“If 10 per cent of the electorate does not vote and the winning margin is more than 10 per cent…what will happen? Suppose margin is 2 per cent and 15 per cent of the electorate who are mapped could not vote, then maybe… we are not expressing any opinion, but we would definitely have to apply our minds,” observed Justice Joymalya Bagchi in the Supreme Court during hearing of petitions challenging SIR.

Justice Bagchi's half-articulated apprehension appears to be borne out by the results of the West Bengal Assembly elections declared on Monday, 4 May.

'In 105 seats that the Bharatiya Janata Party won in West Bengal, the total number of voters deleted during the special intensive revision exceeds its margin of victory,' reported a data analysis by Scroll.

In a separate analysis The Wire reported, 'In 150 seats, more than half of West Bengal’s 294, total deletions were greater than victory margins, and BJP won 99. In 2021, it had won just 19 of these.' 

The bulk of these 105 seats have never been won before by the BJP. Banerjee’s party ended up losing 129 seats it had held to the BJP. The Hindutva party, on the other hand, won every single seat that it had won five years ago.

The analysis by both the portals underscores that of the 105 seats, 86 were never won by the BJP. Bengal has 294 Assembly seats in all, and the BJP secured a two-thirds majority to end outgoing chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s 15-year reign in the state. Both the news portals cited several results to indicate how SIR may have affected the final outcome.

1. The Indus seat in Bankura was won by the BJP this time by just 900 votes. SIR had deleted 7,515 voters in the constituency.

2. BJP won the Jadavpur Assembly seat in south Kolkata by a margin of 27,716 votes. The SIR excluded more than 56,000 names in the constituency, a stronghold of the CPI(M), which polled a little over 41,000 votes.

3. Aroop Biswas, a minister in the outgoing government, lost the Tollygunge seat by 6,013 votes. The total number of voters deleted by SIR was 37,889.

4. Mamata Banerjee also lost her Bhabanipur seat to BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari by 15,105 votes, while the SIR had deleted over 51,000 voters.

5. In Satgachhia, the BJP’s victory margin was 401 votes while there were 17,669 ASDD deletions and 8,785 'under adjudication' voters were found ineligible

6. In Rajarhat New Town, the BJP’s victory margin of 316 votes followed over 63,000 total deletions.

7. In Raina, BJP won by 834 votes, while total deletions crossed 23,000.

8. In Jangipur, BJP won by 10,542, while deletions stood at 36,581 in a constituency with over 51 per cent Muslim population.

In West Bengal, SIR was a contentious exercise which dragged on for six months until days before polling and culminated in a total of about 91 lakh names being deleted, shrinking the state’s voter rolls by nearly 12 per cent. Of the 91 lakh total deletions, at least 34 lakh voters are known to have filed petitions against their deletion before appellate tribunals which will take a year or, according to some estimates, 10 years to complete the process.

Nitin Sethi, founder of Reporters’ Collective, which has conducted several forensic examinations of SIR since it was first conducted in Bihar from June 2025, said in a statement on Wednesday: 'If you are reading others on this (the impact of SIR on Bengal results), I would advise you to consider if the following have been parsed and factored in:

1. The 2025 or previous voter lists, the historical and accumulated problems in that and the patterns of those problems.

2. The actual process of how deletions, detection of doubtful voters through the software happened at different states (and it did keep on changing).

3. Overlap this with the organic voter shift in favour of BJP.

4. Actively avoiding confirmation bias while building assumptions and conclusions drawn from correlations.

'I am yet to see any cogent argument or reportage that acknowledges taking these four into account while concluding, by allusion or directly, how significant SIR's impact is on any party's votes in the state in a quantifiable manner across the state.

'That said, the SIR, as done in West Bengal and largely condoned by SC (in fact, enabled by it), regardless of how it impacted any political party's fortunes, is a dangerous and deeply worrisome precedent for voters and citizens in India. It sets a paradigm that endangers the fabric of electoral politics, democratic integrity, and citizen right in India. Regardless of who the voter today or tomorrow votes for.'

The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Wednesday permitted withdrawal of prosecution against BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) MLA Ram Chander Yadav in a 2012 case linked to violence during an idol immersion procession in Ayodhya.

A bench of Justice Rajeev Singh allowed petitions filed by the BJP legislator and the Uttar Pradesh government, and quashed a lower court order passed on 16 December 2022 which had rejected the plea for withdrawal of prosecution.

According to the prosecution case, violence broke out on 24 October 2012 in the Rudauli area of Ayodhya during an idol immersion procession after tensions escalated between two groups amid heavy congestion in the area. Police had alleged that members of the two communities pelted stones at each other during the clash, resulting in injuries to several police personnel.

An FIR registered in the matter accused Ram Chander Yadav, who was then the local MLA, of allegedly provoking the crowd through inflammatory remarks.

The Uttar Pradesh government, led by the BJP, moved an application in 2020 seeking withdrawal of prosecution in the case. However, the trial court rejected the plea in 2022, following which the matter reached the high court.

While allowing the withdrawal application, the high court observed that the public prosecutor had independently examined the matter and sought withdrawal in “good faith” and in the interest of justice.

The court also noted that the allegations against the MLA were largely based on statements made by co-accused persons during the investigation.

The bench observed that withdrawal of prosecution could only be permitted when it advances the ends of justice and does not run contrary to public policy or the administration of justice.

