Kolkata Feb 25 PTI The father of student leader Anis Khan whose mysterious death has triggered protests across West Bengal on Friday said he could not spot the man who had come to his house in police uniform on the night the student leader was allegedly killed at the test idenitication TI parade conducted during the day as per the order of Calcutta High Court Salim Khan a septugenarian went to the correctional home at Uluberia where the arrested two in the case - a home guard and a civic volunteer - were kept and subjected to the identification process TI parade is the drill in which the victim or his family are made to identify the accused in a crime Khan who had approached the HC for an enquiry by an independent agency and not by the special investigating team appointed by the government was accompanied by his lawyer The court had on Thursday allowed the SIT probe under strict monitoring After the TI parade he told waiting reporters I could not spot the person from the two presented before me The man in police uniform police who had come to my house on that fateful night of February 18 was not there Voicing displeasure he said I am not happy with the SIT investigation I want court monitored CBI probe On his return Khan met a delegation of Left Front leaders at his residence and iterated his demand CPI-M state secretary Suryakanta Mishra senior party leader Rabin Deb and Left Front Chairman Biman Bose were among those who met the bereaved father They went to the second floor of Khans house from where Anis a former SFI leader and a prominent anti-CAA protestor was allegedly thrown out His family had alleged that Anis had been thrown out from there by four policemen from Amta police station who had forced themselves into his house in the midnight of February 18 There is an unfinished structure with windows having no grill in the second floor They claimed that his body was seen lying outside the house and rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced brought dead The local police station was informed but policemen arrived the next day The Left leaders did not talk to the waiting reporters present at the house CPI-M Rajya Sabha MP Bikash Bhattacharya had said that the incident was a brutal one and that Anis had been killed in cold blood The high level probe into the incident should not be influenced by the state police he had said after the incident PTI SUS KK KK KK

Kolkata Dec 27 PTI The West Bengal State Election Commission on Monday announced that polls to four municipal corporations -- Siliguri Chandannagar Bidhannagar Asansol -- will be held on January 22 The commission left out Howrah Municipal Corporation amid the ongoing row between the Mamata Banerjee government and Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar over a bill seeking its bifurcation Making the announcement at his office here State Election Commissioner Saurav Das said that nomination filing for the January 22 polls to be held from 7 am to 5 pm will commence on December 28 The last date for submitting nomination is January 3 The papers will be scrutinised the day after January 6 has been fixed as the last date for withdrawing the nominations Das told reporters Of the four Asansol is the largest municipal corporation with 106 seats followed by Siliguri with 47 Chandannagar with 33 and Bidhannagar with 41 wards he said Repoll if any will be held on January 24 the SEC said Counting of votes will be held on January 25 2022 The commission has adopted electoral rolls updated up to November 1 2021 Das said He also said that model code of conduct will be applicable in the poll-bound areas from Monday The governor on Sunday said that he had on November 24 sent back the bifurcation bill -- which seeks to carve out Bally Municipality out of Howrah Municipal Corporation -- to the state government with a number of queries for which clarifications have not been provided this far The SEC and the West Bengal government had earlier told the Calcutta High Court that plans were afoot to hold elections to five municipal corporations in the state on January 22 and the remaining civic bodies where polls are due on February 27 Elections to Kolkata Municipal Corporation were held on December 19 Meanwhile members of the opposition BJP the Left Front and the CPIM on Monday walked out of an all-party meet convened by the State Election Commission claiming that there was no commitment on holding Howrah Municipal Corporation HMC elections The TMC however claimed that the opposition leaders were present all throughout the meeting We walked out of the meeting for two reasons -- SEC gave a vague response when asked about HMC polls and our request for postponing the elections to four municipal corporations by a week was not entertained BJP MP Arjun Singh said Echoing him CPI M leader Rabin Deb said the Left Front members stormed out as there was no word on Howrah Municipal Corporation polls The SEC also did not pay attention to our demand for taking into consideration the voter list updated till January 2022 It wants to go by the list that was updated till November 1 2021 he said Senior TMC leader Tapas Roy said the opposition wanted to delay the polling process as they were afraid to face defeat They opposition leaders were all there during the meeting Dates for HMC polls could not be announced as the governor is holding up the bill and issuing misleading statements at BJPs behest he alleged Elections to Kolkata Municipal Corporation were held on December 19 The ruling TMC won the KMC elections clinching 134 of 144 seats in a ringing endorsement for the party seven months after its landslide win in the assembly polls The BJP which lost much of its steam after the assembly poll defeat managed to win just three wards The Congress and the CPI M-led Left Front bagged two wards each and Independents three PTI AMRSUS PNT RMS RMS

Kolkata Dec 20 PTI CPIM on Monday said that it is contemplating taking legal recourse besides conducting protests before the State Election Commission office over alleged massive rigging in the Kolkata Municipal Corporation KMC elections held on the previous day Both CPIM and BJP have alleged rigging and violence by ruling Trinamool Congress during the KMC polls in which 6363 per cent of the nearly 405 lakh voters exercised their franchise till 5 PM on Sunday We will protest in front of the SEC office We are also thinking of taking legal recourse over rigging violence and not accepting our demand for repoll in some polling centres Our agents were driven out from many booths CPIM leader Rabin Deb said The SEC tricked us by calling for scrutiny at 9 PM so that our agents tired after a hectic polling day could not be present he said Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari led a BJP delegation to meet West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar and urged him to take steps to countermand the civic polls alleging that it was turned into a farce by the ruling dispensation PTI BSM ACD ACD

Kolkata Nov 22 PTI All opposition political parties on Monday demanded immediate polling at all municipalities and municipal corporations in Bengal at a meeting with the state election commission officials while the Trinamool Congress sought a phased poll keeping in view the vaccination rate in various cities and townsAt the meeting the opposition parties including the BJP CPIM alleged that the state governments desire to phase out polling was an excuse as most of the boards had finished their tenure long before the pandemic had started officials who did not wish to be named as they were not authorised to speak saidTrinamool Congresss Tapas Roy however rubbished claims of the opposition and said the state government had decided to abide by Covid-19 safety protocols and there was no other motive behind this the source saidRoy had claimed that in Kolkata 75 percent of the second dose vaccination has been completed while in Howrah 55 percent people have been fully vaccinated leading to the state government seeking to have polling for these two municipalities in the first roundRoy was accompanied by his party colleague Debashish Kumar in the meetingBJP MP Arjun Singh CPIMs veteran leader Rabin Deb as well as leaders of the CPI Congress and Forward Bloc attended Mondays all-party meeting sources elaboratedThere was no discussion on law and order security and about the deployment of security forces during todays meeting There were discussions on how the elections will be held amid this ongoing pandemic the official said PTI SCH JRC JRC