Voting has commenced for the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, with over 3.60 crore electors eligible to vote in 152 constituencies in Bengal and 5.73 crore voters in Tamil Nadu. Security measures are heightened to ensure free and fair polling.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused the TMC government in West Bengal of 'maha jungleraj' following an incident in Malda where judicial officers were allegedly held hostage. He framed the upcoming elections as a battle between the TMC's 'fear' and the BJP's 'trust', promising accountability for alleged atrocities and a focus on development.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has criticised the Trinamool Congress (TMC) government in West Bengal, citing the Malda incident as evidence of lawlessness and accusing the party of 'maha jungleraj'. He framed the upcoming elections as a battle between the TMC's 'fear' and the BJP's 'trust', addressing issues such as infiltration, corruption, and demographic change.
The DMK has announced its candidates for the upcoming Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, setting the stage for key battles with the AIADMK and other parties.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah accuses West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee of facilitating illegal immigration from Bangladesh, leading to demographic changes. He promises to end infiltration if BJP wins the upcoming elections.
The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) has announced it will contest the Bihar assembly elections independently and review its alliance with the Congress and RJD in Jharkhand after the Bihar elections.
The Union home minister said that on November 15, a grand celebration will be held at the 'Statue of Unity' to mark the birth anniversary of tribal icon Birsa Munda.
A delegation of Opposition leaders in Maharashtra, including Sharad Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray, and Raj Thackeray, met with the state's chief electoral officer to raise concerns about alleged irregularities in the poll process, particularly regarding the voters' list, ahead of local body elections.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman criticizes the DMK government in Tamil Nadu, alleging corruption, caste-based crimes, and a rise in drug abuse. She dismisses the DMK's claims about language and Dravidian identity as a distraction from their governance failures.
The end of the process to withdraw nominations for Maharashtra assembly polls on Monday left the Congress in despair in Kolhapur North seat after its candidate Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati withdrew, while the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to convince Gopal Shetty to opt out from Mumbai's Borivali.
Trinamool Congress (TMC) has appointed Abhishek Banerjee as its new parliamentary leader in the Lok Sabha, replacing Sudip Bandopadhyay. The decision was made during a virtual meeting chaired by Mamata Banerjee. This move is seen as a generational shift and a preparation for the 2026 West Bengal Assembly elections.
Gandhi alleged that assembly and Lok Sabha polls were being "stolen" across the country and there was a "conspiracy" in Bihar to do the same through the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar stated that the arrest of two nuns in Chhattisgarh was due to a 'misunderstanding' and that they will be released on bail soon. He met with Archbishop of Trichur Andrews Thazhath to brief him that the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister have assured the nuns would be released on bail.
Wednesday's joint protest march in Patna marked a significant moment, with Rahul Gandhi, the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, and Tejashwi Yadav, the Leader of Opposition in the Bihar assembly, leading a unified demonstration -- perhaps a first in the state's recent political history.
There is no confusion or dispute in the 'Mahagathbandhan' over Tejashwi Yadav being the main face for the Bihar chief minister's post, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said on Friday while asserting that the CM will be from the Rashtriya Janata Dal if the alliance gets a majority in the upcoming polls.
'If my daughter was admitted in time and her treatment started soon, she could have been saved.'
'They have no chance of winning if free and fair polls are conducted.'
The BJP's surprise announcement of a caste census in the next census has sparked political debate, particularly in Bihar where the issue of backward empowerment holds significant electoral weight. The move is seen as a strategic maneuver by the ruling party to counter opposition efforts to mobilize support among disadvantaged sections of society. The decision is also viewed as a recognition of the growing influence of OBC politics in India.
Opposition parties in India, including the Congress, Left parties, Samajwadi Party, Bahujan Samaj Party, Trinamool Congress, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP), have unanimously hailed the armed forces' "Operation Sindoor", a retaliatory strike against terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). The operation, which involved missile and drone strikes, was conducted in response to the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack. Despite political differences, all parties expressed support for the government and the armed forces, stressing the importance of national unity and integrity in the face of terrorism. While emphasizing the need for diplomatic avenues to prevent further escalation, some parties also called for caution in attributing political credit for the strikes.
Prashant Kishor declares the 2025 Bihar assembly election will be a contest between his Jan Suraaj Party and the BJP-led NDA.
As the final five phases of polls draw closer, rift among Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners, Congress-Left combine and the Trinamool Congress, which are fighting separately has intensified, triggering a fierce contest across half of the remaining 36 constituencies in West Bengal driven by local issues such as Sandeshkhali and the SSC scam.
The Congress's student and youth wings took to the streets in the national capital on Thursday over alleged irregularities in the conduct of the NEET-UG and UGC-NET exams, with NSUI members forcefully entering the NTA headquarters and locking its office, and the IYC staging a huge protest at Jantar Mantar.
In a new political alignment in poll-bound West Bengal, state Congress president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday announced the inclusion of newly formed Indian Secular Front (ISF) of Furfura Sharif cleric Abbas Siddiqui in the Left Front-Congress alliance.
According to the Election Commission data, 30 out of the state's 40 Lok Sabha seats went to the BJP-led coalition in the latest elections, a sharp drop compared with 39 in 2019 and lower than the tallies of 2014 (31) and 2009 (32).
The West Bengal Congress unit issued a denial and said the state president meant "TMC and BJP are just the opposite sides of the same coin as both are venomous and spread lies".
Trinamool Congress has already announced its decision to boycott the event.
'Laluji is like my father and I am like his son.'
His comments come against the backdrop of a campaign by Opposition parties, including the Trinamool Congress, which has claimed that applying for CAA would turn legal citizens into foreigners.
Asked how many seats the Congress would fight on, Singh said they would be flexible in seat sharing.
On the eve of the counting of votes in Rajasthan, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have started reaching out to independent candidates, including rebels, and smaller parties.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah himself sounded more open to such a possibility in a recent interview.
The Communist parties warned the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance coalition not to take their support for granted. \n\n
She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left.
The Congress and the Left on Sunday questioned the appointment of the new army chief by superseding two officers, saying every appointment by the government has become controversial.
Protesting against the attack on a Congress Legislature Party team in West Bengal, party activists clashed with the police in Kolkata and other towns across the state, leaving one person dead and several injured. Five Congress workers were injured in fresh violence in Mangolkot where a CLP team, led by Manas Bhunia, was attacked on Wednesday allegedly by supporters of the ruling Left Front. During the clash, Zia-Ur-Rahman Mullick, 40, died of a heart attack.
what is more important than the re-invention of the Congress is the countervailing political storm that is gathering on the horizon as we approach the next parliamentary polls. On the face of it, the motley collection of regional parties joining hands with a wounded Left Front appears to a pathetic replay of discredited Third Front politics. But what gives this fledgeling Opposition a new mass appeal is the emergence of Dalit firebrand Mayawati as its spearhead
In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to power alternately.
A new theme song for the INDIA bloc will be released.
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