What India needs more than one simultaneous election is better governance both at the central and state level. Yes, we need reforms, but our priority should be to make elections less expensive, make it more democratic, do away with freebies which are actually bribes before elections, allow only those who are educated to contest, and bring in a bill to make it impossible for criminals to contest, advocates Ramesh Menon.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states were among those present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony.
"I challenge BJP to prove corruption charges against me. If proved, I will resign from politics," said Hemant Soren.
Incumbents Pushkar Singh Dhami and Pramod Sawant are the clear favourites but face some opposition
Congress legislators will spend Thursday night inside the Karnataka legislative assembly and council, demanding the sacking of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister K S Eshwarappa and also that he be booked for sedition for his statement about the national flag.
The Congress candidates were announced on a day former party chief Rahul Gandhi arrived in Aizawl on a two-day campaign visit.
Following the engine snag, the two BJP leaders shelved their plans to travel to Imphal for the swearing-in ceremony of N Biren Singh as Manipur chief minister, sources said.
Rathore, however, said he was a "true soldier" of the Congress party and it was in the public domain who had damaged the party.
'Yogiji insisted to Venkaiah Naiduji that he needs two more strong arms to rule Uttar Pradesh.'
The Congress leadership is caught in a peculiar situation and wants to find a middle path to the issue, party sources said.
An accidental encounter between Maharashtra deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray in a lift in Vidhan Bhawan on Thursday caused ripples in state political circles.
The recent move by a group of eight Congress MLAs in Goa to merge with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was as per constitutional norms, state assembly speaker Ramesh Tawadkar said.
Outgoing Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha on Friday called on Governor Satyadeo Narain Arya and tendered his resignation.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
Amid speculation of leadership change in Karnataka, Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary in-charge of the state, Arun Singh, on Thursday ruled out replacing the chief minister and asserted that B S Yediyurappa will continue in the top post.
Before the ceremony, Yogi Adityanath, who led the party to a thumping victory in the just-concluded elections, will be elected as the leader of the legislature party, party sources said.
The development comes a day ahead of the announcement of the panchayat and municipal poll results.
After a series of meetings, Sarma told reporters that BJP's Assam legislature party is likely to meet in Guwahati on Sunday and all questions related to the next government will be answered there.
Hitting out at the Congress government headed by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, he said the ruling party has reached "height of appeasement politics," and alleged that it has in a way made appeasement of minorities its "goal."
In a similar move in July 2019, 10 Congress MLAs had switched over to the BJP.
However, induction in the NCP-SP will come with riders, asserted the former Union minister.
Malik used to criticise the BJP-led Central government and the then opposition leader in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, when he was a cabinet minister in the erstwhile MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde, camping in Guwahati, has claimed that he has the support of 34 MLAs of his party and passed a resolution on Wednesday evening reinstating himself as the leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, a day after he was removed from the post by the Sena leadership.
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
Bharatiya Janata Party president J P Nadda has appointed Union minister Mansukh Mandaviya and party general secretary Vinod Tawde as central observers for the election of the leader of opposition in the Karnataka assembly.
Sharad Pawar has left the door open for his nephew's return by not suspending him from the party for his rebellion.
'The Speaker has to act in an impartial way and in accordance with what the Supreme Court has laid out in its judgment.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi would sound the poll bugle of the party for the coming assembly elections in Telangana by addressing a public meeting at Khammam on Sunday.
The swearing-in ceremony may take place on Tuesday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP president J P Nadda and chief ministers of several BJP-ruled states likely to attend the event, he said.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Saturday appeared all set to make his second political volte face in less than three years, with a highly-placed source close to Kumar saying that the Janata Dal-United president is likely to tender his resignation by Sunday morning.
The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday didn't discuss the issue of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and has decided to take a 'wait and watch' approach amid political developments in the state, a senior leader said.
The state cabinet approved the Parliamentary Affairs Department's proposal to convene the first session of the 17th assembly and 196th session of the legislative council from November 23 to November 27, minister Amarendra Pratap Singh of the BJP said.
With the Congress emerging victorious in Himachal Pradesh, state party president Pratibha Singh is considered a key frontrunner for the chief minister's post, closely followed by former party chief Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu and outgoing Congress Legislature Party leader Mukesh Agnihotri.
The Bharatiya Janata Party will have an understanding with former prime minister H D Deve Gowda-led Janata Dal-Secular for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, former Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa said on Friday, an announcement that shot up political temperature in Karnataka.
He urged people to ignore politicians who only make speeches and instead, vote for those who work.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday assured his government will continue the Ladki Bahin Yojana and fulfil Mahayuti's pre-poll promise of hiking the monthly stipend under the scheme to Rs 2,100 from Rs 1,500 now to eligible women.
Amid the ongoing tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and Sena over sharing of power in the next state government, Fadnavis also asserted that he will be the chief minister for another five years.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh is likely to go to Mumbai on Monday to discuss government formation in Maharashtra amid back channel talks between the Bharatiya Janata Party and estranged ally Shiv Sena for a possible tie-up.
The 67-year-old gave the example of two neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to buttress his point on why seat-sharing pattern of the INDIA bloc will vary from state to state.
Sawant, who took over as chief minister for the first time in March 2019, brought the BJP tantalizingly close to the simple majority mark of 21, defying pre-poll predictions of a hung assembly.
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