Kolkata (PTI): Trinamool Congress's Rajya Sabha MP Derek O'Brien on Wednesday expressed confidence that his party will come back to power in the state after the assembly elections and challenged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resign when the results come.

In a video shared on microblogging site X, O'Brien accused the prime minister of making exaggerated political claims and urged him to "accept the challenge" instead of indulging in "big talk."

"Narendra, you had announced that you are the candidate on all 294 seats in West Bengal. Leave out the big talk and accept this challenge..." O'Brien wrote.

He asserted that if the Mamata Banerjee-led TMC wins the state, the prime minister should step down from his post. "When Mamata Banerjee and TMC win West Bengal, you will resign from your post as the prime minister," he said.

The remarks come amidst an intensifying political contest in West Bengal, where the ruling TMC and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaged in a high-stakes electoral battle.

Polling is taking place in 142 constituencies in the second and final phase of the assembly elections on Wednesday, amid unprecedented security arrangements and a high-intensity contest that could decide whether the ruling TMC retains its dominance over the southern districts or the BJP can force open the gates of power in the state.

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Aizawl (PTI): Mizoram recorded a pass percentage of 87.67 in the class 12 board examinations on Wednesday, with boys scoring marginally higher than girls,

Across the Arts, Science, and Commerce streams, boys secured an 87.7 per cent success rate, while girls followed closely at 87.66 per cent, according to the results published by the Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE).

Of the 12,243 students who sat for the examinations held between February and March, 10,734 passed, 1,394 could not, and 115 qualified for compartmental examinations.

Academic performance was strongest in the Commerce stream, which saw a 90.51 per cent success rate among 759 candidates.

The Science stream followed with 89.24 per cent pass rate out of 2,770 students who appeared for the exam, while the Arts stream, with 87,14 students, recorded a pass percentage of 86.93.

In terms of institutional performance, the results revealed that deficit schools, which receive regular government grants, maintained their status as top performers with an average 93.80 per cent pass rate across all streams, followed by private schools at 91.55 per cent, while state-run schools recorded a success rate 83.13 per cent.