West Bengal Polls 2011

• Mamata Banerjee sworn in as West Bengal Chief Minister

  Poriborton (change) has come to Bengal. On Friday, minutes after 1 in the afternoon, Mamata Banerjee took oath to become the first woman Chief Minister of West Bengal.It was a historic moment for the state and personally, one that the diminutive giant-slayer has waited for all her life. Mamata took oath in Bengali marking a change of guard t...

• Friday the 13th lucky for Mamta says sms

  Friday, the 13, proved to be lucky for Trinamool Congress with the party set to assumepower in West Bengal with a landslide win 13 years after its formation. Friday, the 13th, is considered to be a day of bad luck by many.Banerjee had founded the All India Trinamool Congress in January, 1998, and within 13 years, steered it to a massive victory in ...

• CPM leader apologises for comments against Mamata Banerjee

  CPM leader and former MP Anil Basu has issued a handwritten statement to apologise for his comments against Mamata Banerjee. Mr Basu wrote, "At a public meeting in Hooghly, the comments I carelessly made about the Opposition leader, I shouldn't have done so at all. This is completely against the policies and culture of our party. In this conne...

• 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 ...

• Trinamool to sue CPM leader for black money allegations

  The Trinamool Congress is planning to go to court against the CPM's Goutam Deb who, on Saturday, claimed that the Trinamool was using black money to fund its election campaign.Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee has asked party MP Mukul Roy to file the defamation case today. Mamata had rubbished Goutam Deb's allegations and said it was the CPM that nee...

• 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...