An engineer from IIT-Bombay, Himanshu Thakkar is currently the coordinator of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP) and the editor of Dams, Rivers & People. He has been associated with the water and environment sector for more than 25 years and has worked closely with the World Commission on Dams, the Narmada Bachao Andolan and the Centre for Science and Environment. Rashme Sehgal draws him out on India’s ill-conceived river-linking projects:

Prime Minister Modi says interlinking the Ken river (in Madhya Pradesh) to the Betwa (in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh) will help irrigate 1.06 million hectares, provide drinking water to 6.2 million people and generate 130 MW of hydropower and solar energy. Are these valid claims?

The Ken-Betwa Link Project (KBLP) that PM Modi laid the foundation for in December 2024 does not have (valid) forest or wildlife clearances. Let me clarify. Both clearances were on the condition that the hydropower component would be taken out of the protected area. But it hasn’t been done.

The hydrological figures remain a state secret and have not been peer reviewed or put out in the public domain. There is absolutely no basis to conclude that Ken has surplus water and Betwa is water-deficient. Worse, the project documents do not even look at far cheaper, quicker, less destructive alternatives. To paraphrase what PM Modi said in the context of the Polavaram dam, politicians think of dams as ATMs.

The environmental impact assessment of the project is so shoddy it hasn’t even properly studied the impact on the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR). When the MoEF (ministry of environment and forests) expert appraisal committee (EAC) on river valley projects refused to clear the project after four meetings, Uma Bharati (then Union water resources minister) threatened a dharna.

The ministry then reconstituted the EAC, with S.K. Jain as chairman, and cleared the Ken-Betwa project in its very first meeting in December 2016, overruling the reasons for refusal. The same S.K. Jain went on to become director-general of the project.

The forest advisory committee (FAC) and the Supreme Court-appointed central empowered committee (CEC) argued forcefully against the project, but the CEC report was not even considered by the apex court!

Senior foresters had warned against building a dam on the Ken and a connecting canal between the two rivers. The Betwa already has seven dams on it and none provide the amount of irrigation water being claimed by the irrigation department.

The official minutes of the FAC meeting note that the project will involve felling 46 lakh trees (each of a girth greater than 20 cm) from the forest area alone. This will have a huge hydrological impact, besides adversely impacting the environment, biodiversity and climate of this entire region. But none of these impacts have been properly assessed.

The FAC and the National Board for Wildlife (NBWL) had recommended the height of the dam be reduced, and all inflows into the dam be released as environment flows in non-monsoon months. It wanted an independent assessment of the claim that there is no alternative for Bundelkhand. The CEC report had conclusively proved that this claim was false.

The project was sold with one USP: that it would solve Bundelkhand’s water problem. But from the very beginning, the detailed project report (DPR) showed that the key objective of the project was to facilitate water transport to the upper Betwa basin areas like Raisen and Vidisha. So, the Ken-Betwa project will in fact facilitate export of water out of drought-prone Bundelkhand!

The project lays down a plan to irrigate 6.35 lakh hectares of farmland in six districts (three each in MP and UP) at a cost of Rs 45,000 crore, besides providing jobs in construction and tourism.

There is no hydrological justification for spending Rs 45,000 crore. The ground reality is that this interlinking is not about helping the tribal people of this region or even those living in the downstream areas of UP’s Banda district. Most of Bundelkhand has an average annual rainfall of over 900 mm, which if harvested can solve Bundelkhand’s water problems.

Far better alternatives exist. Four decades ago, Bundelkhand was not known for water stress. It was a region of dense forests and good local water systems. Continuous neglect has led to the present situation and the project will end up destroying the hydrological backbone of the Ken.

Recent studies show that the gap between the so-called surplus and deficit basins has narrowed, which further negates the justification for ILR (inter-linking of rivers).

Studies have also shown that ILR projects can adversely impact the thermal and temperature gradient in the Bay of Bengal and Indian Ocean, thereby impacting our monsoons, but the government has chosen to ignore all this data.

But the government is planning river-linking at scale — in Punjab, Kerala, Telangana... Is it even feasible?

The ILR concept is flawed. The suggestion that floods indicate water surplus and drought means water deficit is flawed. By that logic, parts of Rajasthan are water surplus these days, as they have excess rainfall, and parts of Meghalaya, the home of rain-clouds, are water-deficit.

Water-intensive crops like sugarcane and paddy can turn any area drought-prone. So, the [ILR] concept itself is flawed. As [flawed as] the notion that water flowing into the sea is a waste. Rivers are supposed to flow to the sea, and estuaries, where the river meets the sea, are the most fertile and biodiverse areas.

All states are ready to accept water from another state, but no state wants to give water to another state — the party in power would consider it suicidal.

The Ken-Betwa project will submerge 6,017 ha. of forest land in the heart of the Panna Tiger Reserve (PTR). The Ken Gharial Sanctuary is also endangered.

The adverse impact of the project on the PTR is well documented even in the official CEC report. PTR is home to tigers, leopards, sloth bears, chinkara, chausinga, wolves, the mugger crocodile, the long-snouted gharial, mahseer fish and several species of raptors. Striped hyenas, civet cats, jackals, foxes, nilgai, chital, sambar, wild pigs, langurs and rhesus monkeys are also found in the area.

The massive dam is bound to isolate the upstream aquatic fauna, directly impacting the breeding habits of the aquatic life forms both upstream and downstream of the dam.

What is not so well known is that the project will also destroy some of the geological wonders of India. Raneh Falls, just downstream from the proposed dam site is described as India’s mini Grand Canyon and mini-Niagara. This wonderful geological site is likely to be permanently destroyed.

