Punjab's 117 assembly seats are going to be a keenly-watched contest with the Congress, the AAP, the SAD-BSP alliance, and the BJP-PLC-SAD (Sanyukt) battling to form the government in the state, with a probable entry of farmers' front in the form of Sanyukt Samaj Morcha.
In line with exit poll predictions, the Bharatiya Janata Party has taken an early lead in Uttar Pradesh, after one hour of counting.
A day after a Goa minister ignited a controversy by his remark that India will develop as a Hindu nation under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the state's Deputy Chief Minister Francis D'Souza on Friday stoked it further, saying India is already a Hindu nation and will always remain so.
The first part of the session will conclude on February 11. After a month-long recess, the part two of the session would begin from March 14 and conclude on April 8.
The panel will comprise legal experts, retired people, intellectuals and other stakeholders, the chief minister announced on the last day of campaigning for the 70 assembly seats in the state going to polls on February 14.
Yogi Adityanath's aura is no longer limited to Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 49, his journey to the higher echelons in the BJP has well and truly begun, predicts Sudhir Bisht.
Asserting that there is a silent wave in his favour, Utpal Parrikar, elder son of late Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar, who is contesting the February 14 Assembly election as an independent candidate from the Panaji seat, has said he was a favoured choice after his father's death in 2019, but was denied poll ticket by the Bharatiya Janata Party due to local politics.
Political parties fielding candidates with criminal cases will have to mandatorily upload on their website details of such persons as also reasons for selecting them to contest the polls, the Election Commission said on Saturday.
According to sources, the filters were applied on Saturday night soon after the poll schedule was announced.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appears to have shed the maximum sweat among top leaders for over the last 45 days in the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections campaign.
Political analysts say the road to the 2024 polls for the Congress is going to get tougher as it is a party that is 'in the ICU' and cannot be revived with quick-fix solutions.
The meeting of the Congress Parliamentary strategy group was held at the residence of party President Sonia Gandhi.
The AAP on Thursday said if it is voted to power in UP, it will provide 300 units of free electricity to domestic consumers, waive 'inflated' bills and ensure 24-hour power supply.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
In Uttar Pradesh, the saffron party's vote share went up to 41.8 per cent as against 39.67 per cent in the 2017 assembly polls, an increase of 2.13 per cent.
The development is a major boost for West Bengal Chief Minister and TMC supremo Mamata Banerjee, who has been trying to expand her party's footprint beyond her native state.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states were among those present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony.
With their high-decibel campaigns so far, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Samajwadi Party may appear to be locked in a direct fight in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttar Pradesh deputy Chief Minister Keshav Prasad Maurya on Friday after taking the oath of the office said that Bharatiya Janata Party is targeting to win more than 75 seats out 80 from Uttar Pradesh in 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
The Election Commission on Saturday cautioned political parties over hate speeches and said it is closely monitoring social media posts to ensure clean assembly polls in five states.
Gearing up for the upcoming state assembly polls, the Bharatiya Janata Partyon Wednesday named its organisational spearheads for the elections, putting Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan, Pralhad Joshi, Gajendra Singh Shekhawat and Bhupender Yadav in charge for the contest in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur respectively.
The Congress Working Committee, the party's top-decision making body, would soon meet to deliberate further on the Chintan Shivir plans, the sources said.
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said on Thursday that his party has not accepted the Trinamool Congress's proposal of a merger as it does not want to compromise on its Assamese identity.
The Congress used Raj Bhavans to topple legally elected governments. The BJP is letting governors get away with all manner of impropriety, notes Aditi Phadnis.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed to hear next week the EC's plea after senior advocate Vikas Singh submitted a large number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines (VVPATs) are still being preserved and need to be released.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
International oil prices jumped to the highest level since 2014, topping $87 a barrel but domestic petrol and diesel prices remained unchanged for the 74th day in a row - a freeze that may be linked to ensuing assembly elections in states like Uttar Pradesh and Punjab. Brent - the key global oil benchmark - soared to $87.7 per barrel mostly due to rising geopolitical tensions and supply-side disturbances due to Yemen's Houthi group's attack on oil facilities in the United Arab Emirates. Also, global inventories are waning. The attack, some analysts believe, may lead to more hostile behaviour between the two power centres in the Middle East - Iran and Saudi Arabia.
The EC had cautioned that the video van events should not cause inconvenience to the people and should not be a hindrance to smooth flow of traffic.
Alleging that the Centre is abusing the Central agencies to pressure the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said the ruling dispensation and every individual associated will slug it out without any fear.
The curtain came down on rumbustious electioneering over the last two months when assembly polls were also held in four other states - Goa, Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.
Amid signs of increasing bonhomie between her and her Telangana and Tamil Nadu counterparts Rao and Stalin, Banerjee had approached the two on Sunday to set up meetings of opposition chief ministers.
Given the dismal show of the Congress in the recently concluded assembly polls and the JMM eating into its vote bank, the possibility of Congress MLAs switching sides is not bleak, reports R Krishna Das.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.
It seems the grand old party is trying to stage a comeback in the state which it ruled at one time, but also to its progeny the Trinamool Congress which has vowed to come to power in Tripura in the 2023 state assembly elections.
It took note of the fact that India is due to host the FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup from October 11.
After two years of muted festivities due to COVID-19, crowds thronged churches across the country this Christmas on Sunday for special prayers as people celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ.
Sushil Chandra will conduct the UP, Punjab, Goa, Manipur, Uttarakhand elections before he retires in May 2022.
Amarinder Singh on Monday held the Gandhis totally responsible for the rout of the Congress in the assembly polls, claiming that the party was "comfortably placed" in Punjab before he was unseated as chief minister.
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