This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday ducked queries about exit polls predicting wins, in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh assembly polls, for his former ally Bharatiya Janata Party which he has vowed to defeat with the help of a united opposition in the next general elections.
The BJP won a resounding victory in the Delhi Assembly elections, securing 48 seats out of 70. The party made significant inroads in constituencies dominated by various regional and socio-economic groups, including Purvanchalis, Sikhs, Jats, and slum dwellers. The BJP's strong performance can be attributed to its focus on these communities and its effective campaign strategies.
The BJP coined a new word for AAP, 'Aapda (crisis)', which Modi repeated constantly during the election campaign to show how Delhi residents's lives had become miserable under AAP's 11-year rule.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who released BJP's manifesto for the legislative assembly polls, said a committee would be constituted on UCC.
Thirty-one of the 70 candidates elected to the eighth Delhi Assembly have declared criminal cases against their names, according to poll rights body ADR. The figure is lower than the 43 MLAs in the seventh assembly who had declared criminal cases. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Delhi Election Watch, which analysed the affidavits submitted by all 699 candidates who contested the assembly elections, said the number of winning candidates with serious criminal cases remained a concern. The analysis found that 17 newly-elected candidates were facing serious criminal cases, including those related to attempted murder and crimes against women. The analysis also highlighted the growth in assets of re-elected MLAs. The 22 candidates re-elected to the House saw their average assets rise 25 per cent from Rs 7.04 crore in 2020 to Rs 8.83 crore in 2025.
'Arundhati Roy is like a ballerina performing on a high wire, cool, supremely at ease but conscious of all the adoring eyes on her,' notes P Vijaya Kumar.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is set to form its government in Delhi after winning the recent assembly elections. Party leaders have stated that the new chief minister should be chosen from the elected BJP MLAs, with several contenders emerging from the newly-elected members. The decision on the next chief minister is expected to be made after Prime Minister Narendra Modi returns from his foreign visit around February 15.
'The result was announced by the officials at the Counting Centre at S S M R V College in Jayanagar late tonight,' a state Information Department official said in a statement.
Ahead of the Madhya Pradesh elections, Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs from Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra have arrived in Bhopal as part of the ruling party's programme wherein every legislator will be allotted one assembly seat each that they are supposed to visit to take stock of the ground situation, party leaders said.
'The message is loud and clear: "If you're not falling in line, we will open a line of understanding with the MNS, and then the Shiv Sena will be in trouble".'
Amit Shah believes Bandi Sanjay Kumar is 'single-handedly' capable of unseating the TRS government in the December 2023 assembly election and there is no need for the BJP's central leaders to jump into the Telangana scene.
The BJP's victory in the Delhi Assembly elections has sparked speculation over who will lead the next government. Several prominent leaders, including Pravesh Verma, Ashish Sood, Pawan Sharma, Vijender Gupta, and Satish Upadhyay, are in the running for the chief minister's post. The party's national leadership is expected to make the final decision, leaving the contenders in a state of anticipation.
"I'm amazed channels are bothering with exit polls especially after the fiasco of the recent general elections. I'm ignoring all the noise on channels, social media, WhatsApp etc. because the only numbers that matter will be revealed on the 8th of Oct. The rest is just time pass," Abdullah, a former chief minister, wrote on X.
EPS has had its way on most things, alliance-wise. A week earlier, he reiterated that he would not re-admit OPS and Sasikala Natarajan back in the party. It was a message not just to detractors in the AIADMK. It was even more so for the BJP leadership in Delhi. Even more important for the AIADMK was their demand for accepting EPS as the chief ministerial candidate of any alliance that the party would form, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'We can't afford to fight each other.' 'We have to win the 2026 election.'
The RSS-affiliated ABVP has won the post of joint secretary in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election, ending a nine-year period out of office. The ABVP's victory marks a significant shift in the political landscape of JNU, breaking the Left's long-standing dominance. Left candidates won the remaining three central panel posts, but the ABVP's victory is seen as a major gain for the right-wing group.
