Sovan Chatterjee resigns from post of Kolkata Mayor

BJP MLA and West Bengal Assembly Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari on Thursday expressed confidence that the Trinamool Congress (TMC) would be defeated in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly elections.

According to sources, the meeting involved extensive discussions on around 160 Assembly constituencies across the state. During the deliberations, the party is learnt to have finalised candidates for nearly 145 seats, out of 294 assembly seats in the West Bengal Legislative Assembly, marking significant progress in the selection process.

In an 'X' post, TMC said the government has "ek hi naara, line mein rahe desh bechara," pointing to past governmental measures including demonetisation, the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, the Special Identification Registration (SIR), and now the LPG shortage. The party described demonetisation as a "Tughlaqi farman" that forced ordinary citizens to wait in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs for days to access their own money. The post also highlighted the 2020 COVID-19 oxygen crisis, when families stood in long lines outside hospitals and suppliers as the public health system collapsed.

Former IPS officer RN Ravi takes oath as the Governor of West Bengal at a ceremony in Lok Bhawan on Thursday in Kolkata. He was administered the oath by Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, Sujoy Paul, in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Assembly Speaker Biman Banerjee, Senior Minister and Kolkata Mayor Firhad Hakim and Left Front chairman Biman Bose. RN Ravi also greets West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee after taking the oath as the West Bengal Governor.

In a significant political move, TMC MP Saugata Roy told ANI that the party is preparing an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner. He said, "We are preparing an impeachment motion against the Chief Election Commissioner. More than 100 MPs are supporting us. We might submit it today. The Opposition will be seen united on this."

West Bengal BJP leader Dilip Ghosh on Thursday slammed the Trinamool Congress (TMC) over plans to move an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar in the Parliament.

Amid repeated allegations by the Trinamool Congress (TMC) of improper deletions of voters from the West Bengal electoral rolls, Union Minister Sukanta Majumdar on Wednesday said that the party should instead "contest in Pakistan or Bangladesh" If they don't trust any constitutional institution in the country.

West Bengal police strongly refuted allegations made by BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari that police personnel's postal ballots were being collected through a so-called welfare organisation, asserting that the process of voting for police personnel on election duty follows strict Election Commission procedures and leaves no scope for manipulation.

Trinamool Congress (TMC) National General Secretary and MP Abhishek Banerjee has criticised the Election Commission over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list in West Bengal, alleging that several questions raised by the party regarding the deletion of voters' names remained unanswered.

"They don't trust the Speaker. They don't trust the Election Commission. They don't trust independent constitutional institutions. It is beyond my understanding what kind of anarchy the opposition is taking the country into. The problem is that they don't engage in self-reflection; they just make accusations, which means they are evading their responsibilities," he told the media.