New Delhi [India], March 20 (ANI): Congress Election Committee (CEC) will hold a meeting on Saturday to finalise candidates for the fifth to eighth phase of West Bengal elections.
The meeting will be chaired by the party Interim President Sonia Gandhi.
The Congress has already decided to give tickets to sitting MLAs, Congress Party is fighting Assembly Polls on 92 seats in alliance with the Left parties.
According to sources, the discussion will be held for the rest of the seats in the last phases of West Bengal polls besides the sitting MLA’s constituencies after that candidates will be announced shortly.
However, the party has not given a Chief Ministerial face in the state nor the alliance has decided.
Elections to the 294-member West Bengal Assembly will be held in eight phases starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

Haldia (West Bengal) [India], March 20 (ANI): Launching a scathing attack at the Centre, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said Prime Minister Narendra Modi has destroyed the economy of the country.
Addressing a public meeting in Haldia, Banerjee, while sitting on a wheelchair said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has destroyed the economy of this country – from note bandi to bank bandi. They will soon say to sell Haldia port.”
The Trinamool Congress supremo also termed Bharatiya Janata Party as a “disgusting party” in India.
“Is BJP a political party? It is a disgusting party in India. Even BJP girls are not safe in the BJP party. See who is in what condition with the news. The evil deeds of their leaders will come out. BJP is the biggest Tolabaaz in India,” she said.
“In the name of PM care Fund, lakh of crores got collected but people are not getting COVID-19 vaccine and again COVID-19 has started.”
“Industrialists know what is your condition. Everyday, there’s an income tax raid, everyday someone is raided. BJP can’t fight, they do not obey democracy, they threaten people. They torture mothers, sisters and take away farmers’ land,” she added.
Mamata further said that TMC is going to win the upcoming polls in the state. “It is not Delhi’s election, it is Bengal’s election. If you want me then remember I’m the candidate of 294 candidates. 291 we are fighting directly and our friends are fighting in three seats in the hilly areas. I’m the candidate for these 291 seats. Only my government will be formed.”
Elections will be held in eight phases in the state, starting from March 27 with the final round of voting taking place on April 29. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 20 (ANI): In a battle against the COVID-19 pandemic, India has scaled a significant peak as it administered over four crore vaccination, a government statement said on Saturday.
According to the health ministry statement, a total of 4,20,63,392 vaccine doses have been administered through 6,86,469 sessions, as per the provisional report till 7 am today.
These include 77,06,839 Health Care Workers (HCWs) (1st dose), 48,04,285 HCWs (2nd dose), 79,57,606 Front Line Workers (FLWs) (1st dose) and 24,17,077 FLWs (2nd Dose), 32,23,612 beneficiaries aged more than 45 years with specific co-morbidities (1st Dose) and 1,59,53,973 beneficiaries aged more than 60 years.
As on Day-63 of the vaccination drive on March 19, 27,23,575 vaccine doses were given.
Of the total, 24,15,800 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 38,989 sessions for first dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 3,07,775 HCWs and FLWs received second dose of vaccine.
As per March 18, the total number of vaccine doses administered all over the country were 39.34 million. This positions India at the second place (after the US) in terms of the number of vaccine doses administered by any country.
At least 80 per cent of the 27.23 lakh vaccine doses administered in the last 24 hours are from 10 states including — Kerala, Karnataka, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.
On the status of COVID-19, five states of Maharashtra, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have reported a surge in the daily new cases.
Six states cumulatively account for 83.7 per cent of the new cases reported in the past 24 hours.
40,953 new cases were registered in the last 24 hours.
Maharashtra has reported the highest daily new cases at 25,681. It is followed by Punjab with 2,470 while Kerala reported 1,984 new cases.
States including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Haryana witnessing a rise in daily new cases.
Meanwhile, India’s total active caseload has reached 2,88,394 today, comprising 2.50 per cent of the total positive cases. A net incline of 17,112 cases recorded from the total active caseload in the last 24 hours.
Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab cumulatively account for 76.22 per cent of India’s total active caseload.
India’s cumulative recoveries stand at 1,11,07,332 today with national recovery rate standing at 96.12 per cent. 23,653 recoveries were registered in the last 24 hours.
188 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours.
Five States account for 81.38 per cent of the new deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (70). Punjab follows with 38 daily deaths and Kerala reported 17 deaths in the last 24 hours.
Fifteen states/UTs have not reported any COVID-19 deaths in the last 24 hours. These are Assam, Uttarakhand, Odisha, Puducherry, Lakshadweep, Sikkim, Ladakh (UT), Manipur, D&N, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura, A&N Islands and Arunachal Pradesh. (ANI)

