The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
"In all, 22 of us (including 18 MLAs) met party chief and presented our view that we have majority in the state assembly," Pratapsinh Rane said.
The Punjab chief minister said he was asked by Kejriwal to visit different places for campaigning for INDIA bloc candidates.
However, the action is not going to have any impact as the arithmetic still favours the Congress, which has 17 MLAs in a House of 34. The BJP has 16.
The Goa government on Wednesday said it was monitoring the situation on the beaches in the wake of strike by lifeguards which entered its second day, even as 361 lifeguards were arrested after they took out a protest march defying prohibitory orders.
Watch this space to see what happens in the politically volatile state.
Uttar Pradesh, which is set to witness game-changer elections, and four other states will go to polls simultaneously, most likely in February-March next, commencing shortly after the presentation of the Union Budget on February 1.
Sources said the Goa Appropriation Bill, 2008 could be under threat when it is taken up in the assembly, which is now in session if the mood of some of the ruling coalition's legislators, including the Nationalist Congress Party's ministers, is any indication.
Speaker Pratapsingh Rane will play a major role in Monday.
Fearing the closure of offshore casinos in the coastal state, ahead of the general elections, Goa Congress has swore by employment opportunities created by these vessels for many of the locals.
While two ministers, one each from Congress and NCP, have locked horns on developmental issues, influential United Goans Democratic Party legislator Atanasio Monserratte is lobbying hard for a ministerial berth. In addition, Congress legislator Pandurang Madkaikar, who was sacked from the Cabinet, has approached Congress president Sonia Gandhi seeking reinstatement.
In a shift from Goa government's earlier stand, Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar on Tuesday said he would not allow the controversial right wing outfit Sri Ram Sene to work in the state.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's poll rally in Congress-ruled Goa on Wednesday was marred by an embarrassing technical glitch in the sound system forcing him to sit on the dais for nearly 30 minutes till the problem was fixed.
He further stated that if the Nigerians come to India to study then the state government and the police should keep a strict watch on them.
The country now has six national parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, NPP and AAP.
Former Goa's Inspector General of Prison, Elvis Gomes will be AAP's chief ministerial candidate for 2017 polls.
In an interview with PTI, Chidambaram also stressed that no Congress MLA elected in the upcoming assembly polls can be poached by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Goa this time, saying 'our house is well-guarded' and though the 'thief' is still out there, the people 'will teach him a lesson'.
Sporting clube de Goa confirmed they have formally withdrawn from I-League 2016-17 owing to "strong objections" to the proposed road map by All India Football Federation and its marketing partners IMG-Reliance for Indian football.
Former Goa chief minister Manohar Parrikar on Monday filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging Governor S C Jamir's decision to dismiss his government.
While 'family politics' is one of the major issues in the upcoming Goa legislative assembly polls, a young couple here is perhaps an exception, as both of them are rooting for rival political parties.
In a setback to former deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, the Supreme Court on Monday denied him bail in the corruption and money laundering cases related to the alleged Delhi excise policy scam, saying the accusation of "windfall gains" of Rs 338 crore to wholesale liquor dealers was "tentatively supported" by evidence.
The Goa unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced that it will observe the birthday of Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar in a simple manner in Panaji on Sunday.
'They are trying to lure our MLAs and that is why we are taking precautions.'
While Karnataka Congress chief D K Sivakumar will be special observer in Goa, party general secretary Mukul Wasnik and Chhattisgarh Health Minister T S Singh Deo besides Vincent Pala have been deputed in Manipur for post-poll management, the sources said.
Goa's former Tourism Minister and controversial Nationalist Congress Party leader Fransisco 'Miccky' Pacheco on Friday resigned as a member of the legislative assembly, two months ahead of the State elections.
All eyes are on the parties to see which of them can stake claim to power.
Pawar has summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled for May 10.
The seven-month-old Save Goa Front, a regional outfit launched by former Congressman Churchill Alemao, on Wednesday formally merged with the Congress party.
'TMC was calling me, AAP was also calling me.' 'But my supporters helped me realise that the people of Goa are backing the Congress this time to defeat the BJP.'
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.
The political crisis faced by the Digambe Kamat-led government in Goa has blown over with the Congress leadership managing to convince the Nationalist Congress Party, protesting alleged irresponsible utterances against it by some Congress MLAs, to vote for the finance bill in the state assembly.
Party chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said it will introspect on the reasons for the loss in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand and will re-dedicate itself to strengthening the party and being the watchdog of people.
Monserratte, the girl's mother and another woman, Rosy Ferros, were granted bail following their arrest for allegedly selling her to the MLA for Rs 50 lakh.
A retired senior bureaucrat has alleged former Goa Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane used "fake documents" to push for statehood to the then Union Territory way back in 1987, a charged rubbished by the latter.
The lone United Goa Democratic Party MLA and Tourism Minister Mathany Saldhana on Monday declared his support to the crisis-stricken Bharatiya Janata Party government.
Goa minister and Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Michael Lobo on Monday resigned from the Pramod Sawant-led ministry and also as member of the legislative assembly, ahead of the state polls scheduled next month.
