedly fighting for the common people.The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has governments in 19 ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bengal could undo the math for both the ruling Trinamool and challenger BJP, with the number of voters deleted exceeding the victory margin in many constituencies won by both parties ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphTheir names deleted from the electoral rolls, sisters Suraiya and Rubiya Khatun from Malda district still received calls featuring an audio recording of Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking for their votes.Suraiya and Rubiya were not alone. A section of ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphFour persons, including the Congress candidate for Malda’s Mothabari Assembly constituency, and an elected panchayat member of the ISF, were interrogated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday in connection with the detention of seven judicial officers by ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphChief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday warned that the Hindutva brigade was cobbling together a post-poll survival manual that comprises plans for the infamous Operation Lotus and a third Partition of Bengal.In rallies across the Bankura and East and ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe death of celebrated playback singer Asha Bhosle, who transcended linguistic boundaries to leave a lasting imprint on Nepali music, drew tributes from the Nepali-speaking community in Darjeeling, Nepal and across the globe.Bhosle delivered an evergreen superhit with her ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA bulldozer with BJP flags and supporters at the venue of a campaign rally of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath in Bankura’s Sonamukhi on Sunday ignited "bulldozer politics" in the Bengal elections. The ruling Trinamool Congress lost no ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday coined a new slogan while seeking support from voters across Bengal, saying each candidate contesting on the BJP’s ticket is “Modi”.“You have seen the Congress, the Left and the Trinamool for decades.... Iss ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphNondu (Anand Bhosle, Asha Bhosle’s son) called yesterday (Saturday) to inform me that Ashadi was hospitalised. He was the one who used to look after his mother in her last years.I knew her well as she was close to ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphUnion home minister Amit Shah, the BJP’s chief strategist for the Bengal Assembly elections, has directed party leaders to mount an all-out campaign push, buoyed by internal assessments that project the party would comfortably cross the 100-seat mark in ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThree patients with cardiac ailments received a discount of Rs 500 each for saying Jai Shri Ram in Kolkata on Monday.City-based intensive cardiologist Dr Prakash Kumar Hazra had on Sunday afternoon issued the offer of a discount – with ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphScorching days are ahead, the Met office warned on Sunday.The maximum temperature was around 35°C on Sunday, which is normal for this time of the year.But the summer has been reasonably mild so far, and the sudden surge feels ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA traffic constable of Kolkata Police was suspended on Saturday following directions from the Election Commission of India (ECI) for allegedly making a political speech in favour of the Trinamool Congress.Sources said the constable, identified as Kalidas Mondal and ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA ceasefire in the West Asia conflict has now been announced, bringing a temporary pause to hostilities and a sense of relief across global markets.However, this is not a return to normalcy.A ceasefire represents a pause in active conflict, ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (CISCE) has asked schools to update teacher data on its affiliation portal by April 30 to help prepare a training calendar aimed at familiarising teachers and school leaders with new teaching ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA man whose family had donated land for setting up an undergraduate college in the Sundarbans has been struck off the electoral rolls.Zaidul Haque, 60, said the college in Gosaba’s Pathankhali is named after his grandfather, and that his ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphTwo musical duos from Calcutta — separated by time, style and journey — found themselves bound by a rare common thread: their dreams found fulfilment through Asha Bhosle.For pianist Sourendro Mullick and vocalist Soumyojit Das, it all began with ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA clerical error involving an extra space in a man’s name led to him being declared ineligible during adjudication, an activist said on Sunday, highlighting the arbitrary removal of names from the electoral roll.Yogendra Yadav, activist and founding member ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe angst and anger of citizens struck off the revised electoral rolls came to the fore at Park Circus Maidan on Sunday afternoon.The ground has been hosting a long-running protest against the contentious SIR. On Sunday, the organisers brought ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphPrincipals and teachers from several schools have expressed concern over the CBSE’s new rule mandating separate pass marks in internal and external assessments for Class X, saying it may place additional pressure on students who are not as academically ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThere was a time when no Durga Puja in Bengal felt complete without the voices of Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar on loudspeakers. Their songs were woven into the festive soundscape of Puja releases.“If you went pandal-hopping in, say, ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe process of erasure of a section of the population that started with the deletion of names in the voters list may not stop at it, feel public interest lawyer Prashant Bhushan and social activist Yogendra Yadav.“The BJP talks ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday said the BJP-led Centre is planning a delimitation exercise that, she alleged, could break the state into three parts.Speaking at rallies in Chhatna and Onda in Bankura district and Khandagosh in ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphAt an election rally in Siliguri, Prime Minister Narendra Modi targeted the Trinamool Congress over its politics in West Bengal and linked it to concerns around national security and the Siliguri Corridor.Addressing a public meeting at Kawakhali ground, he ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphWest Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday alleged that the BJP has struck a Rs 1,000-crore deal to unseat the Trinamool Congress from power in the state.She made the apparent reference to a viral video of Aam Janata ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphHalf-burnt bodies of a woman and her daughter were found in a trunk in their house in Sandeshkhali in West Bengal's North 24 Parganas district, police said on Sunday.The incident came to light late on Saturday, and the bodies ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphAllegations of a late-night bomb attack on the residence of a BJP panchayat member in the Cooch Behar South Assembly constituency triggered unrest on Saturday morning.The house of Maheswar Barman, a panchayat member of the BJP from the Chandamari ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA BJP worker based in Mainaguri block of Jalpaiguri was swept away by the Teesta river while returning from an election campaign on Friday. He is feared drowned.Search operations were carried out throughout Friday and Saturday by trained civil ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphUnion home minister Amit Shah on Saturday announced a ₹250-crore drinking water supply project for drought-prone Purulia and Bankura during his campaign for the 2026 Assembly Elections.Shah, speaking at a rally in Purulia’s Baghmundi, said that when the BJP ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday broached the Mamata Banerjee government’s alleged non-cooperation with President Droupadi Murmu during her recent visit to the Siliguri subdivision and accused the Trinamool Congress of demeaning the stature of the adivasi community.