The ruling BJP in UP, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Ruling Biju Janata Dal memver of Legislative Assembly Subarna Nayak was arrested on Monday for allegedly slapping and misbehaving with a woman homeguard.
39-year-old Majhi, a prominent tribal leader, who represented Umerkote assembly constituency, had gone to Gona village to distribute land pattas when the incident took place, Director General of Police Manmohan Praharaj said.
With the fate of kidnapped Jhina Hikaka still unknown after almost three weeks the Odisha government is exploring back-channel negotiations with the Maoist group, which has imposed tough conditions for the release of the ruling Biju Janata Dal tribal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka.
Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka was kidnapped as his party did not honour a "secret deal" struck with the Maoist-backed Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha during the recent Zilla Parishad elections, opposition Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan alleged on Tuesday.
The BJP won 74 seats in the 147-member Odisha assembly and was leading in four more seats, the Election Commission of India.
Voting began on Thursday in the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
Brajendra Singh Yadav of the Congress defeated his BJP rival Baisahab Yadav by a margin of 2,124 votes to win the Mungaoli seat while in Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav prevailed over Devendra Jain of the BJP by 8,083 votes.
The only occasion when the BJP had 100 seats in the Upper House was in 2022.
A sitting MLA and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate allegedly broke an electronic voting machine (EVM) and attacked a polling officer inside a booth during voting in Odisha which recorded a voter turnout of over 60.97 per cent in six Lok Sabha seats and 42 assembly segments, officials said.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Hitting out at the Biju Janata Dal government over the abduction of a tribal MLA, the opposition Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party in Odisha on Saturday accused it of being hand in glove with Maoists and pushing the state into anarchy by ignoring Centre's advisories.
The BJD's candidate selection was based on several permutation and combination, a party leader said adding that apart from being a green horn and a woman, Barsha will get sympathy vote.
The abductors of Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka on Thursday turned down the Odisha government's request to name negotiators for talks, while parleys for the release of Italian Paolo Bosusco from Maoist captivity remained stalled as the rebels' mediators alleged delaying tactics by the authorities.
In a bid to suppress dissidence, Biju Janata Dal supremo and Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Wednesday suspended Jagneswar from the regional outfit on charge of anti-party activities.
With the Maoists firm on their demands and determined to keep Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka hostage till April 25, the Odisha government on Saturday said it would welcome anyone volunteering to negotiate with them. The statement came after the Maoist Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee said in a message that the fate of the MLA would be decided at a praja court by April 25.
Fresh talks were held on Friday between the Odisha government and the Maoist mediators, a day after the government named the 27 jailed people to be freed in return for the release of Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka and Italian Paolo Bosusco taken hostage by two separate Naxal groups.
Out of the 20 candidates announced by the BJD for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's party has nominated at least seven leaders who came from either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress.
iyush Goel, Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Ashwini Vaishnaw and Biseswar Tudu are the 5 Union minsters.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
Amid the political blame game over Bengal's potato ban, which led to shortages in Jharkhand and Odisha, Uttar Pradesh farmers are the unlikely winners.
Kumar had also made it clear that he was in the process of uniting the non-BJP leaders.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Saturday conducted searches at 56 places, including the premises of Biju Janata Dal MLA Pravata Tripathy and owner of a local newspaper in Odisha, in connection with the multi-crore Saradha chit fund scam.
The assembly bypolls in Bihar and Maharashtra, scheduled for November 3, are set to be the first electoral test of the popularity of the respective state governments after a change in the political alignment.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
Nearly 4,800 elected MPs and MLAs will vote on Monday to elect the 15th President of India, with National Democratic Alliance candidate Droupadi Murmu having a clear edge over Opposition's Yashwant Sinha as over 60 per cent votes are expected to be cast in her favour.
Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh are the assembly seats where the bypolls are being held.
While Dilip Tirkey is the ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate for the Sundergarh (ST) Lok Sabha constituency, his junior and former India hockey captain, Prabodh Tirkey is the Congress candidate from the Talsara (ST) assembly segment also in Sundergarh district.
The 2000-batch IAS officer, who sparked several controversies and was accused of violating the service rule, had taken voluntary retirement from government service on October 23 this year.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
The announcement of Murmu's candidature by BJP president J P Nadda came a day after she celebrated her 64th birthday.
The Rajya Sabha elections have again highlighted dissension and lack of cohesion in the opposition ranks from Maharashtra to Karnataka and Haryana.
Several legislators in states on Monday said they have cross-voted in favour of National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu by not following their respective party lines in the presidential election.
Birla, 57, has been MLA from Rajasthan thrice and MP twice.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
With the Income Tax department recovering over Rs 225 crore cash during a series of raids on an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
The Delhi services bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday with 131 MPs voting in its favour and helping the government complete the parliamentary procedure for the proposed legislation that saw the opposition parties join ranks.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's bypoll win in four of the six seats it contested has invigorated the party ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Both the BJP and Congress understand that coalitions and alliances are not just about numbers, but have symbolic value.
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