You’ve been vocal on the urgent need for an overhaul of the institu-tional architecture of our water sector, on disbanding the Central Water Commission.

The CWC has a large number of conflicting functions and responsibilities and its record is very poor — in areas like hydrology, geomorphology, rivers, dam safety and design, flood forecasting, flood management and early warning systems, which are supposed to be its core competency areas. The CWC functions more like a lobby for large dams with practically no accountability.

The state of our water resources is worrisome. We have meandered along using groundwater as our back-up. Groundwater is our water lifeline.

Ninety per cent of the additional water India has used in the past 50 years was groundwater — where the CWC has no role. In the shadow of the CWC’s dam advocacy, our local water systems, rivers, wetlands have been completely neglected and destroyed. This has had a hugely adverse impact on groundwater recharge, which is fast approaching an ICU-like situation.

What kind of local water management solutions should we go for?

Local, participatory management has to be the backbone of water governance. It must extend to all aspects of monitoring, managing, developing water resources, including groundwater, rivers, local water systems as also rainfall monitoring and sand mining. Rainwater harvesting, groundwater recharge, water budgeting and selection of appropriate crops are all best left to local communities.

Ted Turner, the outspoken American media mogul who founded CNN and reshaped global television journalism through the world’s first 24-hour news channel, died peacefully on Wednesday surrounded by family members, according to a statement issued by Turner Enterprises. He was 87.

Turner, widely known as the architect of continuous television news coverage, launched CNN on 1 June 1980 despite widespread scepticism within the media industry. The network went on to revolutionise real-time broadcasting and became one of the most influential news organisations in the world.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 19 November 1938, Turner built a sprawling media empire that eventually included cable television networks, film libraries, sports franchises and international broadcasting ventures. His outspoken personality earned him the nickname “The Mouth of the South”.

CNN Worldwide chairman and chief executive Mark Thompson described Turner as the “presiding spirit” of CNN.

“Ted was an intensely involved and committed leader, intrepid, fearless and always willing to back a hunch and trust his own judgement,” Thompson said in a statement.

Turner is survived by his five children, 14 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

Built CNN into global news force

Turner entered the media business after taking charge of his father’s billboard company, Turner Outdoor Advertising, following his father’s death in 1963. He later acquired radio stations before moving into television broadcasting through the purchase of a struggling Atlanta television station in 1970.

In 1976, Turner transformed the station into cable television’s first “superstation” by transmitting its signal nationwide through satellite distribution. The move dramatically expanded his reach and laid the foundation for his larger ambitions in broadcasting.

He subsequently acquired the Atlanta Braves baseball team and the Atlanta Hawks basketball franchise, partly to secure long-term programming for his television operations.

Turner’s biggest gamble came with the launch of CNN, a dedicated round-the-clock news channel at a time when most television news was limited to scheduled evening bulletins. Critics initially dismissed the venture, but Turner argued there was a growing audience unable to watch traditional broadcasts due to work schedules.

CNN later expanded globally through the launch of CNN International in 1985 and additional networks such as Headline News, later known as HLN. Turner also expanded into entertainment broadcasting with channels including Turner Network Television, Turner Classic Movies and Cartoon Network.

Gulf War coverage established CNN’s dominance

CNN’s global influence expanded sharply during the 1990–91 Gulf War, when it became the first television network to broadcast live coverage from Baghdad during the conflict. The coverage established the network as a major international news platform and demonstrated the power of continuous live broadcasting.

In 1991, TIME named Turner its “Man of the Year”, citing his influence on global media and international communication.

In 1996, Turner sold his media empire to Time Warner in a deal valued at nearly USD 7.5 billion, though he continued to serve as vice-chairman for several years.

However, the later merger between Time Warner and AOL turned into one of the most criticised corporate mergers in US history after the collapse of the dot-com boom. Turner eventually resigned from the company in 2003 after losing operational influence and suffering major financial losses linked to declining stock valuations.

Personal struggles and philanthropy

Turner’s personal life was marked by multiple family tragedies, including the suicide of his father and the prolonged illness and death of his sister. Friends and associates often described those experiences as central to shaping his personality and relentless drive.

He married actor and activist Jane Fonda in 1991. The couple divorced after a decade together but remained close friends.

Beyond media, Turner became known internationally for philanthropy, environmental activism and wildlife conservation. In 1997, he pledged USD 1 billion to support United Nations-related initiatives and later established the United Nations Foundation.

He also founded organisations focused on nuclear disarmament, endangered species conservation and environmental education, including the Captain Planet Foundation.

Turner eventually became one of the largest private landowners in North America, owning vast ranch properties across several US states and Argentina. He also played a major role in reviving bison populations in the American west through one of the world’s largest private bison herds.

In 2018, Turner disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia, a progressive neurological disorder. Earlier in 2025, he was hospitalised with pneumonia before later recovering at a rehabilitation facility.

The language controversy in Maharashtra shows no signs of fading. Opposition has erupted over proposals to teach Marathi to migrant taxi and autorickshaw drivers. Before that, the state witnessed protests against the introduction of Hindi from Classes 1 to 5 under the three-language formula. Now, the latest flashpoint is a proposed Hindi proficiency examination for gazetted officers and non-gazetted government employees.

The examination, scheduled for 28 June, has been postponed after strong opposition from the Thackeray brothers and several pro-Marathi groups. Facing mounting criticism, the Devendra Fadnavis government has temporarily deferred the test.

