FEATURE STORY
The Election Commission on Thursday appointed returning officers for all 294 assembly constituencies in poll-bound West Bengal.
The attacker, who made a failed assassination attempt on the life of ruling National Conference president and three-time former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah at a marriage function in Jammu, has told police during investigation that he wanted to kill Abdullah from last 20 years.
In a fresh set of directions, the Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the setting up of independent appellate tribunals, headed by former high court judges, to hear appeals against exclusions from voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal.
Just hours before the 2026 election bugle was sounded, Bengal’s Mamata Banerjee announced a ₹500 hike for Hindu priests and Muslim muezzins. By approving all new applications and raising monthly payments to ₹2,000, the TMC government has secured a final outreach to the state’s spiritual leaders before the Model Code of Conduct halted all new policy moves.
