Why is Mamata Banerjee so desperate to win the Howrah Lok Sabha byelection being held on Sunday. If one takes into consideration the fact that whoever wins the seat will have a term of less than a year because the next Lok Sabha elections are due in May 2014.

Howrah Lok Sabha bypoll scheduled for June 2 is a major challenge for Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamul Congress which is still reeling under the impact of the collapse of multi-million rupees Saradha chit fund scam.

The Calcutta high court had in its order on Friday emphasised the necessity of holding the panchayat elections before the term of the present panchayats ended in June. “To be or not to be is not the question, the panchayat election has to be held on time,” Justice Biswanath Somadder said in his ruling.

In a huge setback to the Mamata Banerjee government, the Calcutta high court on Friday ordered a three-phase panchayat polls and asked the West Bengal government to arrange Central paramilitary forces

Saradha Group boss Sudipta Sen on Thursday threatened to reveal all once the investigations were over even as the Bidhannagar court sent him to police custody in another case, this time for nine days.

To add to chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s embarrassment, a civil liberty group has lodged a complaint at the state human rights commission against her for urging people to smoke more.

The Mamata Banerjee government is bringing a new bill in the Assembly on April 30 to regulate unscrupulous deposit companies. For this purpose, West Bengal governor M.K. Narayanan has called a special session of the state Assembly on Monday and Tuesday. This is the first time in over half-a-century that an emergency session of the Assembly is being called. The last time an emergency session was held in September 1960.

The Mamata Banerjee government in West Bengal which is facing heat of angry investors and collection agents of the Saradha Group because of its proximity to the chit fund company, on Saturday tried to distance itself from it.

In a desperate damage control exercise, Alimuddin Street bosses on Wednesday made SFI leader Ritabrata Banerjee offer an unconditional public apology for the attack on finance minister Amit Mitra in N

The police kept a first-year student chained to the bed post of a hospital where he was admitted for treatment sparking allegation of gross violation of human rights.