Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Thursday expressed happiness that the Congress party has taken cognisance of the issues raised by him about welfare of youth and corruption under the previous Vasundhara Raje government in Rajasthan, and asserted the party will contest the assembly polls unitedly to secure a massive victory.
Arun Beereddy (37), a native of Telangana's Hyderabad, was arrested from Delhi. He handles the 'Spirit of Congress' account on X, the official said.
The opposition alliance INDIA on Thursday announced that it will boycott shows of 14 television anchors on several platforms, a decision the Bharatiya Janata Party compared with the Emergency.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday lashed out at opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties over Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader Udhayanidhi Stalin's remarks against 'Sanatan Dharma', accusing them of insulting 'Sanatan Dharma' for votebank and appeasement politics.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
Shekhawat has filed a defamation case against Gehlot for accusing him and his family of being involved in the alleged Sanjivani Credit Cooperative Society "scam".
India would have won the cricket World Cup if the final match was played in Kolkata or Mumbai, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee claimed on Thursday.
'Not just Maharashtra, the Congress has not fielded even one Muslim candidate from Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.'
In the coming days, unless Modi tones down the communal spiel, it will be clear that anxiety continues to drive his mind and clouds his judgment, observes Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Congress also has the support of 10 out of 13 independents, and other party MLAs like Rashtriya Lok Dal (1), which is its ally.
The Congress won nearly half of the 2,105 wards in the contest in the first local elections held in the state after the party came to power in Rajasthan last December.
The federal agency issued a summons to Vaibhav Gehlot (43) last week, asking him to appear before the investigating officer of the case at its headquarters on A P J Abdul Kalam Road here under the provisions of the Foreign Exchange Management Act.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
The BJP had on Monday demanded the resignation of Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on moral grounds after his government said in a reply to a question in the state A assembly that it taps phones in the interest of public safety and order.
Former Haryana Congress leader Kuldeep Bishnoi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday along with his wife Renuka Bishnoi here in the presence of senior party leaders, including state Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar.
Narendra D Modi and his party campaigned in these elections uncharacteristically without any big ideas. Of course, winning each election at all costs could be a big idea as well, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The brutal killing of tailor Kanhaiya Lal in Rajasthan's Udaipur was a "terrorist incident", he said, alleging that Riyaz Attari, one of the main accused, was a BJP member since 2019.
Youth unemployment (ages 15 to 29) is higher than the national average of 12.4 per cent in Telangana (14.2 per cent) and Rajasthan (13 per cent), followed by Chhattisgarh (6.7 per cent) and MP (6 per cent).
Just weeks ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls, Singh quit the Congress party on Tuesday and joined the BJP, in a setback for the grand old party.
As the feud in Rajasthan unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party intensified, over 43 Members of Legislative Assembly who are loyal to sulking leader Vasundhara Raje on Sunday offered to resign, but the party played down the crisis and her threat to quit the organisation. A day after Raje threatened to leave the BJP over state leader Gulabchand Kataria's proposed political campaign, her aide claimed that 43 MLAs, including 2 independents, submitted their resignation to Raje.
The scarcity of resources is particularly evident in the case of Rajasthan compared to many other states.
This was her second term as chief minister and, in keeping with the tradition of voters choosing the Congress and the BJP alternately, the ruling party looks set to lose power.
Union ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh and Nitin Gadkari, all former BJP presidents, besides RSS joint general secretary Arun Kumar met at the residence of incumbent party chief JP Nadda.
The BTP chief said the party is now extending support to Gehlot after an assurance that its demands related to the development of tribal areas will be met.
As Chandigarh braces for a fierce contest between Congress candidate Manish Tewari and the BJP's Sanjay Tandon, its industry leaders harbour a fervent wish: Replicate the success of the National Capital Region model in this Union Territory.
At a public meeting in Jhalawar on Friday, while referring to her MP son Dushyant Singh's progress as a people's representative, Raje candidly said she felt she can retire now.
Rajasthan Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra shared on Twitter a purported video clip of BJP's former MLA Gyan Dev Ahuja, who is allegedly seen admitting his supporters have so far 'lynched five people'.
Joshi, however, clarified that he did not support the banned practice and that his remarks were on the tradition of 'Jauhar'.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
Rahul Gandhi said both Rae Bareli and Wayanad "will get two MPs".
The House witnessed a ruckus when Mishra targeted the BJP.
Amongst those who attended the meeting included former president L K Advani, current party president Rajnath Singh were prominent leaders who attended the meet.
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has alleged that the BJP was conspiring to poach the MLAs in order to destabilise his government, a charge denied by the saffron party.
Shah said that it is "a 3-D government in Rajasthan and three Ds stands for 'dange' (riots), 'durvyavhar' (ill-treatment) with women and 'Dalit' atrocities.
The Congress won 77 seats or 42% of seats in the 2017 polls. How then can Gujarat be called a BJP bastion, asks Sanjeev Nayyar.
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