Bollywood actor and former Congress Lok Sabha MP Govinda on Thursday joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde in Mumbai.
He has, for the first time, been entrusted with the all-important task in the politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, where a 7-phased Assembly poll is slated to take place over April and May.
Even as the dust settles on one election, glory in Thiruvananthapuram has come with a new question on the horizon: Who will be UDF's candidate in the next Lok Sabha election given Shashi Tharoor has said 2024 would be his last? It isn't a vacancy that can be easily filled, points out Shyam G Menon.
'The presence of Rahul Gandhi and his campaigning for the Congress will make a general difference, but whether it will make a saving difference, not sure.'
Pressure from the Soren clan is only one of the challenges Champai faces as he readies himself to helm the predominantly tribal state.
President Droupadi Murmu on Saturday conferred Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian honour, on former prime ministers P V Narasimha Rao and Chaudhary Charan Singh, agriculture scientist M S Swaminathan and two-time former Bihar chief minister Karpoori Thakur, posthumously at a ceremony held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi.
'If people don't see you, they might be hesitant, but once they see you, they are confident that this is the person they will vote for,' says political debutant Shambhavi Choudhury, 25, alumnus of the Lady Sriram College and the Delhi School of Economics.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday assured the country that the beginning of building a "new and developed Kashmir" that will be free from terrorism has been made under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that full statehood would be restored to Jammu and Kashmir at an appropriate time.
People in the Garhwal region of Uttarakhand say the Agnipath military recruitment scheme and the Ankita Bhandari murder case will have a bearing on the electoral prospects of the Bharatiya Janata Party here as these issues weigh heavy on the minds of the electorate.
In nearly 100 seats, the BJP stands almost no chance of winning. In 200 seats, it is a direct fight between the BJP and the Congress where the BJP has an upper hand. In 243 seats, the BJP is pitted against regional parties and it is not going to be easy. That is why 400 seats may end up as a pipe dream, states Ramesh Menon, author of Modi Demystified: The Making of a Prime Minister.
Modi launched a scathing attack on the Congress alleging that the opposition party has become outdated and has always been against any kind of reservation.
Former Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party of weakening the country by spreading fear and hatred, and said only the Congress can unite the country and take it to the path of progress.
The Champai Soren-led coalition government in Jharkhand will seek trust vote on February 5, minister Alamgir Alam said on Friday after a Cabinet meeting.
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
The former Union minister and Senior Congress leader Anand Sharma on Wednesday said that the party needs revival and which is possible with collective efforts.
Rahul Gandhi was booked on Tuesday for 'wanton acts of violence' by the Assam Police as the political confrontation between the Congress leader and state Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma escalated on the tenth day of the 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', with Gandhi asserting that he does not get 'intimidated' by such tactics.
What we have in the Congress is a useful glue to hold a non-cultural, unified Opposition together. That is the sacrifice the Congress must be willing to live with if showing the BJP the door is what the collective Opposition wants, observes Shyam G Menon.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
From taking charge of Jharkhand as its youngest chief minister at 38 to establishing himself as a 'fighter' for tribal rights, Hemant Soren, who was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate, is an accidental leader thrust into politics after a family tragedy.
'Once elected, you have to act like people's representative for the full five years or else people show you your place.'
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
The meeting also includes some of Sonia Gandhi's close associates and is the first effort by the Congress leadership for a reproachment with those who raised questions over the leadership.
Modi earned his spurs as a doughty leader of the Opposition in the assembly, a post he held till 2004 when he got elected to the Lok Sabha from Bhagalpur.
Some have been cherry-picked to assert the BJP's supremacy over its allies or, significantly, its leaders who charted an independent course in the recent past.
By filing his nomination as Congress president on Friday, Shashi Tharoor has shown he is no 'quockerwodger' -- a word he introduced into our lexicon which means someone acting on the instructions of an influential third party.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has conceded for the first time that divisions within the ruling African National Congress prevented appropriate action against the influential Gupta family from India for their alleged involvement in massive state capture.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has sought to send out the message that the ruling BJP, unlike its predecessors at the helm, is not guided by parochial politics in recognising contributions in the public life, as the party looks to break new ground during the polls.
Where do Vijay and his TVK expect to get their votes from? Vijay has a huge fan following among women, but will they automatically become his voters like they had done for MGR's AIADMK, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
Since Kalpana is not an MLA, her becoming the CM will need a present MLA to vacate his or her seat.
Masih said he would withdraw the earlier affidavit which stated that he was reeling under depression and anxiety and wherein he denied allegations of tampering with ballots.
The Congress leader, who resigned as the chief minister Sunday night, emerged victorious in the Patan assembly seat, defeating BJP candidate Vijay Baghel by 19,723 votes in the state assembly elections held last month.
"Earlier, governments were busy in vote bank appeasement but we are busy satisfying people," the prime minister said.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Though the contest is tough in Baramati, Sule has an edge over her rival as the locals may not break the pattern that she is meant for the Lok Sabha and Ajit Pawar for the state assembly, the political analyst felt.
Sukhu said that he was a warrior and will fight till his last to ensure the welfare of the state and its people.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday named 72 more candidates for the Lok Sabha elections, including Union ministers Nitin Gadkari, Piyush Goyal and Anurag Singh Thakur, and former chief ministers Manohar Lal Khattar, Trivendra Singh Rawat and Basavaraj Bommai.
'There is uncertainty regarding job opportunities for our children after they serve for just four years under the Agnipath scheme.'
It will be for the first time in three decades that the Badal family will have no representation in the 117-member Punjab assembly.