“We are ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphMore than 3.6 crore electors across 16 districts are eligible to exercise their franchise in the first phase of the West Bengal assembly elections on April 23, according to Election Commission data.The electoral rolls for the first phase comprise ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphPrime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the party would release a white paper on corruption and the breakdown of law and order in Bengal to punish corrupt Trinamool Congress leaders, MLAs and ministers. He also promised action against ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphAmid a volatile and often violent campaign ahead of the 2026 Assembly elections, a moment of political courtesy stood out in Cooch Behar on Saturday.Abhijit De Bhowmik, the Trinamool candidate of Cooch Behar South Assembly seat and the party’s ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphMamata Banerjee on Saturday continued her diatribe against the BJP-led Centre and the Election Commission, alleging that the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voter list in Bengal was designed to manipulate the electorate and pave the way for ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphJabbing the air with her fingers, a 32-year-old homemaker in a Murshidabad village spoke truth to power on Saturday, asking Bengal’s chief electoral officer why genuine voters had been deleted from the electoral rolls.“Take steps to include the names ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA soldier who lost a limb fighting Pakistan in 1971 is fighting again, this time to restore his wife’s voting rights.Durri Bhalla, the author of multiple cookbooks who happens to be Muslim, is married to Captain Anil Bhalla, a ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphCalcutta University (CU) has left it to its affiliated colleges to decide how they want to screen students for postgraduate programmes. Till last year, the university would centrally regulate the admission process. From marks-based admission to fixing the admission ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphBooth-level officers (BLOs) will have to go “door to door” to distribute voter information slips to enrolled electors, and this process must be completed “till 5 clear days before the day of poll”, the Election Commission has said.A voter ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe first summative exam in government and aided schools, scheduled between April 1 and 10, could not be conducted due to the presence of central forces on school premises.In some schools, teaching staff were requisitioned for election duty. As ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThousands of deleted voters had hoped for clarity on how the appellate tribunals would function after the Supreme Court hearing on April 6. Nearly a week later, they remain in the dark.They expected answers on when hearings would begin, ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphFor the past 30 days, a group of Calcuttans, most of them under the age of 23, has been navigating the labyrinth of SIR data.With some success and much dogged determination, they continue to work out of a rented ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphA Muslim women’s organisation on Saturday urged members of the community whose names are on the electoral rolls to vote without fail to offset the imbalance created by large-scale deletions of Muslim voters.Traditionally, Muslim women’s turnout is lower than ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has posted Soma Das Mitra, a 2006-batch IPS officer of the Bengal cadre, as the crime chief of Calcutta, and Sudeep Sarkar, a 2009-batch IPS officer from the same cadre, as joint commissioner of police (headquarters), ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphThe Election Commission has barred the state government from deploying civic volunteers and green police for election duties, even though many of them operate police vehicles and office systems. Police officers have expressed concern over how essential functions will ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphAn Enforcement Directorate team conducted a search-and-seizure operation at the Naktala residence of former education minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday, five months after he was released on bail in a case of alleged corruption in school recruitments.A separate ED ...
13 April 2026 TelegraphAt Keshiyari in Paschim Medinipur, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP of trying to cancel her Bhabanipur candidature and interfering with the electoral process.“The BJP, with the EC's help, tried to invalidate my candidature from Bhabanipur ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphAt a rally in Jangipur in Murshidabad district, Prime Minister Narendra Modi pushed the BJP’s campaign line on identity, infiltration and the Uniform Civil Code.Addressing the gathering in the Muslim-majority district, PM Modi said the party would bring in ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphFive months after securing bail, former West Bengal education minister Partha Chatterjee faced fresh scrutiny as Enforcement Directorate (ED) officials raided his Kolkata residence on Saturday in connection with the alleged school recruitment scam.Around 11:45 am, central forces cordoned ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphA 32-year-old man was found dead at Amarkhana, under the jurisdiction of Nagar Berubari panchayat, in the Jalpaiguri Sadar block on Friday.A source said later in the day police nabbed the deceased’s father, who confessed to killing his son.A ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphSuvendu Adhikari, the leader of the Opposition, played the BJP’s usual religious polarisation card at a public meeting ahead of a road show at Belakoba, an area under the Rajganj Assembly constituency, in Jalpaiguri, on Friday.Adhikari’s move aims to ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphThe Nepal Tourism Board (NTB) and the tourism office at Kakarvitta organised the third edition of Cross-Border Tourism Conclave Jhapa 2026 at Jhapa district in eastern Nepal to promote travel between India and Nepal through policy reforms. Policymakers, tourism ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphThe BJP on Friday made a slew of promises for north Bengal, where the party had outperformed the Trinamool Congress in the 2021 Assembly elections.Union home minister Amit Shah, who published the “Sankalpa Patra” or the election manifesto of ...
12 April 2026 TelegraphResidents of Alipurduar on Friday took out a march in protest against BJP national president Nitin Nabin’s remark that the town would be renamed if the BJP came to power in Bengal after the Assembly polls.The march started from ...
12 April 2026 Telegraph