This was not the first time such an examination was to be conducted. Under the Maharashtra Civil Services (Hindi Language Examination) Rules, 1976, government officials and employees have long been required to demonstrate knowledge of Hindi. The rule makes Hindi proficiency compulsory for government service.

Employees who had not studied Hindi as a subject up to Class 10 during their schooling were required to pass the Hindi language examination within a stipulated period after joining service. Failure to clear the examination could lead to penalties such as withholding of salary increments or obstacles in promotions.

Language director Arun Gite had issued a notification announcing that the examination would be held on 28 June in Mumbai, Pune, Nagpur and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. Applications were to be submitted by 20 May.

However, the notification triggered a fresh political and cultural debate over language priorities in the state, with critics describing it as an attempt to impose Hindi.

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray criticised the move in a post on X, writing: “The decision to conduct a Hindi language proficiency examination for officers and employees serving in the Maharashtra government is beyond comprehension. Maharashtra’s identity is linked to the Marathi language and culture. The question arises: whose interests are being served by this attempt to impose Hindi on state employees? Maharashtra will not accept this double standard of granting classical language status to Marathi while simultaneously imposing Hindi.”

Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) also issued an open warning to the Fadnavis government, saying that if the examination was conducted, the government would have to bear responsibility for any situation arising in the state.

Dr Deepak Pawar, president of the Marathi Abhyas Kendra, also criticised the move. He questioned the rationale behind testing employees’ Hindi proficiency when administrative communication in the state is already conducted in Marathi.

“Hindi is neither Maharashtra’s official language nor essential for day-to-day administration,” he argued, while also questioning whether similar examinations existed in non-Hindi-speaking states such as Tamil Nadu, Karnataka or Gujarat.

Calling the move unnecessary, Pawar alleged that it weakened Marathi and amounted to a waste of administrative resources. He demanded that the examination be scrapped altogether.

Amid the growing backlash, industries and Marathi language minister Uday Samant from the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction announced on Wednesday, 6 May that the examination had been cancelled for now.

“I discussed the matter with the department’s principal secretary, after which it was decided to postpone the examination. We will examine whether the Hindi examination is necessary in future. If it is not required, we will decide against conducting it,” Samant said.

He added that the examination had been conducted annually under the 1976 rules, but the government would now review whether those rules remained relevant in 2026 before taking any further decision.

An Instagram post from the Satwik-Chirag duo — a former badminton world no. 1 doubles pair — on their bronze medal finish in the Thomas Cup has become a talking point in India’s sporting circles. “Back home now. As usual, no one knows what happened over the past two weeks, and it seems like no one really cares,” the star shuttlers wrote, not holding back about the lack of awareness about non-cricket disciplines.

The angst is understandable as the Thomas Cup is the world team championship for men — where India had its second podium finish in four years after being champions in 2022. ‘’We are not a sporting nation yet,’’ said the strapping Chirag, referring to the lukewarm response all-round about their feat in Horsens, Denmark when they eventually went down 3-0 to France in the semi-final.

‘’Yes, we win a lot of medals, but we don’t celebrate our athletes the way we should. There is still a lot more that needs to be done. The government and sports bodies are already doing their bit but the ecosystem needs to start celebrating sporting achievements,” said the member of the duo who will be defending their Asian Games gold later this year.

Speaking at a selected virtual media interaction hosted by Sports Authority of India (SAI) on Tuesday, both Chirag and senior singles player H.S. Prannoy echoed similar sentiments.

"I don’t know what else we will have to do to catch people’s imagination. The government has certainly done enough in terms of funding etc but we need to promote the sport on the whole,’’ remarked Prannoy, the 34-year-old star from Hyderabad.

‘’It’s called the Thomas Cup and it’s the world championship but there is no prize money involved. There is prize money for all other BWF Tour events and the governing body should think about it,’’ Prannoy added.

Chirag, however, hastened to add: ‘’The last time we won the Thomas Cup, we did get a reception. I landed in Mumbai and there were plenty of people who came to receive us. We also met the prime minister and had a reception at his house and we were felicitated by the association as well.”

This is not the first time he has spoken about about the stepmotherly approach to other disciplines, though. His comments after the T20 World Cup prize money for the Indian team in 2024 raised a valid point about the gap in how achievements in badminton and other disciplines are celebrated.

“I feel the way it should have been celebrated (India's Thomas Cup bronze), it didn’t get celebrated as much. The fans who actually follow badminton and understand the sport knew how big the tournament was, but the general public still didn’t really know the magnitude of the result. That sometimes makes me sad,” Chirag added.

“When you achieve something like this and there isn’t enough recognition, it becomes very difficult for players to stay convinced and motivated every time. We spend two-and-a-half to three weeks preparing and playing as a team the question comes up — what is the value of doing this?,” Prannoy said. “When there isn’t enough support from fans or recognition from the media, it becomes tough to keep doing this repeatedly. For senior players, convincing younger players to come together and do this for the country again becomes very difficult.”

Two explosions near key security establishments in Punjab within a span of three hours triggered a major security alert in the border state, with Punjab Police suspecting a possible Pakistan-backed attempt to create unrest ahead of the anniversary of Operation Sindoor.

The first blast occurred around 8 pm near the headquarters of the Border Security Force’s Punjab Frontier in Jalandhar, while the second took place close to the Army cantonment area in Khasa near Amritsar around 11 pm. No casualties were reported in either incident, according to police officials.

Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Gaurav Yadav said preliminary assessments pointed towards an attempt to destabilise the state and linked the timing of the incidents to the anniversary of Operation Sindoor.

“We assume that, as today is the Operation Sindoor anniversary, this is part of Pakistan’s ISI’s designs to cause disruptions in Punjab. Punjab is fighting a proxy war on behalf of the nation against Pakistan,” Yadav said.

The DGP said the explosion in Amritsar appeared to be a low-intensity blast and added that no organisation had formally claimed responsibility so far. However, he said the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) had claimed responsibility for the Jalandhar incident, though the claim was still being verified.

In Jalandhar, the explosion damaged a scooter parked outside the BSF headquarters, shattered windowpanes of a nearby shop and damaged a traffic signal pole. CCTV footage from the area reportedly showed an unidentified man running moments after the blast.

Police said the scooter belonged to Gurpreet Singh, who works as a parcel delivery agent in the area. Residents said they heard a loud blast-like sound before the vehicle caught fire.

Jalandhar Police Commissioner Dhanpreet Kaur said forensic teams had collected explosive residue samples from the site and sent them for laboratory examination.

“Our forensic teams have collected explosive swabs from here. We believe the blast was carried out using explosives,” she said, adding that investigators were examining CCTV footage and pursuing multiple leads.

Amritsar blast near cantonment raises alarm

In the second incident, Amritsar (Rural) Senior Superintendent of Police Suhail Mir Qasim said police received reports of a loud sound near a road in Khasa late Tuesday night. Preliminary findings suggested that an explosive device had been hurled towards the boundary wall near the cantonment area.

The impact reportedly damaged part of a tin-sheet structure attached to the wall. Bomb disposal squads and forensic experts later visited both blast sites to collect evidence and assess the nature of the explosives used.

The incidents come less than two weeks after another explosion targeted a freight corridor railway track in Shambhu in Patiala district on 27 April. Punjab Police had then arrested four alleged members of a pro-Khalistan terror module allegedly backed by Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

Political blame game intensifies

The explosions quickly escalated into a political confrontation between the ruling AAP (Aam Aadmi Party) government in Punjab and the BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party).

Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann described the incidents as “minor blasts” and accused the BJP of attempting to create instability in the state ahead of the next Assembly elections.

“The assembly elections are over in West Bengal, and they have said Punjab’s turn will come next. These minor blasts are part of their preparation for the Punjab Assembly elections,” Mann alleged.

In a later statement, Mann also claimed the incidents formed part of a deliberate attempt to destabilise Punjab after the state government passed its anti-sacrilege legislation.

The BJP strongly rejected the allegations.

BJP national spokesperson Sambit Patra termed Mann’s remarks “condemnable” and accused him of politicising a sensitive security issue without waiting for the outcome of the investigation.

“Punjab is a sensitive border state and every statement made by the chief minister carries significance,” Patra said while addressing a press conference in New Delhi.

Another BJP national spokesperson, Shehzad Poonawalla, alleged that the law and order situation in Punjab had deteriorated under the AAP government and cited previous incidents involving blasts, grenade attacks and gang violence.

Opposition parties in Punjab also criticised the state government over the incidents.

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal said repeated intelligence failures and the deteriorating law and order situation were matters of serious concern. Punjab Congress president Amrinder Singh Raja Warring also termed the back-to-back blasts “deeply alarming”.

The 2026 West Bengal Assembly election produced many dramatic results, but few were as revealing as the parallel rise of Suvendu Adhikari and Humayun Kabir. Though they operate in very different political spaces, both leaders followed a strikingly similar path: each contested two seats, each relied heavily on religious messaging, and each converted that approach into decisive victories.

Adhikari, a former TMC leader and minister who went on to become one of the BJP's most visible faces in Bengal, won both Nandigram and Bhabanipur. His Bhabanipur victory was especially notable, as he defeated chief minister Mamata Banerjee by more than 15,000 votes in what had been seen as a prestige battle. In Nandigram, he secured a margin of 9,665 votes. These results confirmed his position as a central figure in the BJP’s state strategy.

Kabir’s success, while on a smaller scale, was no less striking. Leading the newly formed Aam Janata Unnayan Party (AJUP), he won both Nowda and Rejinagar in Murshidabad district. His margins were substantial — nearly 28,000 votes in Nowda and an overwhelming 58,876 in Rejinagar. For a leader heading a fledgling party, this was an outcome few had predicted.

Before the election, expectations had been quite different. Adhikari was widely expected to retain Nandigram, but Bhabanipur was seen as far less certain. Kabir, on the other hand, was not widely expected to win even a single seat, especially after a sting operation video surfaced just days before the election, purportedly showing him receiving funds from the BJP. Yet both men outperformed those projections, suggesting that their campaign strategies resonated more deeply with voters than many analysts had anticipated.

A closer look at those strategies reveals a clear common thread: both leaders placed religious identity at the centre of their campaigns. Adhikari’s rhetoric consistently framed the election as a moment of Hindu consolidation. During the campaign, he declared, “All Hindus are voting for the BJP,” and frequently warned, “Hindus must rise, unite, and vote for the BJP — or Bengal will turn into another Bangladesh.” Once the results were announced, he reiterated that the BJP had achieved “a consolidation of both Hindu and Adivasi votes”.

Kabir’s messaging mirrored this approach, though it was directed at Muslim voters. He repeatedly accused Banerjee of taking Muslim support for granted while pursuing Hindu religious projects. “Mamata Banerjee takes Muslim votes and builds temples after becoming chief minister three times,” he said during the campaign.

