Three battalions of the Border Security Force comprising more than 3,000 personnel will move across the border from Odisha to Chhattisgarh and an equal number of Indo-Tibetan Border Police units will further move into the Naxal stronghold of Abujhmad as part of a strategy to intensify anti-Maoist operations in their last bastions, official sources said.
There is a growing unease among Lok Sabha ticket aspirants in the Shiv Sena amid its decision to drop three sitting MPs and the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the Mahayuti partners, party sources said.
Sule said the intra-family duel in the Lok Sabha polls will not waver her respect for Sunetra Pawar as she is her "elder brother's wife and like a mother".
It will not be a cakewalk for three-time Congress MLA and Uttarakhand Sports and Forest Minister Dinesh Agarwal to win Dharampur constituency in Dehradun this poll season with BJP fielding two-time mayor Vinod Chamoli from the seat.
Campaigning for May 13 elections in 96 Lok Sabha constituencies across 10 states and Union territories including all seats in Andhra Pradesh, where assembly elections are also being held concurrently, and Telangana concluded on Saturday evening.
Doddamani has maintained a low profile; he has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising for Kharge's successive electoral campaign.
The campaign vehicle carried a banner with photographs of Sunetra Pawar and Ajit Pawar with the symbol of the Nationalist Congress Party.
He said that over the years, India has conveyed the message of friendship, cooperation, debate and discussions through the institutions of higher learning.
'He has emerged as a formidable leader who cannot be ignored anymore, who cannot be mocked.'
In 2019, actor turned-politician Sumalatha Ambareesh, an independent backed by the BJP, won by defeating then Kumaraswamy's son and joint candidate of the then ruling Congress-JD-S alliance Nikhil by 1,25,876 votes.
'The BJP is using administrative machinery to fight elections'
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The junior Abdullah would be banking heavily on Shia support as the constituency has many Shia dominated areas that include Budgam, Beerwah, Pattan, Sonawari and Bandipora, among other pockets.
BJP workers depend on Annamalai's popularity to emerge victorious. He has has made 100 promises to be fulfilled in 500 days and assurances include cleaning up rivers, an international airport and food vans named after former Chief Minister K Kamaraj.
Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP accused National Conference vice president Omar Abdullah of leaving them "no option".
The Mahagathbandhan's seat-sharing announcement comes a day after the filing of nomination papers for the first phase of Lok Sabha polls was over.
The People's Democratic Party and the National Conference -- the two Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) partners in Jammu and Kashmir -- will be taking on each other on the three Lok Sabha seats in the valley.
...Even if it means less democracy, so that their everyday problems get solved? argues R Jagannathan.
Without making two-thirds of the country's population a development partner, India's prosperity is impossible, the Congress leader added.
Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, "If there would be any such thing, I would inform you first."
Twenty-two Keralites, including six women and three children have reached the bastion of Islamic State terror operations in Afghanistan.
It's just not a date. It's just not about selecting a candidate. It's not about helping some candidate win. It's about expressing emotion, after ten years, that could reach out in India and beyond it, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Kamal Nath held the Chhindwara Lok Sabha seat as many as nine times and it continues to remain with the family as his son Nakul Nath is currently an MP from there.
In a clear reference to his estranged uncle, Shivpal Yadav who is contesting from the neighbouring Jaswantnagar seat, Akhilesh said, "These very people want to float a new party... the election here is different from what is being fought in the state. Here efforts are to defeat me... people of Etawah should not fall prey to any such design."
'As a police officer, I had gone on deputation to the prison department; on both occasions (the hanging of Ajmal Kasab and Yakub Memon), the government said that I should remain present.' 'I was not mentally prepared for these sensitive operations and had to work on myself to lead the teams.'
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
The Congress, which had held its sway in these two Muslim majority districts during the Left Front rule of 34 years and the following 10 years of the TMCs reign since 2011, has not been able to open its account in this election.
It is only the Indian approach of holding on to multiple realities and contradictory ideas simultaneously that is likely to deliver peace and progress. Binary logic is out of sync with reality, notes R Jagannathan.
A part of the Hajipur Lok Sabha seat, Raghopur assembly segment in Vaishali district will vote in the second phase on November 3. The 31-year-old, the younger son of Lalu Prasad, had taken the electoral plunge from Raghopur in 2015, when he had barely reached the qualifying age of 25 for fighting polls.
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.
Storming the Janata Dal Secular bastion, the ruling Congress in Karnataka on Saturday won the Mandya and Bangalore Rural Lok Sabha seats with impressive margins.
The Bhopal seat is currently held by Alok Sanjar of the BJP.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
'We want to strengthen hands of Modiji and sure that LJP (Ram Vilas) will contest polls as an ally of NDA.'
'They know that if they do not tie up with the Congress, then the minorities will move to the Congress.'
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
The former Union minister also said the people in Maharashtra are looking for a change.
He said that as India aspires to become the voice of the Global South, it cannot be discussed without discussing the problems of people in Palestine.
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