Will Hindus not vote for a Muslim candidate? Is that why such few Muslims are given tickets? Two constituencies in Mumbai break prevalent stereotypes about these difficult questions.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday expressed confidence that his faction will emerge victorious in the legal tussle with the rebel group led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Swami Avimukteshwaranand Saraswati, the Shankaracharya of the Jyotish Peeth in Uttarakhand, who turned down the invitation to the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya, on Monday said Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray is a victim of betrayal.
Police have launched a probe into the killing of former Maharashtra minister Baba Siddique from different angles, including a possible contract killing, business rivalry or threat over a slum rehabilitation project, officials said on Sunday.
Thackeray said leaders of the Congress and other parties are holding talks with Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Telegu Desam Party (TDP) head Chandrababu Naidu to explore the possibility of their entry into the bloc.
'We have been threatened. We have felt violated.' 'Everything is in danger if you don't give safe spaces to women.'
Incidentally, 164 of the total 356 candidates in the fray from the 43 assembly seats of Jammu region got less votes than none of the above, which gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
This would give BJP the chance to explore Constitutional options for government formation if there is no clear-cut mandate, explains Sheela Bhatt.
Amid talks of cross-voting, three of the 37 Congress MLAs in Maharashtra skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of the legislative council polls on Friday.
To keep their MLAs together, political parties are organising dinner meetings and arranging hotel stays for them ahead of the council elections, which are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
Even as the two parties appeared confident that they have reached out to every voter and publicised their new symbols, experts suggested varying impact of the split and the symbols on the vote bank.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
Campaigning continues for the final three phases of the Lok Sabha election.
But if the reports are found to be wrong, those who made these allegations against him should quit politics, he challenged the leaders from the Opposition parties, as he alleged that efforts were on to defame him.
Convert the Haryana result into a blessing in disguise; make the calamity into an opportunity. Maharashtra was always the big ticket game in town; MVA must win it. The Congress should shift headquarters to Mumbai for the entire month. Show urgency and a hunger to win, asserts Sanjay Jha.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Union Budget on Tuesday as the Monsoon Session of Parliament gets underway next week with the united opposition set to corner the National Democratic Alliance government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case and railway safety.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
After the Congress' shock defeat in Haryana, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties flexed their muscles on Wednesday, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them.
Leaders of the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) have decided to raise the NEET issue in both houses of Parliament on Friday and members will give notices in this regard, sources have said.
On his part, BJP Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane, himself no stranger to controversies, got into damage control mode and sought to calm frayed nerves, saying he has chided his son over the remarks.
The Audi car, which hit several vehicles in the Ramdaspeth area in the early hours of Monday, had five occupants, including Sanket Bawankule, who was not at the wheel at the time of the crash, which left two persons injured, according to the police.
Raut said they do not require the exit polls as they work on the field and know the "undercurrent".
The claim evoked a sharp reaction from Fadnavis, current deputy chief minister in the Mahayuti government of BJP, Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde and Nationalist Congress Party led by Ajit Pawar, who said Thackeray has "lost his mind".
The protest against the alleged sexual abuse of two girls at a school in Badlapur town of Maharashtra's Thane district turned violent on Tuesday as the angry agitators vandalised the school and also indulged in stone-pelting at the local railway station during the 'rail blockade', police said.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
The bail plea of the accused bodyguard, Amarendra Singh, was allowed by additional sessions court judge V M Pathade on June 26.
Speaking at a joint rally of Mahayuti partners in Mumbai, Bharatiya Janata Party leader and deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis supported Shinde's claims, stating that the NDA leaders did not pay enough attention to the lies spread by the Opposition during the campaign.
'Mumbai belongs to me...us, Balasaheb... It belongs to Bharatiyas. Don't try to take it away... and please remember, there is a Rashtra in Maharashtra... but there is no Marathi there.'
The Raj Thackeray-led MNS senses an opportunity after the Shiv Sena-UBT candidate's lead fell to less than 7,000 votes in the Worli assembly segment during the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will move the motion today in the Lok Sabha to choose Om Birla as the Speaker of the lower house amid a tussle for the post with the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
The Congress and AAP had fought the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi, while they contested separately in Punjab.
The road to Sena Bhavan is gridlocked. Every inch is a battle for space as party workers from different parts of the city, indeed the state, have descended upon this iconic building to celebrate what until this morning seemed unexpected: A victory.
Shinde also said a party grows when leaders reach out to the grassroot worker rather than sitting at home.
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.
The Bombay high court on Friday restrained political parties and individuals from proceeding with the Maharashtra bandh scheduled for August 24 or on any future date.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Prithviraj Chavan will take up the matter for hearing on Thursday.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday stressed that all are equal stakeholders in the Maha Vikas Aghadi, his comment coming after a Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar leader quoted party supremo Sharad Pawar as saying that although his outfit contested fewer Lok Sabha seats, the situation would be different in the Maharashtra assembly polls.
Police arrested two persons after a woman travelling on a scooter with her husband was fatally knocked down allegedly by a BMW car in Mumbai's Worli area in the early hours of Sunday, an official said.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties on Saturday announced that they will participate in the exit poll debates on television on Saturday evening after the grouping's top leaders met and deliberated on the issue at Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's residence.
