Assembly election LIVE: Judicial officers' gherao fresh flashpoint in TMC-BJP war in West Bengal; EC hands over probe to NIA

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Agitation against SIR spread across West Bengal districts on Thursday (April 2, 2026)

Updated - April 03, 2026 09:02 am IST

People laying seige outside BDO office at Kaliachak Block II, in Malda where seven judicial officers were gheraoed on Wednesday. The mob was protesting against large number of deletions of voters who were under judicial adjudication..

Malda, West Bengal, 01 April 2026: People laying seige outside BDO office at Kaliachak Block II, in Malda where seven judicial officers were gheraoed on Wednesday. The mob was protesting against large number of deletions of voters who were under judicial adjudication.. | Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to arrive in Puducherry on Friday (April 3, 2026) to hold a road show, aiming to galvanise support for the NDA candidates ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls.

In West Bengal, a day after judicial officers engage in Special Intensive Revision (SIR) duty were confined inside a block office in Malda’s Kaliachak for hours, the Election Commission handed over the probe into the matter to the NIA, following a Supreme Court directive.

As political confrontations intensified and the Supreme Court stepped in to censure the State administration over the Malda episode, agitation against the SIR of electoral rolls spread across districts on Thursday (April 2, 2026), just three weeks ahead of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election.

Assam, Kerala, and the Union Territory of Puducherry will go to the polls on April 9, 2026. In Tamil Nadu, the election will be conducted on April 23. The first phase of elections will be held on April 23, 2026, in West Bengal, and the second phase on April 29, 2026. The counting for all these elections will be held on May 4, 2026.

April 03, 2026 08:51
West Bengal | Judicial officers' gherao fresh flashpoint in TMC-BJP war; EC hands over probe to NIA
The Election Commission has handed over the probe into the gherao of seven judicial officers engaged in the Special Intensive Revision exercise in West Bengal’s Malda to the NIA as the incident plunged the State into fresh turmoil, with the TMC and the BJP blaming each other for it.
While Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah and the poll panel of fomenting unrest to facilitate President’s rule in the poll-bound state, the BJP alleged the TMC had orchestrated the Wednesday (April 1, 2026) protest to protect “bogus voters”.
As political confrontations intensified and the Supreme Court stepped in to censure the state administration over the Malda episode, agitation against the SIR of electoral rolls spread across districts on Thursday, just three weeks ahead of the first phase of the West Bengal Assembly election.
Protesters burned tyres, blocked roads and held silent marches in Malda, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar and Purba Bardhaman, where voting will be held on April 23.
- PTI

Published - April 03, 2026 09:01 am IST

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