"trinamool-congress"

After the EC on Monday barred Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee from campaigning for 24 hours, her party claimed that the poll panel was behaving like a 'wing of the BJP'.

The ban comes into force ahead of the fifth phase of Assembly polls in the state on April 17.

The Chief Minister had said that she will hold a protest rally in Cooch Behar on Sunday against the firing incident and visit the homes of the deceased.

TMC Rajya Sabha MP Dola Sen said the BJP is playing mind games and resorting to pressure tactics.

The youth, identified as Anand Burman, was dragged outside polling booth number 85 in Pathantuli area of Sitalkuchi while voting was underway and shot dead.

"It is extremely unfortunate that political battles are thus sought to be fought in this manner instead of being fought in the campaign trail," the EC observed.

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A total of eight people have been arrested in connection with the incident, Police added. The deceased's brother Samiran Dolui demanded a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) inquiry in the case.

Electorates, including men, women and the first-time voters, reached polling stations well before voting began at 7 a.m.

In her three page letter, Mamata Banerjee stated that it was time for all the Opposition parties to come together to repel the BJP's attack on democracy and the Constitution.

The Trinamool Congress is projected to win Bengal with a vote share of 42.1 per cent, a marginal swing away of 2.8 per cent

"We are being called 'tourists', fun is being made of us, we are being insulted. Didi, people of Rabindranath's Bengal don't consider anybody outsider," Modi added.

Veteran TMC MP Sisir Adhikari - father of Suvendu Adhikari - joined the BJP at Egra on Sunday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the party.

Earlier in the day, Adhikari had asserted that his son Suvendu, locked in a fierce battle with Chief Minister and TMC boss Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram, will bag the seat at ease.

"No other government in the world has been able to do as much work as ours. Their (BJP) prime minister cannot run the country, totally incompetent," she said.

Banerjee was injured on March 10 following which she was admitted to SSKM hospital in Kolkata.

The TMC had announced it will release its manifesto on March 9 but later decided to postpone it to March 11 due to the Kolkata fire incident which claimed nine lives.

The country is facing an unprecedented situation today. The strength of democracy lies in the strength of the institutions of democracy. All these institutions including the judiciary have become weak now, said Sinha, right after joining TMC.

Prominent faces among the Congress star campaigners are Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra