Poll campaign in Bengal ends with roadshows across Kolkata
The Hindu
Campaigning for the final phase of Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal concludes with leaders holding road shows in Kolkata.
Campaigning for the seventh and final phase of the Lok Sabha election in West Bengal concluded on Thursday with leaders across political parties holding road shows in and around Kolkata.
Nine Lok Sabha constituencies located in Kolkata, its suburbs and the Sundarbans -- Kolkata Dakshin, Kolkata Uttar, Dum Dum, Barasat, Diamond Harbour, Jadavpur, Basirhat, Joynagar and Mathurapur -- will go to the polls on June 1 for which canvassing ended at 6pm on Thursday.
Also read: These are the Lok Sabha constituencies and States going to polls in Phase 7
The highlight of the Trinamool Congress’s campaign was a 12km roadshow by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The Trinamool chairperson went across the city on foot accompanied by party candidates and senior leaders. She addressed the crowds and told them that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will not return to power. Abhishek Banerjee, the party’s general secretary, participated in two rallies from Maheshtala in the western fringes of the city.
For the BJP, Leader of the Opposition Suvendu Adhikari, the party’s State president Sukanta Majumdar and actor-turned-politician Mithun Chakraborty campaigned. Mr. Majumdar participated in two rallies in the city while Mr. Adhikari led two roadshows in Salt Lake and in south Kolkata. Mr. Chakraborty, too, held a rally in south Kolkata.
In the last leg of the election, 124 candidates are in the fray, the highest in a phase in Bengal, for the nine seats. The Kolkata Dakshin seat has 17 contenders, the highest, followed by Jadavpur (16). Fifteen candidates are contesting from the Basirhat and Kolkata Uttar Lok Sabha seats each.
A total of 1.63 crore voters -- 83.19 lakh men, 80.20 lakh women and 538 from the third gender -- are eligible to exercise their franchise across 17,470 polling stations in the State. The Election Commission of India has deployed 1,020 companies of Central Armed Police Forces in these constituencies, including 185 companies in Kolkata.
Maharashtra Congress president criticizes Mahayuti's delay in choosing CM, alleging BJP's control and EVM irregularities in election.
Meta’s WhatsApp took its fight against the European Data Protection Board to Europe’s highest court.
“Writing, in general, is a very solitary process,” says Yauvanika Chopra, Associate Director at The New India Foundation (NIF), which, earlier this year, announced the 12th edition of its NIF Book Fellowships for research and scholarship about Indian history after Independence. While authors, in general, are built for it, it can still get very lonely, says Chopra, pointing out that the fellowship’s community support is as valuable as the monetary benefits it offers. “There is a solid community of NIF fellows, trustees, language experts, jury members, all of whom are incredibly competent,” she says. “They really help make authors feel supported from manuscript to publication, so you never feel like you’re struggling through isolation.”
Manoj Kumar, a talented artist with a disability, paints vibrant murals at Sabarimala, narrating the story of Lord Ayyappa.
Lieutenant General Karanbir Singh Brar assesses operational readiness and administrative effectiveness in Hyderabad and Secunderabad military facilities.
Supreme Court ruling on socialism, secularism
Several principals of government and private schools in Delhi on Tuesday said the Directorate of Education (DoE) circular from a day earlier, directing schools to conduct classes in ‘hybrid’ mode, had caused confusion regarding day-to-day operations as they did not know how many students would return to school from Wednesday and how would teachers instruct in two modes — online and in person — at once. The DoE circular on Monday had also stated that the option to “exercise online mode of education, wherever available, shall vest with the students and their guardians”. Several schoolteachers also expressed confusion regarding the DoE order. A government schoolteacher said he was unsure of how to cope with the resumption of physical classes, given that the order directing government offices to ensure that 50% of the employees work from home is still in place. On Monday, the Commission for Air Quality Management in the National Capital Region and Adjoining Areas (CAQM) had, on the orders of the Supreme Court, directed schools in Delhi-NCR to shift classes to the hybrid mode, following which the DoE had issued the circular. The court had urged the Centre’s pollution watchdog to consider restarting physical classes due to many students missing out on the mid-day meals and lacking the necessary means to attend classes online. The CAQM had, on November 20, asked schools in Delhi-NCR to shift to the online mode of teaching.
Tamil Nadu rain weather LIVE updates: Follow The Hindu’s live coverage of the Tamil Nadu rains on November 27, 2024
Norway parliament apologises to Sami and other minority groups for assimilation policies
Nearly 50% of Dakshina Kannada’s shoreline has been eroded, the highest among the three coastal districts of Karnataka, according to a study for the period 1990-2018 by the National Centre for Coastal Research (NCCR).
Sambhal mosque controversy