oppn parties Who Will Win Bengal

Story Of The Day

A 2,458-Point Rally Is Not Yet A Recovery

November 07, 2026

People Are Talking About

People Are Talking About Junk Food Near Schools

News Snippets

  • Supreme Court questions the continuing relevance of two-child norms. The Court observed that falling fertility rates have weakened the population-control rationale behind laws disqualifying people with more than two children from contesting local body elections. It referred the issue to a larger Bench for consideration
  • Supreme Court declines to shift Tirupati laddu case outside Andhra Pradesh. The Court rejected a plea seeking transfer of the trial, despite arguments that political statements by Andhra Pradesh's Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister could affect the fairness of proceedings
  • Supreme Court transfers Azam Khan's fresh ED bail plea to Allahabad High Court. The apex court declined to consider the Samajwadi Party leader's bail request in a fresh Enforcement Directorate case and directed that it be listed before a division Bench of the High Court on November 16
  • Two killed in Delhi building collapse; contractor booked. Two bodies were recovered after a building collapsed in Chawri Bazaar. Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta said the contractor had been booked and the concerned junior and assistant engineers suspended
  • Uttar Pradesh voter rolls show a 2.4-crore discrepancy. A difference of approximately 2.4 crore names has been reported between the state's panchayat and rural Assembly voter lists. The Election Commission has ordered the two sets of rolls to be matched
  • Gujarat announces 3% dearness allowance hike. The state government announced a three-percentage-point increase in dearness allowance for government employees and pensioners ahead of Diwali
  • Sensex and Nifty post their strongest single-day gains in months. The Sensex surged 2,008.61 points, or 2.60%, to close at 79,310.01, while the Nifty 50 climbed 576 points, or 2.40%, to 24,536.60. Financial and automobile stocks led the rally, supported by falling crude prices and renewed foreign investor buying
  • Maaya Rajeshwaran reaches WTA-level quarter-final. The 17-year-old Indian defeated Poland's Weronika Falkowska 6-4, 6-3, becoming the first Indian woman since Sania Mirza in 2012 to reach a quarter-final at a WTA Tour-level singles event
  • Tanvi Patri reaches Youth Olympics badminton final. The 15-year-old defeated Japan's Yuzuno Watanabe in the semi-final, assuring India of a medal and becoming the first Indian badminton player to reach the girls' singles final at the Youth Olympics
  • India beat Pakistan 3-2 in SAFF Championship. India defeated Pakistan in a closely contested match, having led 3-0 before conceding two late goals. The victory was reported as a significant result for India's second-string side
  • India beat Japan 4-1 to win a record sixth Asian Champions Trophy. India recovered from an early deficit to defeat Japan in the final at Mohali, extending its record as the tournament's most successful men's team
  • The Supreme Court issued notice to the Centre and the Election Commission on a petition challenging Section 16 of the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners Act, 2023, which grants the CEC and Election Commissioners protection from legal proceedings for acts performed in their official duties. The petition argues that such blanket immunity could leave citizens without an effective remedy for alleged wrongdoing by the Commission
  • The Supreme Court told voters whose names were deleted from Delhi's draft electoral rolls not to be apprehensive about seeking re-enrolment through Form 6, after the Election Commission assured it that such applicants would not be prosecuted merely because their names had appeared in earlier rolls
  • Congress leader Rahul Gandhi opened the party's campaign for the 2027 Punjab Assembly elections with an Insaaf rally in Sangrur, Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's home district, accusing the AAP government of failing to control drugs, gangster violence and corruption. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge outlined six commitments, including a drug-free Punjab, protection of farmers, employment for young people and action against corruption
  • Rahul Gandhi accused the AAP government of running Punjab through a remote control from Delhi and questioned Bhagwant Mann's ability to tackle drug abuse, making personal allegations about the Chief Minister's conduct during their time together in Parliament
Stock markets on fire due to US results, Sensex gains 2008 points to reach its highest level in 8 months
oppn parties
Who Will Win Bengal

By Sunil Garodia
First publised on 2026-04-28 15:15:32

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Editor-in-Chief of indiacommentary.com. Current Affairs analyst and political commentator. Author of Cyber Scams in India, Digital Arrest, The Money Trap and The Human Hack

The battle for Bengal enters its decisive phase tomorrow. The people of Bengal will vote in the second phase of the assembly elections in 142 seats that fall in the industrialised, urban belt of south Bengal. The stakes are high for Trinamool Congress (TMC) as most of its ministers, including chief minister Mamata Banerjee, are contesting from these seats. For the BJP, buoyed as it is by the exceptional voting percentage in the first phase, this is the time to gauge whether its message of change has hit home.

 

This is also the belt where the maximum impact of SIR has been felt. Although both the Election Commission (EC) and the BJP have taken pains to point out that a majority of the deletions have been for voters who are either dead or have moved out of the state, the TMC has changed the narrative to focus on the names who are living and disenfranchised. They are not small in number and despite the judicial intervention, have been left out due to the unique 'logical discrepancy' clause inserted by the EC for Bengal only. The BJP is hoping to benefit from the cleaning-up of the electoral rolls.

 

Meanwhile, both TMC and the BJP are extremely confident of winning. Opinion polls post-SIR have shown that it is going to be a neck-to-neck fight. PM Modi has campaigned extensively, drawing barbs from the TMC which has asked whether he wants to be the chief minister of Bengal. But in the absence of a charismatic local leader to match the drive of TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, the BJP is relying heavily on Modi's connect with the people. Didi, as Banerjee is universally known,  has also left no stone unturned in her attempt to stop the BJP from storming her bastion.

 

The TMC is confident that its welfare policies - marked by freebies to women, the girl-child and senior citizens, along with the recently announced dole for the jobless (for which nearly 84 lakh youths registered) and its hold over its Muslim vote bank will see it through. The BJP, on the other hand, is banking on anti-incumbency (the TMC is in power for the last 15 years), the politics of fear, cut-money and protection of rapists (the famous R G Kar case and the Law College case) and the alleged state of decay in the state to bring the TMC to heel. 

Other Stories You Make Like

Editorials

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

A Bench in Chennai Is Not the Answer to a Bench in Every Capital

 Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

Gold At Astana Must Become a System, Not a Story

In Depth

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Grounds Of Arrest: The Supreme Court's Rule Must Be Followed By The Police On The Ground

Editor's Pick

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along

For the Goonj to Reverberate, Rahul Gandhi Must Take Regional Parties Along
© 2014 India Commentary. All rights reserved.