Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Monday to caste their votes in the fifth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Holi was celebrated with pomp and splendor across India on Friday, with people soaking in the festivities by smearing 'gulaal' on each other and exchanging greetings and sweets. Homes and streets wore a colourful look as the revellers splashed colours and feasted on traditional delicacies. Public transport did not ply in the morning in most major cities while metro services started functioning from noon. As Holi coincided with the second Friday prayers during the holy Islamic month of Ramzan, security -- including increased patrolling and picketing -- was beefed up in several states. In Delhi, more than 25,000 security personnel were deployed. Police closely monitored about 300 sensitive areas with CCTV cameras and drones.
'BSP will remain a player, but only a marginal player, as long as the BJP is extremely dominant in North India politics.'
A key accused in the murder of Bahujan Samaj Party Tamil Nadu chief K Armstrong was shot dead in Chennai on Sunday after he attempted to assault police personnel and flee from custody, police said.
Polling for the seventh and the final phase of the Lok Sabha election will be held on Saturday, June 1, 2024.
With such announcements grabbing the voters' attention, critical issues like pollution, especially the smog that chokes Delhi every winter, remain largely unaddressed. Many residents have raised concerns over the lack of concrete action plans to combat air pollution, which continues to pose a severe health risk to Delhiites.
The broom, the hand or the kite, listen to the mind or the heart, 'tunnel vision voting' to defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party or electing the 'right party'. With only two days to go for polling, the choice is anything but clear for Delhi's Muslims, say many voters.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and party's candidate from Kalkaji, Ramesh Bidhuri, has yet again courted controversy by allegedly saying that after victory in the Delhi assembly polls next month, he will develop smooth roads in the constituency like Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi's 'cheeks'.
Accoding to data collected by the Association for Democratic Reforms, of the 695 candidates in the fray, 227 are crorepatis.
Violence erupted in the central Maharashtra city of Parbhani after a replica of the Constitution was vandalized. Around 50 people have been detained for the protests, while a man with mental health issues has been arrested for allegedly damaging the replica. Opposition leaders condemned the incident, calling for strict action against those responsible. The situation is under control, but tensions remain high in the city.
The Madras high court on Sunday held a special sitting to hear a plea of the wife of slain Tamil Nadu Bahujan Samaj Party president K Armstrong, seeking to bury his body at the party office in Chennai.
Polling for the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha election will be held on Saturday, May 25, 2024.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
Counting of votes in the Maharashtra assembly elections will begin at 8 am on Saturday, with all eyes on the outcome of the battle between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-led Mahayuti coalition and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which is seeking to make a comeback.
'Mayawatiji no more controls the bahujan vote in UP.' 'In this election more than 40 per cent of the BSP's core voters blessed the SP without the SP even asking for it.'
From putting up a decent performance in the last Lok Sabha polls in Uttar Pradesh winning 10 seats stitching an alliance with arch rival Samajwadi Party, Mayawati-led Bahujan Samaj Party drew a blank in the current general elections, dealing a severe blow to its reputation of representing the voice of Dalits in the state.
The BJP, which won the Samajwadi Party strongholds of Rampur and Azamgarh in 2022 bypolls, hopes to wrest Mainpuri too.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini has reached out to the SCs and the poor with the accelerated implementation of various schemes, especially the B R Ambedkar housing scheme.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections are taking place today, with the ruling BJP-led Mahayuti alliance seeking to retain power and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) hoping for a comeback. The campaign saw prominent leaders like Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, Rahul Gandhi, and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra crisscrossing the state to garner votes. The Mahayuti is banking on popular schemes while the MVA focuses on issues like caste-based census and social justice. The elections have also seen a significant rise in the number of candidates and voters.
The government may have to move 18 amendments to the Constitution to implement the concept of simultaneous elections as recommended by a high-level committee chaired by former president Ram Nath Kovind.
While the results of the bypolls will not directly impact the composition of the 403-member state Assembly, the contest is being seen as a prestige fight between the BJP and opposition parties.
The opposition parties on Sunday slammed the move to hire public servants through lateral entry, claiming it will snatch reservations from SCs, STs and OBCs, but the Bharatiya Janata Party hit back stating the National Democratic Alliance government was bringing transparency to this mode of recruitment started by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance.
There was more to him than he let on, asserts Aditi Phadnis.
Polling for the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections for 94 seats will take place today, covering 11 States and Union Territory.
Polling for the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 20, 2024, with 49 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
In a brief statement, the party's Uttar Pradesh unit said, Ali, MP from Amroha, has been suspended for anti-party activities.
Union Minister and Lok Janshakti Party-Ram Vilas leader Chirag Paswan is planning to convene a meeting of Scheduled Caste MPs of different parties as he works to mobilise support ahead of his party filing a review plea in the Supreme Court against its judgment allowing sub-categorisation of reservation within the community.
Haryana has recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent with Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district witnessing the highest polling percentage at over 80 per cent, according to the updated figures of the Election Commission on Sunday.
The meeting comes a day after Danish Ali faced verbal abuse from BJP MP Ramesh Bidhuri in Lok Sabha.
At least 30 people were killed and 60 others injured in a pre-dawn stampede at the Sangam area of the Maha Kumbh early on Wednesday as crores of pilgrims jostled for space to take a holy dip on the occasion of one of the most auspicious days of Mauni Amavasya, officials said.
Polling for the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Saturday, June 1, 2024, with 57 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
Maharashtra recorded a voter turnout of 58.22 per cent till 5 pm on Wednesday in the elections to the 288-member state legislative assembly, with Gadchiroli district logging more than 69 per cent voting, poll officials said.
The Congress has proposed AAP should contest five seats while the Samajwadi Party and Left parties could contest one seat each.
Ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's Sirsa candidate Rohtash Jangra on Monday said he has withdrawn his nomination and hinted that the party may back sitting MLA Gopal Kanda, who has been supporting the state government.
Polling for the fourth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on Monday, May 13, 2024, with 96 seats going to the polls across 10 states.
Akhilesh Yadav's stock rose dramatically on Tuesday with his Samajwadi Party cutting the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party down to size in Uttar Pradesh.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The BJP is leaning on Yogi's 'batenge to katenge' theme to weave a unifying narrative that transcends caste and communal lines.
Election Commission data shows 15.88 crore (158.8 million) voters are eligible to exercise their franchise in the second phase on Friday.
Akhilesh Yadav hit back, saying no one had any clue that the alliance was coming apart and that he had dialled the BSP chief to know why the tie-up ended.
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