The Election Commission - which is deploying nearly 2.4 lakh Central Armed Police Forces personnel in West Bengal - said its objective is to "ensure fear-free, peaceful, and fair elections"

BJP has said the Trinamool chief's remark was aimed at appeasing its minority votebank and described the ruling party in Bengal as "anti-Hindu".

With less than three weeks to go for the election, campaigning in West Bengal has entered an intense phase, with top political leaders fanning out across the state to galvanise voters.

Mamata Banerjee has blamed the Election Commission for failing to protect judicial officers engaged in the SIR exercise in Malda district.

Suvendu Adhikari is trying not just to keep Nandigram, but has raised the stakes by challenging Mamata Banerjee from Bhabanipur

Born in Kolkata, Paes lives in Goa, where his father Vece Paes comes from. While Leander's father was part of the Munich Olympics bronzewinning hockey team in 1972, his mother, Jennifer Paes, captained India's women's basketball team.

Abhishek Banerjee's data-driven, policy-focused messaging and Mamata Banerjee's emotive, grassroots connect form a complementary strategy.

Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress has tweaked its strategy, incorporating a liberal dose of religion.

The Home Minister said Bengal, being a border state, is crucial for the country's security, which is being threatened by "infiltrators".

The BJP is trying to counter the Trinamool Congress' narrative that the saffron party would impose dietary restrictions if it came to power.

Bhabanipur is the constituency of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, where Adhikari is set to challenge her in the upcoming polls.

During his two-day visit, Nitin Nabin held back-to-back organisational meetings along with a visit to the sacred Dakshineswar Kali Mandir, where he addressed the media.

Tight security arrangements have been made across the state, with special focus on Howrah and Hooghly districts that witnessed unrest in previous years on this occasion.

The BJP has returned to Sandeshkhali with renewed vigour. Rekha Patra has shifted her political activity to Hingalganj, an adjacent constituency, signalling an attempt to expand the issue's geographic resonance.

Dilip Ghosh, then chief of the BJP's state unit, had reached Darjeeling on February 24, 2021, with a mission: Counter Mamata Banerjee's strategy in the region and secure the seats in the area that would set off a ripple effect across north Bengal.

South Bengal, anchored by Kolkata and the Hooghly, remains Trinamool's political stronghold despite BJP inroads, with dense population, urban influence, minority vote dynamics, and emerging tribal and regional contestations shaping electoral outcomes

In the last assembly elections in 2021, the TMC's wounds in North Bengal were visible not just in the arithmetic of seats but in the geometry of votes

"Do ED Officers Lose Rights When On Duty?" Top Court Raps Mamata Banerjee

Abhishek Banerjee said there is a need for repeated voter outreach and asked local leaders not to rely on instructions from above, but to engage directly with constituents

"Anyone who calls the prime minister of the county an infiltrator doesn't have the right to occupy the constitutional post," a BJP leader said

Often denoted as the "mini-India" of Kolkata, an amalgamation of Bengali and non-Bengali voters forms this Bhabanipur segment.

In a strongly worded letter, her eighth to the CEC, Mamata Banerjee alleged that it had "crossed all boundaries of decency and constitutional propriety".

Coming up months after the Singur agitation over land acquisition, the Nandigram protest turned into a violent resistance movement that lasted well over a year-and-a-half, loosening the grip of the seven-term Left Front regime in the state.

The spotlight is firmly on the Bhabanipur Assembly constituency, where a direct contest between Mamata Banerjee and Suvendu Adhikari has turned the seat into a high-stakes battle.