West Bengal Assembly Polls 2011

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  Big Fight Ahead, Says Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, On Campaign Trail

  For the first time since the Left Front lost the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2011, Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, former chief minister, hit the campaign trail in Kolkata on Tuesday amid a sea of red flags and cadres clearly rejuvenated to see him in public.

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  Bengal Elections: With Baichung Bhutia Contesting, Siliguri Poised For Interesting Contest

  For Siliguri mayor and former minister Ashok Bhattacharya it is a fight to stage a comeback after his surprise defeat in the 2011 assembly election as he takes on former Indian football captain Baichung Bhutia, who has taken the field as a Trinamool Congress nominee.

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  Surjya Kanta Mishra Faces Tough Battle In West Bengal's Narayangarh

  He stoutly defended the Marxist stronghold in 2011 when the Trinamool Congress ousted the Left Front. But five years down the line, CPI(M) state secretary Surjya Kanta Mishra is fighting a tough battle in Narayangarh as he tries to usher in change in West Bengal.

• Results in six municipality polls in Bengal out today; test for Mamata's Trinamool Congress

  Results will be declared today in the crucial elections to six municipalities across West Bengal, the first poll since the Trinamool ousted the Left in a landslide victory in the 2011 Assembly polls on the back of a huge anti-incumbency wave.

• The man who beat Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for the first time in 24 years

  Very few politicians, and fewer still with no political background, have had such a high-profile entry into the political arena as Trinamool Congress nominee Manish Gupta. The former West Bengal Chief Secretary emerged as a giant killer in his maiden electoral battle, humbling Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee at Jadavpur constituency by 16,68...

• The 'Pariborton' of Mamata Banerjee and Bengal

  There are few who will dispute that Mamata Banerjee's historic victory in West Bengal today has been scripted, chartered and delivered entirely by the woman who West Bengal refers to as "Didi" and whose call for "pariborton" or change has been fuelled by her emphasis on "ma, mati, manush" (Mother, Land, People).  In 1997, she was expell...

• Opinion polls predict Left rout in West Bengal

  Election surveys by television channels on Tuesday gave a unanimous clean sweep for Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, predicting the end of the Communist rule, while they were divided on the outcome in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.Polls conducted during the polling in the states over the past month by Headlines Today-ORG, CNN-IBN-The We...

• Polling ends in Bengal, over 84 per cent votes cast in last phase

  Over 84 percent voting was recorded in 14 constituencies that went to the polls on Tuesday in the sixth and last round of the West Bengal assembly elections, an Election Commission (EC) official said."The percentage is likely to increase as people are in queues at several booths," the official said. The polling started at 7 a.m. and ended at 3 p.m....

• Nearly 75 per cent turnout in first phase of Bengal polls

  Polling in the first phase of assembly elections covering six northern districts of West Bengal today saw a high turnout of 74.27 per cent with no major untoward incident reported.State Chief Electoral Officer Sunil Gupta said the turnout was 74.27 per cent.Voting was held in 54 constituencies with 364 candidates in the fray including 11 ministers ...

• When a table, ceiling fan, cycle are banned near Bengal poll booths

  Sipping coconut water while standing outside a polling station, sitting under a ceiling fan or even using a table inside a poll booth can get banned on polling days in the West Bengal assembly elections. The reason - they are among the dozens of poll symbols being used by contestants.Other items of daily use such as candle, battery, torch, lantern,...

• West Bengal polls: Veterans pitch in to save Left

  Veteran Communists who distanced themselves from the Left in the last few years are now coming to the aid of the party in West Bengal as it goes to the polls from today.After Somnath Chatterjee, who is scheduled to campaign for a CPM leader, former finance minister Ashok Mitra has publicly appealed for support to the Left.Mitra had distanced himsel...

• Bengal polls: First phase crucial for Congress

  Enthusiastic voters have started queuing up as West Bengal witnesses the first phase of Assembly elections today.Fifty four constituencies in six districts of north Bengal including Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Uttar and Dakshin Dinajpur and Malda vote today. Three hundred sixty four candidates, including 102 Independents, are in the fray.T...

• NCP forges alliance with Trinamool, gets one seat

  The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Tuesday forged an alliance with the Trinamool Congress for the April-May assembly polls in West Bengal. The NCP will field its candidate from Dinhata constituency, the party said.In another development, Trinamool ally Socialist Unity Centre of India-Communist (SUCI-C) declared that it will field 19 candidates - ...

• Central forces not to camp in schools for polls

  Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi Tuesday said that central forces on poll duty will not camp in schools and colleges during the April-May West Bengal assembly polls."This is for the first time we have taken up this initiative. The central forces on poll duty will come to schools or colleges only on the polling day and will go back with the...

• Former top cops to fight polls as Trinamool candidates

  Four former Indian Police Service (IPS) officers will take on the ruling Marxists, for whom they had once worked, as Trinamool Congress candidates in the West Bengal assembly elections.The candidates list announced by Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee included former director general of police Hyder Aziz Safwi, former additional director gen...