Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
From the word go, Bihar growled its needs out when an MP from the state said aloud: "Give something for Bihar also, Madam." Every time the Budget mentioned cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh, "Kursi Bachao" was the call from Congress MPs.
The curious onlookers that greet the candidates are, however, unaware about the importance of history. They are just there to catch a glimpse of 'Rani Ma' Amrita Roy or Mahua Moitra.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
In the Muslim community, views on this Lok Sabha election seem to vary, with some seeing it as crucial for India's pluralism while others feel neglected by political parties.
Basant Soren, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren's youngest son, on Friday took oath as minister in the Champai Soren-led government in Jharkhand, along with seven others.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
At least one commentator felt that both the BJP's reach and popularity had been underestimated in Kerala. They have shown systematic gain; one that seems personality-neutral and therefore institutionalised, explains Shyam G Menon.
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
While the responses of the candidates were predictable, depending on which side they belonged to, an interesting point slipped through when Rahul Shewale cited the Dharavi Redevelopment Project as a scheme that would add to Mumbai's importance. No big infrastructural project in Mumbai, he said, could be successful without the Centre's nod.
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
India's voting pattern in the United Nations with regard to the Israel-Palestine conflict is lately marked by a calibrated distancing from Israel, observes Ambassador M K Bhadrakumar.
'The BJP is using administrative machinery to fight elections'
Is the unusually and unbearably scorching Sun and the general laxity, bordering on laziness, among voters, responsible, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
From the time he first rose to prominence during the movement against the then UPA government, Arvind Kejriwal has regularly grabbed headlines for his surprise moves and decisions. Here are 10 such instances.
Will Modi 3.0 also see theaterisation of India's armed forces?
'Akhilesh Yadav made voters think why is the BJP asking for 400 paar.' 'They understood his words and believed the BJP wanted 400 paar only to demolish the Constitution and end reservations.'
There is an impression within the Tamil Nadu BJP -- although no one is airing it -- that over-exposure for Narendra Modi over the past months may work against party candidates, as they have triggered a near-continuous social media debate on his achievements and failures, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Seeking to make inroads in Chhattisgarh, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday announced 10 'guarantees' for the upcoming assembly polls in the Congress-ruled state including free electricity, monthly 'samman rashi' for women and Rs 3,000 monthly allowance for the unemployed.
Barring 2004 and 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu won the Amritsar seat as a BJP MP and 1998 when Daya Singh Sodhi from BJP was elected as the MP, it has essentially a Congress bastion.
The Congress appeared to have bounced back in the state's political landscape after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the AAP in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.
The RJD has fielded six women candidates, some of them are wives of bahubalis.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) MPs, including Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party chief Sonia Gandhi and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, staged a protest in Parliament premises on Wednesday over the alleged discrimination against opposition-ruled states in the Union Budget.
The BJP in Himachal has its own problems. But it is not a party that sits around twiddling its thumbs.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had on Friday announced similar incentives.
The point made by sociologist M N Srinivas, that it represented a Sanskritic act that was linked to caste, is never raised in Indian debates and the disapproval of drink is almost universal, notes Aakar Patel.
AAP leader and party's Surat Lok Sabha president Rajnikant Vaghani demanded that either Kumbhani be booked on the charges of forgery or his proposers be booked for giving false declaration on oath.
Bharat Rashtra Samithi's Goshamahal in-charge Nanda Kishore Vyas is pitted against Raja Singh from Goshamahal segment.
Reddy faced the biggest challenge of his political life in 2015 when he was allegedly caught on camera trying to bribe a nominated MLA to vote in favour of the TDP in a legislative council election.
Facing opposition fire for exit polls allegedly being used for stock market manipulation, Axis My India's chief Pradeep Gupta has said he is open to facing all kinds of investigations and it would help do business in a much better way if the government frames specific regulations for pollsters.
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.
Ahead of the Parliament session, the government will hold a meeting with leaders of all parties on Sunday to brief them and hear their views, amid an intense buzz on whether it will have some surprise item up its sleeve during the five-day sitting.
'Modi is trying avenues to convince people why they should vote for the BJP.'
'One is happy. The moment one starts criticising the BJP, ED, IT and CBI comes to one's house.'
He is not just under attack from his opponent Shiv Chandra Ram of the RJD, but also by his uncle Paras.
'Modi is not assuring the nation that if he gets back to power in 2024 and remains in power till 2029, he will not change the Constitution.'
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leaders Amit A Shah, Shivraj Singh Chouhan and G Kishan Reddy filed nomination papers for the Lok Sabha elections on Friday, April 19, 2024.
References to freedom fighter and India's first education minister Maulana Abul Kalam Azad have been removed from the new class 11 political science textbook by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT).
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