Bengal
Surinder Koli, the prime accused in the infamous 2006 Nithari serial killings who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2025, was found dead in Haridwar on September 18. The incident followed a national seminar in Visakhapatnam where senior jurists and media professionals scrutinized investigative lapses by the CBI and questioned the lack of media follow-up for the victims’ families.
In a startling turn of events, Surinder Koli, the prime accused in the 2006 Nithari serial killings who was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2025, was found dead inside his Haridwar tea stall on September 18. The incident closely follows a national seminar in Visakhapatnam where senior jurists and experts scrutinized the press and the CBI over systemic investigative failures that denied justice to victim families.
The Election Commission of India has frozen the Trinamool Congress name and ‘Flowers & Grass’ symbol for the October 6 bypolls, assigning separate interim designations to factions led by Mamata Banerjee and Arup Roy. Amid an urgent Supreme Court challenge by the party supremo, an emerging Congress-Mamata alignment has prompted the resignation of Trinamool’s Nandigram nominee.
Ahead of the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has launched the ‘Matri Shakti Bharosa Card’, a key welfare promise aimed at women voters in the state. The initiative was unveiled in Kolkata on April 15, 2026, by senior BJP leader Smriti Irani as part of the party’s broader election campaign.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Vinesh Chandel, co-founder and director of political consultancy firm I-PAC, in connection with a money laundering probe linked to the alleged West Bengal coal scam. The arrest comes just days ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections, triggering political reactions.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that it cannot allow people whose appeals against exclusion from the voter list are pending to vote in the upcoming West Bengal elections.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Sunday, April 12, 2026, detained West Bengal Assembly candidate Sayem Chowdhury and arrested Indian Secular Front (ISF) member Golam Rabbani in Malda for their alleged involvement in the violent gherao of judicial officials earlier this month. The central agency acted following a Supreme Court directive to investigate the April 1 incident in the Motabhari area, where a mob protesting the deletion of names from the electoral roll held seven judicial officers hostage for over eight hours. The suspects were apprehended after video analysis placed them at the scene of the agitation, which the apex court described as a “complete failure” of the state’s law and order machinery.
Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s grandnephew, Chandra Kumar Bose, who quit the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2023, on Sunday (April 12, 2026) joined the Trinamool Congress. Ahead of the West Bengal Assembly polls, Mr. Bose said his earlier decision to join the BJP was a “historic mistake.”
The political climate in West Bengal has reached a fever pitch as Prime Minister Modi launched a triple-strike campaign today. From Katwa to Murshidabad, the PM’s message was clear: a “white paper” on TMC corruption and a total overhaul of law and order. With promises of ₹3,000 monthly for women and a hardline stance on infiltration, the BJP is positioning the 2026 election as a crusade to restore Bengal’s former glory and bring a final end to syndicate culture.
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