Positioning himself as a defender of minority interests and promising the construction of a Babri Masjid, he added, “When she does things for Hindus, won’t I work for Muslims?” In another controversial remark cited during the election, he suggested that if Muslim voters shifted away from Banerjee, “she will not be in power”.

These statements underline how both leaders used religious identity not as a background factor, but as the organising principle of their campaigns. Political analysts have described the 2026 election as “highly polarised”, with some pointing to “unprecedented Hindu consolidation” alongside a parallel consolidation of minority voters in certain regions.

Political analyst Sujit Chatterjee observed that what had once been limited to campaign rhetoric has now become “a more permanent, ground-level mobilisation”. This assessment helps explain why both Adhikari and Kabir were able to turn their messaging into concrete electoral gains.

The margins of victory further reinforce this point. Adhikari’s win in Bhabanipur, a high-profile urban seat, suggests that identity-based appeals extended beyond rural strongholds. Kabir’s landslide in Rejinagar, meanwhile, indicates an almost complete consolidation of support within his target base. In both cases, the results reflect disciplined voting patterns rather than fragmented or incidental support.

Despite these similarities, there are also important differences. Adhikari operates within the framework of a major national party and benefits from a broad organisational network. His campaign formed part of the BJP’s wider strategy in Bengal, which combined identity politics with issues such as governance, law and order, and corruption.

Kabir, by contrast, leads a small regional party with a limited geographical footprint. His influence is currently concentrated in parts of Murshidabad. However, his campaign has attracted attention not just for its success, but also for the political narrative it has generated. Opponents have suggested that his positioning may indirectly benefit the BJP by fragmenting opposition votes — a claim that remains contested but has gained traction in political discussions.

The broader impact of these developments is a deepening sense of polarisation in Bengal politics. Supporters of both leaders argue that their campaigns have brought clarity and representation, forcing attention on issues they believe had long been neglected. Critics, however, warn that such strategies risk turning elections into contests defined primarily by religious identity rather than governance.

Banerjee herself accused the BJP of attempting to win through “fraudulent methods”, reflecting the bitterness that marked the campaign. At the same time, analysts like Chatterjee have noted, “The dynamic of mutual consolidation — Hindu voters moving towards the BJP and minority voters rallying elsewhere — can create a cycle that is difficult to break.”

The victories of Suvendu Adhikari and Humayun Kabir, therefore, tell a larger story about the direction of politics in West Bengal. Two leaders from very different backgrounds used similar methods and achieved similar outcomes: they exceeded expectations, secured multiple seats, and demonstrated the electoral power of identity-based mobilisation.

What remains uncertain is the long-term effect of this shift. While such strategies may deliver short-term success, they also risk entrenching divisions that could shape the state’s political landscape for years to come.

Bangladesh Home Minister Salahuddin Ahmed  on 6 May expressed hope that incidents of people being pushed into Bangladesh from India would not increase following the BJP’s electoral victories in bordering Indian states.

“I hope no such incident will happen,” Ahmed told reporters when asked about fears of a rise in alleged “pushback” operations targeting people suspected of being illegal migrants.

He said the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) had been instructed to remain alert along the frontier.

Concerns after BJP victories

Ahmed’s remarks came a day after Khalilur Rahman warned that Dhaka would respond if new “push-in” incidents occurred following the political change in West Bengal, where the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) swept the Assembly elections.

The BJP also retained power in neighbouring Assam for a third consecutive term.

During the election campaign, BJP leaders repeatedly accused the previous All India Trinamool Congress government led by Mamata Banerjee of allowing illegal immigration from Bangladesh — allegations rejected by the TMC.

Debate over ‘pushback’ operations

The term “pushback” is commonly used in India to describe the forcible transfer of alleged undocumented migrants across the border, while Bangladeshi authorities refer to such actions as “push-ins”.

In recent years, several alleged pushback cases along the India-Bangladesh border have become contentious because Bangladeshi authorities and families claimed that many of those pushed across were actually Indian citizens — including Bengali-speaking Muslims from Indian states — and not Bangladeshi nationals.

Such allegations have surfaced particularly in border regions of Assam and other northeastern states, where citizenship verification drives and anti-infiltration campaigns have remained politically sensitive issues.

Dhaka has repeatedly sought verification mechanisms in disputed nationality cases, while Indian authorities have maintained that action is taken against illegal immigrants in accordance with domestic law.

Border tensions remain sensitive

The issue remains politically and diplomatically delicate for both countries, especially in border areas where communities often share linguistic, ethnic and familial ties across national boundaries.

Bangladesh officials said border forces would remain vigilant amid concerns that the post-election political climate in bordering Indian states could intensify attempts to identify and expel alleged undocumented migrants.

A day after Trinamool Congress (TMC) chief and outgoing West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee said she would not resign, alleging that the mandate in at least 100 Assembly seats had been “stolen”, the Congress has extended support to its long-time rival.

Despite contesting the recent West Bengal Assembly elections separately, the Congress has backed Banerjee’s claims and demanded repolling in nearly 100 constituencies where the number of deleted votes under the state's controversial special intensive revision (SIR) reportedly exceeds the victory margin.

Describing the situation as a “large-scale theft of mandate” through the “manipulation of electoral rolls”, Congress media and publicity department chief Pawan Khera termed it “institutionalised electoral predation” at a press conference in New Delhi on Wednesday, 6 May.

