Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday cruised to a two-thirds majority in Madhya Pradesh assembly, winning as many as 163 of the 230 seats in the House, leaving the Congress a distant second at 66.
With many of his close associates leaving his side, it is virtually a lone battle for Congress stalwart Kamal Nath to help his parliamentarian son Nakul Nath win from Chhindwara for a second time amid the Bharatiya Janata Party's aggressive push to wrest the seat.
Dhami said several acres of land were freed from encroachment during the demolition drive in the 'Malik Ka Bagicha' area of Banbhoolpura.
The BJP retained power in MP in the November 17 polls emphatically winning 163 seats in the 230-member assembly, leaving the Congress a distant second with 66 seats.
Mysuru district in-charge minister S T Somashekar was present, as the family left for Ahmedabad.
Union ministers Prahlad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that Gandhi has been spreading lies on this issue.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's first list of 24 candidates for Lok Sabha from Madhya Pradesh featured former chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, while Bhopal MP Pragya Singh Thakur was replaced by another candidate.
Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, "If there would be any such thing, I would inform you first."
A curfew was imposed in Haldwani on Thursday after local residents set vehicles and a police station on fire and hurled stones, injuring more than 60 people, over the demolition of an 'illegally built' madrasa and an adjoining mosque, officials said.
Abbas was a classmate and friend of Pankaj Modi, the youngest of the Modi siblings.
As soon as the House resumed at noon, Joshi said, "In protest against the action of their party's former president (Rahul Gandhi) and in your honour and in honour of the Constitution, we would participate in the Question Hour while remaining standing in silence. We request for your permission".
Kumar had recently dumped the 'Mahagathbandhan', of which the Rashtriya Janata Dal was a key constituent, and returned to the NDA fold to form the government with support of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 10 who put in their papers include nine Lok Sabha MPs, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, and the one Rajya Sabha member, officials said.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
The results mark a defining turn in the fortunes of several regional satraps, especially in the BJP, around whom politics in their states have revolved for decades.
The exercise will continue till 6 pm in all the polling stations except those in Maoist-affected areas of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts where it ended at 3 pm, an official said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday released its second list for the upcoming assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, fielding three Union ministers.
According to BJP sources, the party propped up Chouhan in its election campaign when the Congress plank of promising to conduct a caste census started finding resonance with the OBCs.
Many exit polls have kept the incumbent Bharatiya Janata party ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.
The Congress is now gearing up to take on the BJP over alleged corruption, jobs and issues tied to tribals, farmers and women.
With this, the ruling BJP has so far declared candidates for 136 seats. Earlier, the BJP had announced 79 candidates, including two lists of 39 each, and another list of one nominee.
In the chair was Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, a Bharatiya Janata Party leader of the old school with friends across parties unlike the duo who currently run the BJP.
State Congress president and former chief minister Kamal Nath has been fielded from his home-turf Chhindwara, from where he is currently the legislator.
The BJP has fielded 18 MPs, including four Union ministers, for the latest round of assembly polls so far -- seven each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan and four in Chhattisgarh.
Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel on Monday posted on social media platform X that the Union Cabinet has approved the women's reservation bill, but deleted the post within an hour.
In the wake of Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra predicting Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh's Chouhan's exit from the top post following the year-end assembly polls, the latter asked people at a rally whether he should become the CM again or not.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said his party would pull off a spectacular victory in the state assembly elections, but evaded a direct reply to a question whether he would be the chief minister for the fifth time, as he just said 'Bharatiya Janata Party Zindabad'.
A row erupted when women bodybuilders posed in front of the image of Lord Hanuman at the venue of the 13th Mister Junior Bodybuilding Competition held in Ratlam on March 4 and 5, after which local Congress leaders sprinkled 'ganga jal' as part of the "purification" of the venue on Monday. They had also recited 'Hanuman Chalisa'.
What he has said is shocking and shameful, former Union minister and BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said, noting that the son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has repeated his remarks.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's private secretary V K Pandian played audio of the CM at a public meeting in Barpali in which Patnaik can be heard telling the people that he has sent the IAS officer so that they can tell their grievances to him.
'The party is breaking stereotypes by not inviting senior leaders to become chief ministers.' 'No other party has had the guts to do this.'
Behind its high-decibel campaign, powered by well-organised party machinery, the BJP also appears to have made a slight departure from its 'next generation' approach to stay ahead of an aggressive Congress and enhance its prospects of securing a majority of seats.
The DGP clarified that the UP Police has however, not arrested any person from Odisha.
The longest-serving Bharatiya Janata Party chief minister and popularly known as mama (maternal uncle) and 'paon-paon wale bhaiya' (foot soldier), Shivraj Singh Chouhan has emerged as the hero of his party's stunning victory in the state assembly elections.
Pamela Chopra, playback singer, writer and late film-maker Yash Chopra's wife, passed into the ages on Thursday, April 20, at Mumbai's Lilavati hospital. She was 74.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
Modi and Chouhan have visited Mahakoshal multiple times and reached out to tribals to shore up support for the BJP.
Per capita income in the state has consistently been below the national average for at least 24 years. However, it has narrowed the gap with the all-India level in recent years.
Narmadaben, 80, lived in the New Ranip area of the city with her children.
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