Himanta Biswa Sarma (Image/ANI) GUWAHATI: Twin blows at the top. Gaurav Gogoi and Debabrata Saikia defeated. A campaign built on sharp attacks — including on CM’s family — and a pitch for justice for Zubeen Garg. Little to show at the ballot. Congress is left with a narrow, largely Muslim-majority base and shrinking reach in…
GUWAHATI: The scent of success wore off. Badruddin Ajmal’s AIUDF, once the principal voice of Muslim minorities in Assam, has crashed from 16 seats in the assembly to just two, signalling a sharp erosion of its political relevance as BJP’s wider sweep and Congress’ consolidation redraw the map.The 70-year-old businessman-politician, whose family-run fragrance house, Ajmal…
West Bengal outcome may realign New Delhi-Kolkata-Dhaka tiesKOLKATA: On a day Trinamool was dismantled, the hammer blow for the party landed at the fag end – with Mamata Banerjee losing her bastion of Bhabanipur to BJP’s Suvendu Adhikari by 15,105 votes.For 15 years, it had been her home turf, a constituency she shaped and returned…
KOLKATA: The Kolkata fortress of Trinamool Congress was breached on Monday, leaving a trail of high-profile casualties that included party chief Mamata Banerjee.In a staggering reversal of 2021 – when it swept all 11 Kolkata seats – Trinamool was reduced to a mere five. The city’s southern suburbs voted for change, handing over its strongholds…
Delimited seats give saffron party a multiplier effectDelimitation proved the wild card in Assam’s first assembly poll since the boundaries of constituencies were redrawn in 2023, cutting the number of Muslim-majority seats from 35 to 22 to leave BJP’s two main rivals — Congress and AIUDF — fighting an existential battle against each other. Although…
Throughout the campaign, Mamata Banerjee leaned on her 2021 playbook, asserting that she was the ‘sole candidate’ across all 294 seats. This time, however, the strategy that had fended off anti-incumbency backfired. Voters were not going to make the same mistake again.In a political earthquake that ended 15 years of Trinamool Congress dominance in Bengal,…
PUDUCHERRY: : A fragmented opposition, All India NR Congress (AINRC) founder and chief minister N Rangasamy’s charisma and his govt’s freebies ensured NDA retained office inPuducherry. Opposition parties failed to present a unified front against the AINRC-BJPAIADMK-LJK combine. Congress fielded candidates in five constituencies allotted to DMK, causing confusion among functionaries, cadres and voters. NDA…
Congress overcomes weak organisation with united frontThe Congress-led UDF swept back into govt in Kerala on Monday after a 10-year hiatus, riding a largerthan-expected anti-incumbency wave across the state against the Pinarayi Vijayan govt. UDF won 102 seats in the 140-member legislative assembly. The magnitude of the victory surprised even the winners. The major factor…
KOLKATA: : An uncharacteristic silence descended upon the otherwise bustling arteries of central and north Kolkata. As TV screens flashed saffron, signalling a historic and decisive victory for BJP, the chaos of Smith Lane, Dedar Baux Lane and Abdul Hamid Lane in central Kolkata was replaced by a watchful, heavy silence, report Zeeshan Javed &…
NEW DELHI: “Banglaye poriborton hoye gechhe (change has happened in Bengal),” said a triumphant PM Narendra Modi, clad in traditional Bengali attire of ‘dhuti-panjabi’, in his victory speech at BJP headquarters here on Monday, hailing the party’s maiden win in state as a new dawn in Bengal.“This is a declaration of the country’s bright future,”…