Addressing a press meet for the first time after securing anticipatory bail from the Supreme Court in a defamation case filed by Assam chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma’s wife, Khera said the INDIA bloc stands “unequivocally” with Banerjee.

“The INDIA alliance stands with Mamata Banerjee in this decisive moment of democratic crisis. Her resolve to strengthen the bloc reflects a wider national imperative — the defence of constitutional democracy against systematic sabotage,” Khera said.

He further alleged that “Assam and West Bengal are no longer witnessing flawed elections, but a captured democratic process”. Citing figures from the SIR in West Bengal, Khera claimed that around 91 lakh voters were deleted from the rolls, while 27 lakh citizens were denied the opportunity to be heard before any tribunal.

The Congress leader also invoked past elections to argue that such practices are part of a broader pattern. “This is not an isolated aberration. It is a well-established and repeatable Bharatiya Janata Party playbook, deployed in Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, and most brazenly during the 2024 Lok Sabha elections,” he said, alleging systematic voter manipulation and institutional capture.

“Statistically and structurally, roughly every sixth BJP member of Parliament out of 240 is the product of compromised electoral processes. It is engineered representation sustained through manipulation,” Khera added, repeating a claim made by Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday, 5 May.

Pointing to rising tensions in West Bengal, Khera alleged that violence and intimidation had already begun. “BJP elements are burning Opposition offices, assaulting candidates and workers, forcing shops to shut, and using loud DJ systems to play obscene songs as intimidation. There are also serious reports of threats, including of sexual violence, along with widespread beatings,” he claimed.

Responding to allegations that the Congress is becoming a “new Muslim League”, Khera said: “The BJP claims it does not need Muslim voters. The BJP has rejected Muslim voters, and Muslim voters, in turn, have rejected the BJP. In such a situation, when Muslims vote for a secular party, the BJP begins to complain about that as well. This suggests that the BJP is now attempting to assign colours to votes. The question is — does B.R. Ambedkar’s Constitution permit such thinking?”

In Assam, 17 out of 18 Congress MLAs are from the Muslim community, while in West Bengal, two Congress MLAs who won are also Muslims.

“While the Congress party has always ensured representation for all sections of society, the BJP has consistently targeted one community with divisive rhetoric,” he said. “The truth is that the BJP seeks to weaken every section of society — including Dalits, backward classes, tribals, and women.”

Earlier, the Congress said it has 664 MLAs across the country, of whom 520 (78 per cent) are Hindus, 80 (12 per cent) are Muslims, and 64 (10 per cent) belong to other religious communities.

The Uttar Pradesh government’s newly approved ‘One District, One Cuisine Scheme’ has triggered debate after the list of 208 identified signature dishes across the state excluded all non-vegetarian items, leaving out iconic foods such as Galawati kebab and Awadhi biryani.

The scheme, launched by Amit Shah during UP Day celebrations in Lucknow on 24 January and formally cleared by the state Cabinet on 4 May, aims to identify and promote region-specific culinary traditions across Uttar Pradesh’s 75 districts and 18 divisions.

However, the absence of any meat-based dish from the final list has raised questions among food experts and cultural commentators.

Lucknow gets rewari, not Galawati Kebab

Under the scheme, Lucknow has been mapped with rewari, chaat, malayi makkhan and mango produce, while the Moradabad division features dal dishes and handi halwa.

The omission of globally recognised Awadhi staples such as Galawati Kebab — often considered synonymous with Lucknow’s culinary identity — has become the focal point of criticism.

Himanshu Bajpai, a Lucknow-based writer and storyteller, said the exclusion was difficult to understand.

“I am a vegetarian, but when a list of popular cuisines is prepared, the non-inclusion of Galawati Kebab, known worldwide for its ‘melt-in-the-mouth’ texture, comes as a surprise,” Bajpai said.

He also questioned whether any bias had shaped the selection process.

“If the aim is to promote lesser-known dishes, that is understandable. But if there is any bias in food selection, it should be explained,” he added.

Govt says list is ‘flexible’

Responding to criticism, Rakesh Sachan said the cuisine list was not final and could be revised based on public feedback.

“The list is flexible… cuisines can be changed any time based on local recommendations and public demand, with approval from the Chief Minister,” Sachan said.

He said district-level committees headed by District Magistrates, along with teachers, professors and local experts, had prepared the recommendations after surveys and consultations.

On the absence of meat dishes, Sachan said it was “not intentional”.

“If recommended in the future, they can be added,” he said, adding that the objective was to promote dishes with wider economic potential through packaging, branding and sales support.

Subsidies, branding support planned

According to officials, the state government is preparing financial incentives for producers and food businesses linked to the identified cuisines.

The scheme proposes:

• 25 per cent subsidy for new units, capped at Rs 20 lakh

• Assistance in packaging, branding and marketing

• Support for participation in exhibitions and food fairs

Officials said businesses could receive up to Rs 75,000 for national events and up to Rs 4 lakh for international exhibitions.

A food conclave is also being planned in Lucknow to showcase regional cuisines and involve local halwais and culinary experts. It remains unclear whether non-vegetarian chefs or traditional meat-based food businesses will be included.

Diverse regional mapping

The ODOC list maps each division with specific culinary products and traditions.

