'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
It will be the year of preparation for the electoral test in Uttar Pradesh, due in 2022. But before that, the West Bengal Assembly election will set the mood for the rest of 2021.
Everyone on election duty for the upcoming polls for five assemblies will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before polling day, the Election Commission said on Friday.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
With two cabinet ministers and three ministers of state, the Northeastern region was on Wednesday handsomely rewarded by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the first reshuffle of his ministry in the second tenure.
Constituency-wise verdict of the five-state aasembly elections.
Government-controlled oil-marketing companies (OMCs) have held back petrol and diesel price revisions for a week and are expected to continue doing so, ostensibly owing to political reasons. It appears that the Centre has informally conveyed to the three major OMCs to not revise fuel prices for the time being, two people in the government said. This informal directive follows the talks between the Centre and states on cutting taxes and bringing the auto fuels under the good service tax regime not fetching the desired results, so far.
Police have recovered four fire arms including two revolvers and 45 vehicle registration plates from the house of the arrested kingpin of a nationwide car theft racket, Anil Chauhan, at Mirza in Guwahati city on Thursday.
With the Election Commission (EC) facing flak from some quarters for announcing eight-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal, officials on Friday said the polling had to be spread out due to festivals, the movement of security forces and an increased number of polling stations keeping in mind the Covid protocols.
The fulcrum of victory or defeat of parties attempting to form a government is held by smaller players and those willing to defect.
According to sources, the filters were applied on Saturday night soon after the poll schedule was announced.
Assam minister Dr Himanta Bishwa Sarma who on Monday quit from the Tarun Gogoi cabinet said that he had been forced to take the step after the Congress leadership had repeatedly ignored the representations made by the rebel MLAs about the 'inefficient' handling of affairs by the chief minister.
The BJP-led alliance in Assam is all set to form the government for the second successive term winning 72 of the 102 seats declared so far and is leading in three others.
All 40-odd rooms at the resort have been booked for the guests from Jharkhand for the next two days, Congress sources said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday assured that the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) will not be implemented in Assam if the party is voted to power in the state in the coming assembly poll.
The Congress 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', led by Rahul Gandhi, is scheduled to enter West Bengal from Assam on Thursday, amid political ripples within the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) in the state.
The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
That AAP managed a sizeable vote share in Gujarat is creditable. The BJP can no longer ignore AAP's growing presence in its strongest bastion, explains Ramesh Menon, long-time observer of Gujarat politics.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
The timeline of the Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra.
His remarks that some people suffer from diseases such as cancer because of sins committed in the past and that it is "divine justice" have sparked sharp reactions.
'Conrad Sangma is an interesting mix of charisma, ability and has emerged as a capable leader.' 'Neiphiu Rio is very unassuming, quiet, subtle and stands out among all Naga leaders today.'
After barring Assam minister Himanta Biswa Sarma from campaigning in the assembly polls for 48 hours, the Election Commission has also transferred his brother and Goalpara Superintendent of Police Sushanta Biswa Sarma from the district.
Dominic Xavier offers his take on the latest episode in the Bengal 2021 drama.
Former CM Tarun Gogoi on Wednesday accepted his responsibility for the Congress' debacle in Assam assembly polls.
The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019, including in Gujarat and Karnataka.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
I am not at all surprised by this U-turn. It is par for the course for this government and one can expect another U-turn when the assembly elections in Assam, Bengal and Kerala approach in April.
The EC had recently banned victory processions on the counting day to curb the spread of coronavirus.
The measures include an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) and State Election Commissions to provide reliable information around the elections, a custom emoji to encourage participation, a series of pre-bunks and debunks to tackle election-related misinformation, and a youth discussion series titled #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections.
Six decades and more later, we are now captives of our identities. Every poll is based on elaborate calculations of electability of candidates on the basis of their castes and other narrow definers. That, along with voter promiscuity, is what defines our political culture, which remains stubbornly resistant to any change, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
The Election Commission of India has announced that elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat, and West Bengal will be held on July 24.
"Congratulations to Mamata Didi for @AITCofficial's win in West Bengal. The Centre will continue to extend all possible support to the West Bengal Government to fulfil people's aspirations and also to overcome the COVID-19 pandemic," he tweeted.
The All India Congress Committee has barred all ministers and MLAs in Assam from speaking to the media about dissidence in the Assam Congress Legislature Party headed by Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi.
A new cabinet in the state will be in place in the next 48-72 hours.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party pulling out all the stops to oust Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from government in West Bengal and to retain power in Assam, these two states have been the focus of Modi's campaign.
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