West Bengal

New Delhi, May 3 (PTI) The BJP on Monday alleged that four of its workers were killed in West Bengal after the state assembly poll results, as it hit out at Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for violence targeting its members and supporters.

In a tweet, BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya, who is the party's in-charge for the state, said its four workers have been killed and over 4,000 houses ransacked in incidents of post-poll result violence.

Kolkata, May 3 (PTI) Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee will be sworn in as the chief minister of West Bengal for the third time on May 5 at Raj Bhavan, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar said on Monday.

Only a few invitees will be present at the programme because of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, he said.

Earlier, Banerjee tendered her resignation from the office of the chief minister to the governor following norms.

Burdwan/Jalpaiguri/Kolkata, May 3 (PTI) There were reports of post poll violence from various parts of West Bengal on Monday, including in the city, barely a day after the result of the hotly contested state assembly poll was declared and rivals TMC and BJP traded charges.

Purba Bardhaman district witnessed the killing of four pople allegedly in clashes between the TMC and the BJP, official sources said on Monday.

Kolkata, May 3 (PTI) West Bengal's COVID-19 tally went up to 8,80,894 on Monday after 17,501 more people tested positive for the virus, while Kolkata reported its highest one-day spike of 3,990 cases, the health department said in a bulletin.

It said that 98 fresh fatalities took the death toll to 11,637.

In the last 24 hours, 15,937 recoveries have been registered in West Bengal, taking the total number of cured people to 749,296.

The number of active cases now is 119,961, the bulletin said.

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday said combating the COVID-19 situation will be the topmost priority of her government and dedicated her party's resounding victory to the people of the state.

"For us, combating the COVID-19 situation will be the topmost priority... This is victory of Bengal and only Bengal can do it ," she said in her brief message to party workers.

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) BJP Sunday congratulated Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress for winning the West Bengal assembly election for the third successive term and assured that the saffron party will work as a constructive opposition.

BJP will cooperate with the government in all its pro-people activities, the party's state vice-president Jay Prakash Majumdar said.

"We will play the role of an active, responsible opposition party in West Bengal," he said.

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) She's the soldier, she the commander and she the army.

The distinction between Mamata Banerjee the leader and TMC the party evaporated into nothingness as she conquered West Bengal fighting the BJP's election war machine led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah almost single-handedly.

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) In Nandigram, which was the cynosure of all eyes due to its high octane election, BJP star candidate Suvendu Adhikari on Sunday outsmarted TMC supremo and West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee by a margin of 1,956 votes to emerge the winner in the constituency, the Election Commission said.

While Adhikari bagged 1,10,764 votes, Banerjee, his one time mentor, managed 1,08,808 votes, the poll panel confirmed.

CPI(M)'s Minakshi Mukherjee finished in a distant third position polling just 6,267 votes, the EC website said.

(Reuters) --- The incumbent chief minister's party in India's West Bengal state has defeated Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party in a state election held as the coronavirus pandemic surged to crisis levels.

Modi has been criticised for focusing on the elections instead of making the pandemic his top priority.

Kolkata, May 2 (PTI) The ruling Trinamool Congress looks set to retain power in West Bengal with its candidates leading in 202 of the state's 292 seats that went to poll against the BJP's 79, as trends were available for 286 seats.

Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee was, however, trailing her former protege-turned-BJP rival Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram by over 8,000 votes.