Among them:

• Agra division: petha, dal moth, gajak

• Mathura: peda and makhan mishri

• Gorakhpur: litti-chokha

• Basti: thekua

• Varanasi: Banarasi paan, thandai, tiranga barfi

• Jhansi: dal bafla

• Prayagraj: bedami puri

• Aligarh: kalakand

The list also includes niche local products such as black rice dishes from Chandauli and amla-based products from Pratapgarh.

Debate beyond food

Officials said the exercise aimed to balance popular and lesser-known food traditions while assessing packaging potential and market scalability.

But the omission of iconic non-vegetarian dishes from a state deeply associated with Awadhi cuisine has turned the initiative into a wider cultural and political debate over representation, culinary identity and selective heritage branding.

He didn’t even have a bank account when he realised he was contesting Maharashtra’s Assembly elections. His wife, a teacher in an Adivasi residential school, lent him Rs 15,000. His party workers contributed whatever they could, and he managed to put together a sum of Rs 52,000 before filling up the election form.

“My cousin brother later loaned me 70,000 rupees...” he says with a wry smile, sitting on a plastic chair outside his office in Dahanu, in the tribal-dominated district of Palghar. “That was the only cash I had ahead of the elections.”

The odds couldn’t have been stacked worse against CPI(M) member Vinod Nikole. His primary challenger was Dhanare Paskal Janya, a sitting BJP MLA, who won from Dahanu in 2014 with a margin of over 16,000 votes. (The BJP officially admitted to spending over Rs 82 crore in the Assembly elections that year.) Yet, when the results came in, Nikole won with a margin of nearly 5,000 votes.

It seems like a story from an India that doesn’t exist anymore. But it happened in 2019, and again in 2024. At a time when politics seems like a game that can’t be won without vulgar expenditure, Nikole, 48, is comfortably into his second term. This, in a state where 93 per cent of legislators are crorepatis (millionaires), as per an analysis of the outgoing 2024 Maharashtra Assembly by the Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR).

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Born to brick kiln workers in the village of Waki, four km from Dahanu town, Nikole is the poorest MLA in Maharashtra, where the richest MLA declared assets worth Rs 500 crore. He can’t hand out money before elections, nor can he hire social media teams to push his agenda. His capital comes from being on the ground and staying accessible to ordinary people, mainly tribal farmers and labourers.

“That’s the only way I can win elections,” he says. “Every morning after 10 you can find me at my office. Anyone can walk in and talk to me.”

In January, the CPI(M)-affiliated All India Kisan Sabha (AIKS) organised two massive protest marches of Adivasi farmers in the tribal belt of Palghar, Nashik and Ahilyanagar (formerly Ahmednagar). Nikole, himself a Warli Adivasi, was at both rallies. He walked with farmers, slept on the floor and ate the food they ate.

“One of his strengths is that he sees himself as part of a collective leadership and united movement,” says AIKS president Ashok Dhawale.

“You don’t see that nowadays,” says Ishwati Gahala, a Warli Adivasi who participated in one of the protest marches. “It makes you feel you are properly represented and heard.”

The day I met Nikole in Dahanu, he had just arrived from Boisar after addressing a meeting of contract labourers. “We managed to increase their monthly salaries from 12,000 to 13,050 rupees,” he tells me.

“The two most important issues here are worker rights and land rights. We have unions in 50-60 companies here, and we regularly negotiate with them for better wages.” His party has a union at the Adani thermal power plant as well. “Unions become ineffective when leaders sell out. That will never happen to us.”

Suresh Jadhav, 54, a contract worker at the thermal plant, says his salary was Rs 2,600 in 2010 when they first unionised. “Today, we make 28,000 rupees a month.” That’s a pay-rise of almost 1,000 per cent over 16 years — unimaginable for workers back in the day.

Jadhav says their voices automatically carry more weight because the MLA is on their side. “It was easier to ignore us before 2019,” Jadhav says. “Our demands are taken more seriously now.”

After dropping out of college due to financial difficulties, Nikole was working in a canteen in Dahanu serving food and cleaning utensils when a senior CPI(M) leader convinced him to join the party.

“The membership fee was Rs 5 at the time,” Nikole recalls. He asked the senior leader: “You had breakfast at my canteen and I’m supposed to give you five rupees? Shouldn’t it be the other way round?” After he cut the receipt for Rs 5, the leader replied, “You are now a party member.”

“I didn’t understand what it meant at the time,” Nikole says. “But he took me under his wing, and I started working for the party.”

When he became an MLA in 2019, he started getting a monthly salary of Rs 1.5 lakh. For the first time in his life, at the age of 41, he could count on a steady income. Even today, he donates half his monthly salary (now Rs 2 lakh) to the party.

When Nikole submitted his election affidavit for his second run in 2024, his declared assets were worth Rs. 87 lakh — most of it from the 0.25 acre of land he bought and the modest house he built on it.

After the 2024 Assembly elections — which the BJP swept — the ADR’s report found that 157 out of the 279 crorepati winners analysed won with a vote share of 50 per cent and above.

Opposition parties have credibly pointed out that the BJP starts every election with a clear advantage because of the huge gap in resources. In 2024-25 alone, the BJP drew donations of over Rs 6,000 crore nationally — 12 times more than the largest Opposition party, the Congress. A level playing field simply does not exist. Even in Maharashtra’s civic polls, Rs 55 crore was spent on online advertisements alone in less than a month.

But even this massive disadvantage, Nikole says, can be mitigated if you “make a home in the hearts and minds of voters. You have to earn their trust. Then, when others try to throw money at them, the voters won’t sell their vote.”

Article courtesy: People’s Archive of Rural India