Banking on the Budget's tax relief, the BJP seeks to energise Delhi's middle class; the AAP is doing its bit too. But will their outreach mobilise this politically crucial yet disengaged electorate?
A stampede-like situation was witnessed after about 800 persons turned up for walk-in interviews held by a firm for 40 vacancies in Ankleshwar in Gujarat's Bharuch district, an official has said.
'These letters are part of my communication with the students to encourage them to vote and to introduce them to academic discussions on what good governance and development is all about' Dr Fraser Mascarenhas, principal of Mumbai's St Xavier's College, remains unmoved even as the Bharatiya Janata Party complains to the Election Commsion over his email to students on the Gujarat model. Prasanna D Zore reports from Mumbai
Check out the scenes of triumph!
About 5,000 voters, with dual registration in the electoral lists in Mumbai and Gujarat's Sidhpur assembly segment, are all set to vote against Bharatiya Janata Party's Jay Narayan Vyas in the second phase of polling in Gujarat on December 17, claimed Dilipbhai Patel, a BJP corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation
Hours after, however, firing from the Pakistani side was reported in Akhnoor sector in Jammu and Kashmir. Drones were also seen in the Pir Panjal area.
Gujarat is likely to witness a triangular fight in this year's assembly polls, as dissident Bharatiya Janata Party leaders -- opposed to Chief Minister Narendra Modi and led by former chief minister Keshubhai Patel -- are set to float their own party.
'With tears in his eyes, he told me in Gujarati, "What have they done to this country? It has so much potential." That feeling for the country -- it was striking.'
The GMC poll was being seen as a litmus test for the BJP in the backdrop of its sudden and surprising decision to change the state's chief minister and the entire cabinet recently, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year.
'Muslims know they cannot defeat the BJP, why then come in its firing range?' 'And they know, ultimately it is the BJP MLA who is going to get elected and only he or she can do their work.' 'The BJP may do a different kind of politics for Muslims, but when they sit in the chair they work for Muslims too.'
Now it's all jibes about his chameleon-like politics and fading grip on the administration. But there was a time Nitish had the BJP trembling in the state, points out Aditi Phadnis.
'Mr Modi has the power and pre-eminence in the BJP-RSS to choose how long he wants to serve, and he is definitely going to want to contest in 2029.' 'He will only be 79, as old as Donald Trump now, and fitter,' observes Shekhar Gupta.
Kolkata Police stopped the trailer launch of 'The Bengal Files', a film based on the 1946 Calcutta Riots, its director Vivek Agnihotri claimed, sparking controversy and allegations of censorship.
Rivaba Jadeja broke the news on social media, sharing striking images of the power couple holding their BJP membership cards.
Though the party has made no announcement, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister in the outgoing government, is being seen as the frontrunner for the key position.
Two Rajya Sabha MPs from Gujarat -- BJP president Amit Shah, now Home Minister, and Smriti Irani, who has got the women and child development ministry -- have won the Lok Sabha polls, thus creating two vacancies in the Upper House of Parliament from the state.
As counting of votes for the Gujarat assembly polls is underway, Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Hardik Patel predicted that his party will win over 130 seats, the most by the party till date in the Gujarat, and expressed optimism that the BJP will undoubtedly form the government for the seventh time in the state.
The BJP could surpass its previous best showing of 127 seats in 2002 when Modi was the chief minister.
The Bharatiya Janata Party was on Thursday poised for a landslide victory in Gujarat to retain power for a record seventh straight term but was behind the Congress in Himachal Pradesh which could go with the trend of alternative governments in the hill state.
A group of students from Kolkata University's Carmichael Hostel were allegedly attacked near Sealdah and branded as "Bangladeshis" by shopkeepers and miscreants, triggering a political row.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray warned Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis against making Hindi compulsory in schools, threatening to shut them down. He accused the government of testing the people's response to eventually attach Mumbai to Gujarat.
'The Election Commission's involvement in the avoidable SIR controversy has carried a message down to the last voter -- who just does not like it,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On general party propaganda, it spent Rs 160.62 crore.
Haryana is now in the same bracket as Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh where the BJP is the centre-point of politics.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) distanced itself from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Friday, saying it is not part of the opposition alliance anymore and questioning the Congress party's role in leading it.
In winning a seventh term, the BJP also matched the Left Front's feat in West Bengal.
Union Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday introduced three Bills in Lok Sabha for the removal of prime minister, chief ministers and ministers arrested on serious criminal charges for 30 days, drawing fierce protests from the Opposition as the draft laws were referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament. Three House marshals formed a protective ring around Shah. Even after the House was adjourned, the Opposition members continued with the sloganeering.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has accused the BJP of rigging the Maharashtra assembly elections and called for a return to ballot paper voting. He also criticized the Modi government for selling off public assets, undermining democratic institutions, and promoting communal polarization. Kharge's remarks come as the Congress prepares for its AICC session in Ahmedabad, where it will present its political and economic views.
'Modi's charisma may have weakened as last year's Lok Sabha poll results showed but in the eyes of the Sangh Parivar, it has not waned.' 'Minus a strong BJP government at the Centre for another decade and more, there is apprehension that an anti-Hindutva government could reverse many of the ideological gains that the Modi dispensation has achieved through its three terms,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former BJP MP Pragya Singh Thakur, acquitted in the 2008 Malegaon blast case, alleges torture by investigating officers and pressure to implicate Prime Minister Narendra Modi and other prominent figures.
The Jain community, for whom feeding pigeons is a sacred tradition, have fiercely opposed the closure, with demonstrations in Mumbai highlighting the cultural significance and the distress of pigeons dying on streets.
Former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani and ex-deputy CM Nitin Patel, both senior leaders of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on Wednesday night announced they will not fight the next month's assembly elections.
Ruling parties held sway in most of the 13 states in the assembly byelection results declared on Saturday, with the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies wresting seats in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Rajasthan and the Trinamool Congress sweeping West Bengal.
When Home Minister Amit Shah, who was in Gujarat to cast his vote in the urban body polls, learnt of the poor voter, instead of heading home he went to the Motera stadium, organised a control room, and was on the phone with practically everybody assigned duty on the ground: MPs, MLAs and BJP office-bearers. His single commandment was to check the voter list and phone or personally get people to the booths, reports Radhika Ramaseshan.
Vyas was a minister in the BJP government in Gujarat when Narendra Modi was the chief minister.
BlueKraft has published The Emergency Diaries -- Years that Forged a Leader to chronicle Modi's role in the underground campaign during that period, after speaking to a number of people associated with him at that time.
Political analysts say the Congress appears on the backfoot this time after one of its senior tribal leaders from the region joined the BJP, which has a stronghold in urban areas where civic bodies, leaders and the network required to win the election are firmly with the saffron party.
AAP's presence in both states has complicated the contests for the BJP and its Congress rival.
Surveys suggest that the AAP would win 40 seats in the 182-member assembly if elections are held tomorrow.
