The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
Over 83 per cent of the more than 13 lakh electorate cast their vote on Monday in the single-day Nagaland state election which passed off by and large peacefully, Chief Electoral Officer V Shashank Shekhar said.
Congress General Secretary Digvijay Singh on Thursday made light of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's hat-trick in the assembly polls, saying that leaders like Sheila Dikshit and Tarun Gogoi from his party too have won elections three times in a row.
A six-phased Assembly elections in West Bengal, a two stage poll in Assam and a single day poll in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Puducherry were announced by the Election Commission, setting in motion the largest such exercise after 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
While the term of 288-member Maharashtra assembly ends on November 9, that of the 90-member Haryana assembly expires on November 2.
Modi believes that the Congress leadership does not have the political sagacity to undertake a course correction because of its preoccupation about not losing its current gains in the voter base, observes Shekhar Iyer.
Sarma, whose stock is high in Delhi had earlier captured eyeballs as the BJP's first star campaigner from the region in far away Gujarat and Delhi.
The setback promises to have far-reaching ramifications within and outside the party as it is likely to fuel voices that have challenged the Gandhi family's leadership and also those who have been a votary of a non-Congress front to take on the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'As demonetisation showed us, the Shah-Modi duo can take big risks.' 'Risking economic damage for political benefit, however, is one thing, stoking old fires in complicated Assam is another', warns Shekhar Gupta.
If the party is unable to do well in Gujarat and Karnataka polls, it could lose this status in the subsequent binneial elections to the upper House.
Tandon said, after the review meeting at Madurai and Chennai on Tuesday, they would decide on the Tamil Nadu election date.
'... that they should listen to people of the soil of the North East and find a permanent solution to tribal problems.'
What did Mamata and Yogi, who were seated one seat away from each other, say to each other, we wonder.
Wouldn't it be better to join the celebrations with the vast Hindu majority while at the same time criticising Mr Modi/BJP/RSS for politicising it? notes Shekhar Gupta.
If the BJP or even the regional parties delude themselves that they are going to win the 2019 Lok Sabha election, then they are over-interpreting the assembly election results, says Kumar Ketkar.
It said that Congress' strategy to pursue 'fringe and disruptive politics' in Parliament was only for political reasons and opposition to the development agenda of the BJP government, which has been rejected by the people in the four large states of Assam, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Kerala.
The counting of votes in all these states and the UT will take place on May 2.
A section within the RSS feels Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani should be projected as the BJP's CM candidate in UP, says Rajeev Sharma.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Arun Jaitley on Monday stated that the ruling Congress in Assam was facing 'double anti-incumbency' this election and the poll results were bound to reflect the people's desperate wish for a change of guard.
The ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said.
After repeated gaffe by Rahul Gandhi on no dedicated ministry to deal with the issues of fishermen, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Congress leader was on vacation when the National Democratic Alliance formed the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 2019.
To beat BJP, you either deny them a critical mass of Hindu vote or build a regional leader and party strong enough to protect their turf, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Now, the chief minister is under pressure to make good his promise after the December 4 incident in Nagaland's Mon, where 14 people were killedAFSPA has eclipsed all other achievements of the Biren Singh government.
Stakes are high for the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the counting of votes on Thursday for three state assembly polls, as the results will signal if it has deepened its roots in Tripura, a Left bastion captured by the party in 2018, and made further inroads in Meghalaya and Nagaland, or if the opposition has managed to dent its influence.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has tested positive for Covid-19.
The joint statement was issued by senior leaders of 13 opposition parties, including interim president of Congress Sonia Gandhi, the Nationalist Congress Party patriarch Sharad Pawar, and the West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.
For the chief minister and Assam alike, the road ahead is full of challenges, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Dynastic politics may not have been witnessed in Assam's earlier elections, but it has become a dominant feature in the 2011 Assembly polls with 26 kins of political leaders throwing their hats in the poll ring.
The rear windscreen of a car carrying Rahul Gandhi was damaged during the ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', with West Bengal unit president Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury alleging that the vehicle was "pelted with stones" in Malda district, while Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed the incident took place in adjoining Bihar.
As the counting process into election to five assemblies reached its final phases, Senior Congress leader and Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee declared that the people have given their verdict towards both 'stability' and 'change.'
Candidates or their agents who have received both the doses of Covid-19 vaccine can also enter the counting hall on May 2 when votes for Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will be counted, according to the guidelines issued on Wednesday.
The Congress on Wednesday cancelled its four marathon races listed this week and also decided not to hold any big rallies in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh amid rising cases of the novel coronavirus infection.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday appealed to the people of Manipur to maintain peace and promised that justice will be ensured to all sections of the society.
The exit poll results were released at the end of the polling in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, marking the closure of voting in four states and Puducherry.
The Congress used Raj Bhavans to topple legally elected governments. The BJP is letting governors get away with all manner of impropriety, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Though it's been just five years at the helm, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is fighting severe internal dissidence and would crumble like a pack of cards if it loses, says Devanik Saha.
Maybe one of the reasons for the party to prefer Gogoi is that he combines administrative and financial acumen that is rare.
The Supreme Court Wednesday flagged the issue of possible misuse of funds received through electoral bonds by political parties for illegal purposes like terrorism and asked the Centre whether there was any 'control' over how these funds were put to use.
When Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's name was floated as Venkaiah Naidu's successor as vice president, the RSS instead suggested Jagdeep Dhankar, indicating that he was also Mohan Bhagwat's choice, states Prakash Bhandari.
The North East is a sizeable success story for the Modi government politically and for the BJP electorally. It will be an unpleasant surprise if they choose to blow it, bowing to their basic, polarising instinct at any point, points out Shekhar Gupta.
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