Delhi Bharatiya Janata Party chief Virendra Sachdeva was admitted to the RML Nursing Home on Saturday with complaints of itching and breathing difficulties, two days after he took a dip in the heavily-polluted Yamuna to highlight the alleged failure of the Aam Aadmi Party government to clean the river.
Eight out of 10 ministers under the Nayab Singh Saini government faced defeat in the Haryana assembly polls.
The BJP's hyper-local campaign targeting the AAP's loyal base among the poor, along with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's depiction of Delhi's ruling party as "AAP-da" (disaster), proved decisive in the Delhi assembly elections. This victory marks the end of a 26-year drought for the BJP in the national capital. The BJP's campaign highlighted perceived failures in governance and corruption allegations against the AAP, while emphasizing its own welfare schemes. The party's focus on local issues resonated with voters, particularly the middle class and poor who were disenchanted with the AAP's performance. This win is a major setback for the AAP and the INDIA bloc, which has been on a losing streak after its strong performance in the Lok Sabha elections.
Award-winning Tamil lyricist Vairamuthu's recent remarks on Lord Ram have sparked controversy, drawing condemnation from the BJP and VHP.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Congress received more votes than the wining margin in 14 constituencies where Bharatiya Janata Party emerged victorious defeating Aam Aadmi Party candidates, including former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal and his former deputy Manish Sisodia.
Kishor dared the BJP to release the full record of the chat on Clubhouse, a social media platform, and claimed that the saffron camp would not get more than 100 assembly seats in the ongoing elections.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
Thackeray also drew a comparison between the current regime and Hitler.
What piques the narrative is that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah decide on crucial matters, they play it close to their chest, and revel in springing a surprise.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Parvesh Verma emerged as a giant-slayer on Saturday with his victory against Aam Aadmi Party supremo and former Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in a fierce contest from the New Delhi seat by a margin of 4,089 votes.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS are likely to form an alliance for the upcoming local body polls in Maharashtra, with the final decision expected closer to the election date. Leaders from both parties acknowledge public pressure and the need to rejuvenate their cadres after poor performances in previous elections.
Following the results on Saturday, Maliwal attacked AAP for losing Delhi assembly elections, stating that god "punishes" those who commit crime against woman.
Sources close to the top BJP leadership tell me that Tharoor has already had secret meetings with the BJP's top brass and is waiting patiently to make his next move, reports Ramesh Menon.
Many in the party believe that as was the cases in Rajasthan, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha and Chhattisgarh, the BJP leadership might put its bets on a "dark horse" among the newly-elected MLAs.
Dera Sacha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh's former jailer Sunil Sangwan has won the Charkhi Dadri seat in Haryana as Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
Shinde He said anyone can go anywhere, it is their personal choice, but people support those who work for them and think about their welfare.
Just over a month after a bridge collapse claimed 135 lives, Bharatiya Janata Party's Kantilal Amrutiya on Thursday appeared on course to win from the Morbi assembly seat in Gujarat, taking an unassailable lead of over 16,000 votes over Congress rival Jaynatilal Patel.
"Vijay Rupani was going to London by the Air India flight," said senior state BJP leader Bhupendrasinh Chudasama.
While the BJP went back to the drawing board to recraft its political and governance outreach and regained momentum by notching up surprisingly big wins in a string of assembly polls, the burst of fresh optimism in the main opposition Congress and other INDIA bloc parties fizzled out.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
Once a trusted lieutenant of the former National Conference president Omar Abdullah and his political advisor during his tenure as chief minister, Rana holds considerable sway among Muslims, particularly the Gujjar community in Jammu.
The Bharatiya Janata Party is ahead in 20 seats in Manipur, with Chief Minister N Biren Singh leading by a handsome margin of more than 16,000 votes against his nearest Congress rival in Heingang constituency, Election Commission data showed.
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