Guwahati (Assam) [India], March 20 (ANI): With Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claiming that BJP “will run Assam from Nagpur”, Assam cabinet minister and BJP key strategist in the northeast Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday said that the Congress party should “atleast” change its headquarters from Italy to New Delhi.
“Congress rules from Italy, Rahul Gandhi should change his headquarters from Italy to Delhi at least,” said Sarma.
On Friday, Gandhi alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party wants to govern Assam from Nagpur while allowing outsiders to take over the state.
Addressing a public meeting in the Tinsukia district ahead of the assembly election in Assam, the Congress leader said, “BJP wants to run Assam from Nagpur (Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s Headquarters). They want outsiders to come and (take over) take what is yours as they took your airport. We want to run Assam from Assam only. Our Chief Minister will work after listening to the people of Assam and would have nothing to do with Nagpur.”
He also targeted BJP for not fulfilling their promises of the last election in the state.
“In the last election, you promised 351 rupees wages for tea garden workers but you did not full filled these promises,” said Gandhi.
Reacting to Gandhi’s statement, Sarma said, “I think Rahul Gandhi used to pay only 95 rupees when he was in power, today we are paying 218 rupees.”
The elections in Assam for 126 seats will be held in three phases starting from March 27 and the counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 20 (ANI): Uttarakhand Chief Minister Tirath Singh Rawat has said that he would promote health, education and tourism in the state to fulfil Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Uttarakhand dream project.
Speaking to reporters during his first visit to the national capital after becoming Uttarakhand CM, Rawat on Friday said, “For Prime Minister’s Uttarakhand dream project, I will promote health, education and tourism so that more people from all over the world can come there.”
“I have come to Delhi for the first time after becoming the Chief Minister of Uttarakhand. I thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president JP Nadda and the party’s central leadership,” he added.
The Uttarakhand Chief Minister also extended an invitation for the upcoming Kumbh Mela scheduled to be held from April 1 to 28 and requested people to follow COVID-19 guidelines throughout the mela.
On Friday night, he met BJP president Jagat Prakash Nadda at his residence. The meeting went on for around two hours.
Rawat had recently sparked a row, saying that women wearing ripped jeans send a wrong message to society and children.
Speaking at a workshop organised by the Uttarakhand State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in Dehradun, Rawat said that he was shocked to meet a woman, who runs an NGO, wearing ripped jeans on a flight with her kids. “What kind of message are we giving out to society,” he had said on Tuesday. (ANI)

New Delhi [India], March 20 (ANI): Union Minister of State for External Affairs V Muraleedharan on Saturday condemned the attack on Anoop Antony Joseph, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s candidate for Ambalappuzha constituency in Kerala. He also urged the Election Commission of India to take action against the culprits behind the attack.
Anoop Antony Joseph was allegedly thrashed by Left party workers on Friday while he was returning from his election campaign.
Police have registered a case and is probing the incident.
“The attack on Ambalappuzha candidate Anoop Kaippalli by CPM goondas is highly condemnable. It shows that Pinarayi Vijayan’s men and CPIM’s goons are at their jobs to sabotage polls and harm anyone who opposes their regressive ideology,” tweeted Muraleedharan.
“CM Pinarayi Vijayan will be shown the door soon. It’s time up for CPIM Kerala and their gangs of Goondas and smugglers,” he further said.
“Kerala BJP urges ECISVEEP to take swift and appropriate action on culprits and ensure a peaceful and safe election environment in the State,” he added.
The election for 140-member Kerala Assembly will be held on April 6. The counting of votes will take place on May 2. (ANI)