Despite their top leaders frowning upon such practices, the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen and Congress came together in the Achalpur Municipal Council in Maharashtra's Amravati district to ensure unopposed election of various committee chairpersons.
A newly-elected AIMIM corporator's victory speech, vowing to 'paint Mumbra green,' has sparked controversy, with rivals questioning its religious overtones. The corporator has since clarified her remarks.
AIMIM MLA Waris Pathan was suspended from Maharashtra assembly for refusing to say 'Bharat mata ki jai'.
AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel supports colleague Sahar Shaikh's controversial statement about turning Mumbra green, claiming the party intends to do the same across Maharashtra. This follows Shaikh's victory in Thane civic polls and subsequent backlash over her remarks.
Here are who's who attending the wedding.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has entered into post-poll alliances with rivals Congress and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen in some municipal councils in Maharashtra, even as Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday rejected the tie-ups and warned of action against party leaders involved.
Opposition leaders have criticised the alliance between AIMIM and a suspended TMC MLA for the West Bengal Assembly elections, fearing it will divide votes and weaken secular parties.
Whichever combination finally emerges, Malegaon could set a record for being a town run neither by Maharashtra's ruling Mahayuti, nor by the Opposition MVA, but by a combination of two or three Muslim parties.
The demand was made by Akhtarul Iman, state president of Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM no sooner than he rose to take oath in Urdu.
'Of course, we are secular. Three of our Hindu brothers have won seats from our party. Tell me where AIMIM has managed that.'
Police in Bhopal have arrested two individuals, including a juvenile, in connection with the assault on a Muslim man who was found with a woman from another community. The incident sparked protests and stone-pelting, leading to further police intervention.
Suspended Trinamool Congress MLA Humayun Kabir asserts he will be a 'kingmaker' after the 2026 West Bengal assembly elections, claiming no government can be formed without his support. He plans to announce a new political party on December 22 and contest in 135 seats.
The BJP has taken an early lead in the Gujarat local body elections, winning a significant number of seats as counting progresses. The Congress trails behind, while Independents and other parties, including AAP and AIMIM, have also secured seats.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he was "deeply saddened" by the bus accident in Saudi Arabia's Medinah, in which several Indian Umrah pilgrims are feared dead.
The real surprise in these results came from Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM. Of the 29 Muslim candidates who got elected to the 227-strong BMC, the Congress and the AIMIM between them bagged 22.
The Opposition had the numbers to win one Rajya Sabha seat from Bihar. As it turned out, four MLAs skipped the voting, helping the NDA to sweep the polls.
The only thing that might make the BJP stop trying to isolate Muslims completely will be if substantial numbers of the community vote for the party that flaunts its animosity towards it, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The BJP's West Bengal unit chief, Samik Bhattacharya, has alleged that at least five farmers have died by suicide in the state since February due to a potato price crisis, accusing the TMC government of negligence.
A non-cognisable offence is being filed against Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad in connection with the assault of a canteen worker at the MLA hostel. The incident sparked outrage after a video surfaced showing Gaikwad assaulting the worker over allegedly stale food.
The construction of a Babri Masjid-style mosque in West Bengal's Murshidabad district has become a focal point in the upcoming elections, reshaping voter loyalties and raising communal tensions.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has urged voters to 'take revenge' for the deletion of names from electoral rolls, alleging the BJP is behind the changes. She also addressed concerns about EVM tampering and the deployment of officers to other states.
Twelve newly-elected councillors in the Ambernath Municipal Council, suspended by the Congress for joining a post-poll front led by the BJP, have formally joined the saffron party. The Congress criticized the BJP, highlighting the hypocrisy of welcoming defectors despite the Chief Minister's disapproval of the alliance.
The BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena alliance secured a majority in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, winning 118 out of 227 seats and ending the Thackeray family's long-standing control.
AIMIM's Bihar state president Akhtarul Iman, the party's lone MLA in the state, has written to RJD president Lalu Prasad, formally requesting inclusion in the grand alliance.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis e Ittehadul Muslimeen seem to have dented the Congress's sway over the votes of minorities in Gujarat in the just concluded assembly polls, bringing down the main Opposition party's vote margin considerably in various seats across the state.
'Now there is no fight between us (Thackerays); now the fight is with them.'
The parties which lost their registration also include Revolutionary Party of India-Khobragade faction, led by Uttam Khobragade and Uttar Pradesh-based Peace Party.
The AIMIM leader said that the party "laid certain conditions related to the development of our MLAs constituencies in Dhulia and Malegaon".
Owaisi was appointed as pro-tem Speaker though there were other senior members in the House, state BJP president G Kishan Reddy alleged.
Rana's blistering attack came in response to AIMIM MLA Akbaruddin Owaisi's controversial speech in 2013 that it would take them only '15 minutes' to balance the 'Hindu- Muslim ratio' in the country if the police were removed.
The Hyderabad MP had earlier announced thatthe AIMIM will contest 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh polls scheduled early next year.
"I feel no one can reject the contribution of Maharashtra and Marathi people in the history and present of the country. If someone is rejecting it, then I feel it is wrong," Fadnavis said.
A court in Bareilly has directed All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen supremo Asaduddin Owaisi to appear before it over a plea that claimed he had violated the Constitution by raising a slogan hailing Palestine in Parliament.
The launch coincides with the birthday of Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Sonia Gandhi.
AIMIM's Maharashtra unit chief and Aurangabad MP Imtiyaz Jaleel said, "Our party does not support the statement made by Waris Pathan. The party will seek an explanation from him over the remarks."
Apna Dal-K leader Pallavi Patel made it clear that the party was no longer an ally of the SP which is a member of the INDIA bloc.
Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has criticized Telugu actor Allu Arjun for attending the screening of 'Pushpa-2' despite police permission being denied. Reddy alleges that the actor continued to be present at the cinema hall even after a woman died in a stampede and criticized film personalities for showing more empathy to Allu Arjun after his arrest than to the injured boy involved in the incident. The CM also assured that there will be no special privileges for those involved in such incidents.
The newly-elected MLAs of Telangana would take oath during the first session of the Legislative Assembly scheduled to be held on Saturday.
Owaisi said 324 farmers have died by suicide in "Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) division", but no one is talking about it.
The Devendra Fadnavis-led ministry in Maharashtra has successfully passed a trust vote in the state assembly, securing a commanding majority of 230 seats in the 288-member house. The BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP 'Mahayuti' coalition, with a majority mark of 144, had a comfortable win with the support of smaller parties and independent MLAs. The trust motion was tabled by Shiv Sena MLA Uday Samant and others, and was passed by a voice vote. The 15th legislative assembly began its tenure on December 7, and the floor test was considered a mere formality. Fadnavis was sworn in as the chief minister for the third time on December 5, with Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar as deputy chief ministers.
