News Analysis India

Tag: Mamata Banerjee

  • ‘Bengal tigress’ Mamata Banerjee won despite PM Modi, ministers campaigning: Uddhav Thackeray

    By PTI
    MUMBAI: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday congratulated “Bengal tigress” and Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee for “single-handedly” leading her party to victory in the West Bengal Assembly polls.

    The TMC was leading in over 200 of the 292 seats that went to polls in the eastern state.

    In a statement, Thackeray said Banerjee led the fight for Bengal’s self-respect single-handedly, adding that “all credit goes to the Bengal tigress for the win”.

    Click here for LIVE UPDATES on Benga poll results

    Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, said the prime minister, Union home minister, ministers from the Centre and several states descended on WB to defeat Banerjee.

    “But she defeated all these forces. I congratulate her and the courageous people of Bengal,” he said.

    In a sarcastic vein, the Maharashtra chief minister added that if everybody, an apparent reference to the Narendra Modi government at the Centre, was done with politics, then “let us unite to focus on the battle against the COVID pandemic”.

  • Mamata Banerjee says combatting COVID-19 will be top priority

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday said combating the COVID-19 situation will be the topmost priority of her government and dedicated her party’s resounding victory to the people of the state.

    “For us, combating the COVID-19 situation will be the topmost priority. This is victory of Bengal and only Bengal can do it,” she said in her brief message to party workers.

  • Defence Minister Rajnath Singh lauds Mamata for ‘victory’ in assembly polls

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday congratulated Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee, as trends suggested her party would register a thumping victory in the West Bengal assembly polls.

    “Congratulations to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, @MamataOfficial Didi on her partys victory in West Bengal assembly elections. My best wishes to her for her next tenure,” the senior BJP leader tweeted.

    Congratulations to the Chief Minister of West Bengal, @MamataOfficial Didi on her party’s victory in West Bengal assembly elections. My best wishes to her for her next tenure.
    — Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) May 2, 2021

    Candidates of the ruling TMC are leading in 208 of the state’s 292 seats that went to poll against BJP’s 80, as per the latest Election Commission trends.

  • People of Bengal gave befitting reply to repeated attacks on Mamata: Partha Chatterjee on poll trends

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress secretary general Partha Chatterjee Sunday said trends available for 284 seats indicate that the people of West Bengal have given a befitting reply to the repeated “attacks” on Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

    Mocking the BJP, Chatterjee also said he wants to see the faces of those who had raised the slogan ”Is bar 200 par” (This time, over 200 seats for the saffron party).

    “People are with Mamata Banerjee and have replied to the derogatory comments and attacks on her and the populace of Bengal,” he told reporters here.

    “We have always talked about unity and development… and the way the CM had worked for the welfare of people by risking her life amid the pandemic, has reflected in the election results,” Chatterjee added.

    The ruling TMC looked set to retain power in West Bengal with its candidates leading in 202 of the state”s 292 seats that went to poll against BJP”s 77, as trends were available for 284 seats.

  • Bengal election result 2021: Mamata trails BJP rival Suvendu in Nandigram 

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee was Sunday trailing her BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram by 3460 votes after two rounds of counting, officials said.

    According to trends available from 120 of the 292 assembly seats that went to polls, the TMC is ahead in 75, BJP 43 and Independents 2.

    FOLLOW POLL RESULTS HERE

    Another 15 rounds of counting will take place in Nandigram before the result is announced.

    In Singur seat, TMC minister and candidate Becharam Manna is leading his nearest rival Rabidranath Bhattacharya of the BJP after first round of counting.

    TMC candidate from Bhabanipur, the seat vacated by Mamata Banerjee, Sobhandeb Chattopadhyay, is leading, and so is Firhad Hakim, a minister, from the Kolkata Port constituency.

  • Counting begins for Bengal assembly polls under tight security

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Counting of votes polled in the West Bengal assembly elections began at 8 am on Sunday under tight security and strict adherence to safety protocols, amid a raging second wave of COVID-19.

    Exit polls have forecast a tight contest between the ruling Trinamool Congress and the BJP in the eight-phase elections to the 294-member assembly.

    The counting will decide the electoral fate of 2,116 candidates including nominees of the Left-Congress-Indian Secular Front alliance.

    The exercise is underway in 108 counting centres spread across the 23 districts of the state, where a three- tier security arrangement has been put in place.

    At least 292 observers have been appointed and 256 companies of central forces deployed at the counting centres.

    Polling to 292 assembly seats was held in eight phases from March 27 to April 29.

    Voting in Shamsherganj and Jangipur seats in Murshidabad district was postponed due to the death of some candidates.

    Polling in these two seats will now be held on May 16 and votes counted on May 19.

    In view of the rising number of coronavirus cases in the state, the Election Commission has decided to place tables at the counting halls in such a way that social distancing norms are maintained.

    All the EVMs and VVPATs at the counting centres will be sanitised before the commencement of the process.

    Of the state’s 294 assembly constituencies, the most keenly watched will be Nandigram in Purba Medinipur district where Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee is contesting her protege-turned-adversary Suvendu Adhikari of the BJP.

    Banerjee, who is seeking a third term in office, has left Bhabanipur constituency in Kolkata to fight from Nandigram, the epicentre of an anti-land acquisition movement that catapulted her party to power in 2011 ending the 34- year-long Left Front rule.

