Extending its winning run in the south, the Congress on Sunday won 64 assembly seats to form government in the Bharat Rashtra Samiti-dominated Telangana, with the southern solace coming in the midst of a saffron sweep of the Hindi heartland where the Bharatiya Janata Party wrested two states from the grand old party and retained one.
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.
Experts foresee possible scenarios: A BRS government with less majority, a BRS government with BJP and AIMIM support, or a Congress government.
Joshi, however, clarified that he did not support the banned practice and that his remarks were on the tradition of 'Jauhar'.
The BJP's massive victory will make it hard for the party to derive a criterion for selecting ministers, as the claimants will be many and the berths, few.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
Retorting to Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan's minority remark, former Indian cricketer Mohammad Kaif said that Pakistan is the last country that should be lecturing any country on how to treat minorities."
VHP leader Sadhvi Prachi alleged that actors Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan were "tarnishing" the image of the country by claiming that intolerance was prevalent.
In the last six assembly elections, the state voted the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress to power alternately.
With the assembly election results throwing up surprises, most exit polls got the outcome in Chhattisgarh and the scale of the Bharatiya Janata Party's win in Madhya Pradesh wrong.
The All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen chief said that even if the bill is passed by Parliament, he will "knock on all doors" in the country and keep his point of view in front of the people.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has honoured Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh and Jain refugees by giving them citizenship through Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), Union home minister Amit Shah said on Tuesday and maintained there is no provision of stripping of anyone's citizenship in the new law.
In earlier elections, the Congress was considered the only major contender for Muslim votes in Gujarat, but this time the main opposition party is facing stiff competition from smaller outfits to get minority electors on its side.
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.
Cross-voting was held during the Rajya Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls last month.
The Bharatiya Janata Party bagged 48 wards and the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen of Asaduddin Owaisi secured 44.
Apart from the 18 members of the ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA), including the Bharatiya Janata Party, seven non-National Democratic Alliance parties will attend the ceremony, going by their stated position on the issue which has snowballed into another political flashpoint between the ruling and opposition camps.
Owaisi's five seats in Bihar's Muslim-majority Seemanchal region ought to ring alarm bells, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray held a meeting with party spokespersons in Mumbai, two days before his estranged cousin Raj's scheduled rally.
Meeting in Lucknow, the board also urged the judiciary to take a serious note of "injustice" being meted out to the weaker sections and the minorities.
The Minister of state for home's comment came after the Arunachal Pradesh Congress Committee accused the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party government of trying to convert Arunachal Pradesh into a Hindu state.
The AIMIM chief questioned whether the public will have any faith in the Constitution and law and order of the country after this incident.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday claimed that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's "false propaganda" that the population of Muslim community was increasing in the country, the number of the minority community members vis-a-vis Hindus was fast declining, and added that he could prove it.
Owaisi has demanded the arrest Nupur Sharma for the alleged objectionable remark against Prophet Muhammad.
Several Members of Parliament and Members of Legislative Assembly have declared cases in which they have been charged with inciting communal tension. The Association for Democratic Reforms in a report gives details of elected representatives with such charges.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
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.
The Allahabad high court on Monday asked the district administration of Allahabad to explain the rationale behind repeatedly denying permission to All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen leader Asaduddin Owaisi for addressing public rally in the city.
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.
It had given the BJP a tough fight in 2017 winning 77 of the 182 seats at stake.
The Hyderabad MP had earlier announced thatthe AIMIM will contest 100 seats in Uttar Pradesh polls scheduled early next year.
Lashing out at both the opposition and ruling fronts led by the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party, the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday said that neither dukandar nor chowkidar opens their mouths when Muslims are oppressed.
Madan Mohan Yadav, an advocate of the Hindu side, claimed the survey team found a Shivling in the complex near 'wazookhana'
Ambedkar said at an election rally at Digras in Maharashtra's Yavatmal district earlier on Thursday that he will jail the EC for two days if voted to power.
Owaisi's vehicle was near the Chhijarso toll plaza on the Hapur-Ghaziabad stretch of the National Highway 24 when the incident took place at around 6 pm, he said.
This will pave the way for emergence of 24,000 new panchayat-level leaders in Telangana, he said.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
Uniform Civil Code is aimed at replacing personal laws based on religions, customs, and traditions with one common law for everyone irrespective of religion, caste, creed, sexual orientation, and gender. Personal laws and laws related to inheritance, adoption and succession are likely to be covered by a common code.
Application to hold public meeting was received from Owaisi's party but he was denied permission, Azamgarh District Magistrate Suhash L Y said.
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.
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