In a jolt to the Bharatiya Janata Party, its candidate on Thursday lost the mayoral election in the Jalgaon Municipal Corporation as 27 party corporators cross-voted.
As the Opposition held its first meeting on the Presidential polls and names of Farooq Abdullah and Gopalkrishna Gandhi also cropped up, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice with senior party leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge (Congress), Mamata Banerjee (Trinamool Congress), Akhilesh Yadav (Samajwadi Party) and Naveen Patnaik (Biju Janata Dal).
Though the BJP failed in its effort to dislodge Banerjee from power, it's for the first time that it will be the main opposition party in the state assembly, rising from a measly three seats in 2016 to 77.
The BJP objected to the name claiming that Tipu Sultan had persecuted Hindus and hence his name was unacceptable for a public facility.
Even though MLAs are required to show their ballot to respective party whips before casting their vote, all parties have ensured their MLAs are housed in five star hotels closer to the Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha where voting will take place on June 10.
The Congress hit out at the BJP, demanding the immediate arrest of those who have defamed India at the international level instead of enacting a "drama of action".
Pakistan is making efforts at multiple levels for the Taliban government to have a soft landing, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
President Yameen declared the emergency on February 5 after the Supreme Court ordered the release of a group of opposition leaders, who had been convicted in widely criticised trials. Among them was exiled ex-President Mohamed Nasheed. The court said his 2015 trial had been unconstitutional.
AIMIM supremo Asaduddin Owaisi's first rally in Kolkata, scheduled to be held on Thursday, has been cancelled as the city police denied permission for it, party sources claimed.
AIMIM's West Bengal unit leader Anwar Pasha along with some of his colleagues joined the Trinamool Congress, claiming that the Asaduddin Owaisi-led party was only acting as a polariser of votes to help the BJP.
Nineteen political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, received over Rs 1,100 crore during assembly polls in five states and Union territories in 2021 and spent over Rs 500 crore, a big chunk of which went towards advertisements and travel expenses for star campaigners, a study said on Friday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 48 wards and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi secured 44.
The Bahujan Samaj Party will make efforts to not field 'bahubali' (strongmen) or mafia candidates in next year's Uttar Pradesh polls, party supremo Mayawati said Friday, announcing that jailed gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari will not be given a party ticket from Mau again.
Opposition members hit out at the government for the introduction of the bill in a 'hurry' and 'without any consultation with stakeholders'.
A bill to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem to weed out duplication was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
"By attending, the Prime Minister has not only laid the foundation of a Mandir, but also the foundation of a Hindu Rashtra," Owaisi told reporters in Hyderabad.
With their high-decibel campaigns so far, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party may appear to be locked in a direct fight in Uttar Pradesh.
Venugopal said it is true that the judgment of the top court also notes the fact that Savarkar has been found not guilty of Gandhiji's murder in the criminal trial. However, if one reads the judgment as a whole, it is clear that the court was disinclined to go into the findings of the Justice Kapoor Commission of Inquiry, the AG said.
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
"I don't want Z category security. I want to be an A-category citizen, at par with you all. Why was UAPA not invoked against those who fired at me? ...I want to live, to speak. My life will be safe when the poor are safe. I will not get scared of those who shot at my car," he said in Parliament.
Jailed gangster and former member of Parliament Atiq Ahmad and his wife on Tuesday joined the All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen in the presence of its chief Asaduddin Owaisi, drawing a sharp reaction from the Bharatiya Janata Party which said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath will not allow "Jinnah's jihadi mentality" to flourish in Uttar Pradesh.
Hemmed in by barricades and police and paramilitary swarming all over the place, the troubled Jahangirpuri on Friday showed signs of returning to normalcy, with the local peace committee calling for communal harmony and members of the warring communities embracing each other, agreeing to let bygones be bygones.
Aditi Phadnis picks five key seats in the three states where assembly elections are being held today.
Thackeray's comments came in the wake of demands from the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other parties that places of worship be re-opened since coronavirus-enforced restrictions are being eased under the 'Unlock' process.
After a controversy arose over some civic bodies' plans to act against handcarts selling non-veg foods on main thoroughfares, Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on Monday had said the state government has no problem with people's food choices.
Owaisi alleged the bill was worse than the discriminatory laws brought by Hitler in Germany.
The elections are being seen as a semi-final to the 2022 assembly election.
The pleas, which were earlier heard by a bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Jyoti Singh, have now been transferred to a bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anup Jairam Bhambhani through an administrative order of January 28.
It said as and when the protestors tried to infringe the law and failed to obey directions of enforcement agencies, appropriate legal action was taken against the miscreants.
Mishra's assertion came amid a growing perception that the BSP could again join hands with the saffron party if the 2022 assembly elections throw a hung House.
'The people who demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992, the same people were asked to form a trust and start temple construction'
While Yadav began to tour different constituencies and address public meetings to mobilise the SP rank and file, he has concurrently started the tedious process of cobbling up an alliance of smaller outfits representing a mlange of castes and sub-castes, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
India will need to watch carefully and understand the new round of instability and uncertainty in Pakistan, while charting the course of its future diplomatic initiatives, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Shah has already appealed to the protesting farmers to shift to the Burari ground in the national capital to stage their protests and said the Centre was ready to hold discussions with them as soon as they move to the designated place.
With the Yogi Adityanath government taking credit for cracking down on criminals and making it an election issue, political parties are now having a rethink on aligning with those who have a criminal background but also enjoy influence in their areas.
With four seats each won by junior allies Hindustani Awam Morcha-Secular and Vikassheel Insaan Party, the NDA bagged 125 seats in its kitty, three more than the number required for a simple majority.
In another milestone for the DMRC, driverless train operations on 59-km Pink Line of the Delhi Metro were flagged off on Thursday.
The AIMIM leader also slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government even as he panned the triple talaq law saying, "The triple talaq law is against all the Muslim women. BJP is a long-lasting government which means that this darkness is going to last long."
A Muslim cleric in northwest Pakistan has been arrested under the tough anti-terrorism act for threatening to kill Malala Yousafzai in a suicide attack and instigating people against the Nobel Laureate for her recent comments on marriage, police said.
Residents of Majlis Taufikpur in Uttar Pradesh's Bijnor Lok Sabha constituency have collectively decided to not vote, citing poor condition of roads. Gaurav Arora reports.
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