Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
As part of the programme, 14 states have been identified in the first phase in which there are 64 districts.
Soon after meeting, Raut hinted at a pre-poll alliance with the Congress in UP and Goa, stating that the parties are thinking of working together in both the states that are scheduled to go to assembly polls early next year.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday sought the response of Union Minister Smriti Irani on a plea by microblogging site Twitter seeking certain clarifications in the court's earlier order by which it had directed social media giants to remove web links allegedly containing objectionable material against the BJP leader and her daughter.
His remarks come amid BJP ministers and legislators quitting the party in UP ahead of the crucial Assembly polls in the state.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said it was not disappointed with the results of Goa Assembly elections though the outcome was not up to the expectations.
Shah thanked the people of Uttarakhand for giving BJP a chance to serve again.
CM has asked the governor chance to prove his majority in the assembly.
Dhavalikar belongs to the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party and Sardesai is chief of Goa Forward Party.
A Goa court on Wednesday acquitted 40 accused, including senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, in the first ever case of communal riots in the state, which had occurred in the twin towns of Curchorem-Sanvordem in 2006. The sessions court at Margao acquitted 40 accused including BJP general secretary Satish Dhond and senior leader Sharmad Raiturcar. The accused had been charged with unlawful assembly, mischief and criminal trespass.
Banerjee said her microphone was stopped after five minutes, while other chief ministers were allowed to speak for longer durations.
Reacting to TMC's jibe, West Bengal Congress president Adhir Chowdhury said "agents of BJP" should not advise the party how to fight against the saffron camp.
The "guests from Goa", BJP sources said, have been shifted to a private farm house on the Jaipur-Ajmer road, about 20 km from Jaipur.
Sawant on Tuesday said his government had sought a floor test on Wednesday to prove its strength in the assembly.
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
Parrikar will stay at his private residence in Panaji,
Upset with the removal of Subhash Velingkar as Goa RSS chief, over 300 Sangh workers have annouced that they will quit the organisation and vowed to "defeat" the Bharatiya Janata Party in the assembly polls next year if he is not reinstated.
Michael Lobo, who resigned as deputy speaker of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and three of the 10 MLAs who joined the BJP -- Chandrakant Kavlekar, Jeniffer Monserratte, Philip Neri Rodrigues -- were sworn in as new ministers.
A sudden downpour in Delhi caught citizens off guard and caused heavy waterlogging and traffic jams on Tuesday while Mumbai breathed a sigh of relief as showers stopped a day after heavy rain brought the metropolis to its knees.
As many as eight exit polls -- ABP News-CVoter, ETG Research, India Today- Axis My India, India TV-CNX, Zee News-DESIGNBOXED, India News, News 24 Today's Chanakya and Republic P-MARQ -- predicted 240-plus seats for the BJP in Uttar Pradesh, earmarking an average seat of the party with its allies in the state at 241 out of the total of 403 seats.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Manohar Parrikar is all set to become the chief minister of Goa for the third time after the BJP-MGP combine on Wednesday staked its claim to form the government with the support of 26 legislators and the swearing -in will be held on Friday.
Reacting to the statement, the Congress in Goa accused the TMC of entering the poll fray in the state in order to 'divide secular votes and give mileage to the ruling BJP', and also alleged that Kishor's remarks exposed Mamata Banerjee-led party's agenda.
The development comes at a time when Parrikar, 62, is undergoing treatment for a pancreatic ailment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in New Delhi.
The young and suave candidate of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, Bhavya Bishnoi, looks to defend his 'family bastion' for five decades, while the main opposition Congress has placed its bet on veteran leader Jai Prakash in the Adampur bypoll in Haryana.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has announced a list of 22 candidates for the forthcoming Goa polls. The list, which was announced on Sunday night, includes names of its prominent leaders except its Member of Parliament Sripad Naik, who has refused to contest. The party's central election committee, which met in Delhi on Sunday night with party national president Nitin Gadkari, finalised the list.
Non-BJP chief ministers holding the home portfolios are Mamata Banerjee (West Bengal), Nitish Kumar (Bihar), Naveen Patnaik (Odisha) and MK Stalin (Tamil Nadu).
While the Congress currently has 14 MLAs, down from 16 after Sopte and Shirodkar left it to join the BJP, the latter has 13 MLAs.
Cashing-in on the anti-incumbency factor in a big way, the Bharatiya Janata Party-Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party combine on Wednesday rode to power in Goa, ousting the Congress and securing majority in a House of 40 members, nearly half of whom will be new faces.
With Atishi at the helm it will not be easy for the BJP to continue using the LG's office and the bureaucracy as political instruments to hinder governance and thereby provoke the electorate's ire against the AAP, expects Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Headed by former prime minister HD Deve Gowda, the JD-S has long been a strong third player in the southern state where the Congress and the BJP have been the two main parties.
Parrikar's poor health has sparked speculation over his continuation as the chief minister of Goa, and Shah had recently sent a central party leaders team to the coastal state to speak to allies and take stock of political situation.
Independent MLA Govind Gawde supporting the BJP's effort to form the next Goa government confirms that defence minister told him he will be the next Goa chief minister
An official video showed the prime minister being welcomed at the church and him greeting priests and worshippers on the holy day.
He said had the alliance with Goa Forward gone through, the Congress would have got majority in the state and that it was unfair to now make him a "villain".
'We are the real Shiv Sena and we will remain in the Sena.'
Who will replace Shah in the BCCI since neither he himself nor the people close to him have yet divulged his immediate plans.
The CM said that parents have a responsibility to ensure the safety of their children.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
Congress and RJD are single largest parties in Goa and Bihar respectively.
