In prior elections, not only have opinion poll forecasts been very different from the results, the error margin has increased over time. One need only look at the charts that show the Sensex half a year before and after the results day for the last six elections. The markets did not change direction in any, says Neelkanth Mishra.
Almost all prominent leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party, as well as members of the National Democratic Alliance and North-East Democratic Alliance accompanied Modi.
Over the last few years, National Sports Awards have been in the news for creating controversies, but Sports minister Sarbananda Sonowal has said there is no need to review the selection policy for them.
'In May 2014, India got its Donald Trump equivalent as prime minister in the form of Narendra Modi. Come 2016, we will know if America too gets its own version of Modi by electing Trump,' says Shehzad Poonawalla.
'This country belongs to each of us and to all of us -- every group and every community, every region and every identity.'
Left-backed All India Students' Association on Sunday swept the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union polls bagging all the top four positions, including the president's post, for the second consecutive year.
'The BJP's use of nationalism was a major factor in its likely victory,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
Around 62 per cent newly-elected legislators have criminal cases against them in Kerala, while 32 per cent in West Bengal face serious charges including murder and crime against women, a report said on Friday.
A 12-hour hartal is being observed against the preventive detention of a Hindu Aikya Vedi leader.
Sporadic violence marked the 'hartal' called by Hindu right groups in Kerala over Wednesday's police action against those opposing entry of women of menstrual age into the shrine.
Though the party defended him saying "the case and his arrest is politically motivated."
President-elect Pratibha Patil on Saturday described her win as the "victory of the principles," which the people of the country uphold.
'I was never a politically active student throughout my life. But now I have to do it because they (those in power) are not listening.'
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
The Congress chief gave 'F' to the Modi government for agriculture, foreign policy and job creation, and 'A+' to the prime minister for slogan creation and self promotion.
"Now is the time to shift my priorities to my family," said the outgoing PepsiCo CEO.
In his reply to the debate over the bill, the home minister rejected the charge that it is 'unconstitutional', 'divisive' or 'anti-Muslim'.
Saseendran said his resignation should not be seen as an acceptance of guilt.
'I am more worried about the BJP as I see lot of marginalisation of top leaders in the BJP.' 'I am really worried about the terminal decline of the Congress. And the greatest tragedy is that there are so many good people in the Congress.' 'It will take a couple of years, but this is the most appropriate time for a new political party and leadership to emerge.'
'If the virulence of COVID-19 has muted the toxicity of the BJP's communalism, it will be an example of good coming out of the pandemic,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
Aseem Chhabra introduces us to the best of Berlinale.
'There will be a broad coalition of non-BJP parties in at least 25 states'
A united Opposition in the Lok Sabha on Thursday pitched for referring the triple talaq bill to a 'joint select committee' of Parliament, claiming its provisions were unconstitutional.
The Indian police is governed by the archaic, colonial-era Police Act of 1861, which has no place in a democracy. It was created to make the police subservient to its masters and, consequently, antagonistic to the masses, states Veenu Sandhu.
In this year's budget, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman hiked tax on petrol and diesel, raised import duty on gold, levied additional surcharge on super rich and brought a tax on high value cash withdrawals as she sought to spur growth with reduction in corporate tax and sops to housing sector, startups and electric vehicles.
Even with the best methodology there is a limitation to what opinion poll/exit polls can achieve. When done correctly, the polls should give the broad story, points out Rajeeva Karandikar, director, Chennai Mathematical Institute.
Inaugurating the two-day 'Global Investors Summit' hosted by Assam, Modi said the National Democratic Alliance government has speeded up the functioning of official machinery and "we want all programmes to be completed before target".
It keeps getting harder every day for the government to drive its narrative that ample jobs are being created. They sound increasingly silly as they try to defend the indefensible, says Mahesh Vyas.
The BJP/Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh and right wing outfits have made it clear that they would not allow any woman in the 10-50 age group to offer prayers at the shrine, where the deity is 'Naishtika Brahmachari' (perennial celibate).