    However, 10 years later, a number of leaders have left the party and joined the BJP ahead of the election which was blotched by violence, vicious personal attacks and jingoistic fulminations.

    Exit polls were divided in their forecast for the West Bengal election, where the BJP ran a high-octane campaign in its bid to capture power in the state for the first time by ending Banerjee’s 10-year-long reign.

    An average polling of 81.87 per cent was recorded in the eight phases.

     

  • Didi warns TMC candidates to look out for fraud on counting day

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA:  West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Friday urged Trinamool Congress candidates, who contested in the recently concluded eight-phase Assembly elections, to keep a close watch on the counting process, especially in the constituencies in the northern part of the state. 

    It must be remembered that the BJP had won seven of the eight Lok Sabha seats in north Bengal in 2019. The eight Lok Sabha seats account for 54 Assembly segments and going by the 2019 results, the BJP was leading in 35 of them. 

    Chief counting agents of the candidates also participated in the virtual meeting called by the CM. “The chief minister said every vote is important this year as it would decide the fate of the party in each Assembly constituency,” one of the TMC candidates who attended the meeting said.

     “She said the BJP and their counting agents, who will be working under the Election Commission, will try to adopt all means to change the result in favour of the saffron camp if they find the mandate is not in their favour,’’ the candidate said. The TMC feels the results would be too close in many constituencies of north Bengal. The party feels the BJP would try to win these seats by applying tricks during the counting. 

  • West Bengal polls 2021: Mamata Banerjee calls urgent meet with Trinamool Congress candidates

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee has convened an urgent virtual meeting on Friday with the party’s candidates who contested in the Assembly elections. She is expected to issue a slew of instructions to be followed by the candidates during the process of the counting on May 2, a senior leader of the TMC said.

    The candidates were also asked to bring their counting agents to the virtual meeting. “She (Mamata) is confident about her party’s absolute majority in the Assembly elections. She has a strong suspicion that the BJP will use all its tricks and unfair means during the counting process,” he said.

    “Since she has attacked the Election Commission on several occasions, the chief minister does not have faith in the Commission. She will issue specific guidelines asking candidates and counting agents to follow it word-by-word,” the TMC leader added.

    “Mamata Banerjee will warn the candidates about the possible tricks that the BJP might adopt during the process of counting. Our party’s internal report has confirmed that the TMC will stay in power with a comfortable margin. Since the BJP engaged its entire artillery to wrest West Bengal, they will definitely try to achieve their goal by adopting unfair means,” another TMC leader said

    Mamata carried out an intense poll campaign across West Bengal against BJP heavyweights, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home minister Amit Shah and the party’s national president JP Nadda, who addressed a series of rallies and attended several roadshows over the past one month.

  • Exit polls 2021: West Bengal too close to call, DMK has cruising victory, LDF to enjoy second turn

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI: Chances of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress retaining power in West Bengal appeared too close to call, while Assam is likely to give the BJP another shot at power, if exit poll projections on Thursday are anything to go by.

    In Tamil Nadu, exit polls predicted a crushing victory for the MK Stalin-led DMK, while the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF appeared comfortably ahead in the race to retain power in Kerala. As for Puducherry, exit polls put it in the BJP’s pocket.

    ABP News CVoter predicted the Trinamool getting between 152-164 seats, while BJP could get between 109- 121 in West Bengal. The Left alliance, including the Congress, is expected to get between 14-25. On the contrary, the Republic- CNX polls gave the BJP a slight edge by projecting 138-148 seats for the party in the 294-seat Assembly and 128-138 to the Trinamool.

    The eight-phase polls in West Bengal ended on Thursday evening. As for Assam, the BJP-led NDA is likely to beat antiincumbency to retain power. The India Today-Axis My India exit poll gave 75-85 of Assam’s 126 seats to the NDA.

    The Congress’s grand alliance is likely to win 40-50 seats, it predicted. In Tamil Nadu, the exit polls predict a landslide for the Opposition DMK alliance, giving it a staggering 165 of the 234 seats that went to polls.

    The AIADMK, which had the BJP as its ally, could end up end up with 66 seats. As for Kerala, the LDF is all set to retain power with the poll of polls predicting 84 to LDF, 54 to UDF and 2 to the BJP. If the India Today- Axis exit poll is to be believed, the LDF is expected to win around 104-120 seats, UDF 20-36, BJP 0-2 and others 0-2.

  • Former Bengal minister Upen Biswas resigns from Trinamool

    By PTI
    KOLKATA: Former West Bengal minister and ex-CBI director Upen Biswas on Wednesday resigned from the Trinamool Congress.

    He told reporters that he was quitting for “personal reasons” and did not want to be with any other political party.

    “I have conveyed my decision to the party top brass in mail. I am quitting on the eve of the eight-phase polls because I don’t want anyone to accuse me of leaving the party after the election results are out,” he said.

    Biswas, who had joined the TMC on request of party supremo Mamata Banerjee in 2010 and successfully contested the 2011 assembly elections, had remained inactive since the 2016 polls, which he had lost.

    “Apart from primary membership of the TMC, I am resigning from all the committees in which I had been inducted,” he said, adding that he will continue to have good relations with Banerjee.

    “I couldn’t speak to her before resigning as she is busy now. I will talk to her later,” Biswas, who is known to have opposed the antl-Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) stand of the TMC, said.

    “I will pursue academics and take up writing more extensively now,” he said.

    TMC sources were not available for comments.