Angry members of the Congress and other opposition parties forced adjournments of the proceedings as they questioned the NOTA provision for these elections.
It was an extremely volatile session, borne out by the Sensex swinging over 1,200 points through the day and the Nifty 369 points.
The elections to the Upper House from the state, where assembly polls are due later this year, have received greater attention with BJP president Amit Shah and Union Minister Smriti Irani entering the fray and the Congress putting up its heavyweight Ahmed Patel.
Gujarat State Election Commission has announced postponement of polls to various local bodies in the state, citing law and order situation as a reason.
An average 46.1 per cent voter turnout has been recorded in the elections to six municipal corporations in Gujarat, officials said on Monday.
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
If 74.9 per cent of NRI voters are from Kerala, Andhra Pradesh at 6.4 per cent, Maharashtra at 4.7 per cent, Tamil Nadu and Telangana at 2.9 per cent each follow way behind.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday thanked the people for helping the Aam Aadmi Party "breach the BJP's fortress" in Gujarat and asserted that the party would win the state the next time.
'A political party taking the law into its hands is objectionable, especially in the context of the 2002 incidents in Gujarat.'
The pleas have also raised the issue of Election Commission's power on issuance of separate notifications for holding by-polls for casual and regular vacancies in Rajya Sabha.
Communist Party of India-Marxist general secretary Sitaram Yechury on Friday said though there is no pre-poll adjustment with the Tipra Motha, there can be local-level understanding with the tribal party, which has emerged as the third pole in the upcoming Tripura elections.
"Mock polls" are part of the first level check (FLC) process.
Gujarat CM Vijay Rupani hit out at Chidambaram saying the Congress is 'scared' of the polls in the state.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
In a blow to the Gujarat government, the high court on Wednesday quashed an ordinance issued by it to pave way to delay local bodies polls.
It alleged that Gujarat police abducted its MLA to influence the upcoming RS elections.
The country now has six national parties - Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress, Bahujan Samaj Party, Communist Party of India-Marxist, NPP and AAP.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed Chandra as 24th CEC on Monday.
Now, every state election -- first up, Maharashtra, Haryana and Jharkhand later this year, then Delhi in January and Bihar in September next year -- will be seen by his followers for evidence of his recovery, and by rivals of sharpening decline, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Long caught between two polarities, Gujarat's electoral field has expanded to include a third party with the Aam Aadmi Party challenging the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party as well as the opposition Congress that has lost ground but still has significant presence.
The Congress on Tuesday alleged that its candidates in both Surat and Indore were threatened, intimidated and bulldozed into withdrawing their nominations, and asked why is Prime Minister Narendra Modi 'so nervous' and 'afraid' even in traditional Bharatiya Janata Party bastions.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
'This might prove to be a temporary gain for the BJP, but at a huge cost to the people of Gujarat and democracy in India.'
'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.'
The Election Commission arrived in Gujarat on Sunday on a routine visit ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled to be held later this year, official sources said. The commission, headed by Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath, Election Commissioner H S Brahma, Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi and other officials, arrived in Ahmedabad on Sunday evening.
The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.
'Undeniably, Modi's position has stabilised and he has staged a comeback of sorts from the weeks after the Lok Sabha results.' 'Coalition partners are likely to be more tolerant of Modi... The forthcoming elections in Delhi and Bihar will determine whether this continues or not.' 'To win Delhi and Bihar, Modi will have to work in conjunction with the RSS.' 'However, because of the 'truce' that has been worked out within the Sangh Parivar, Modi will have to be more consultative than he has been in the past ten years,' reveals Modi biographer Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Of these 14, all but three won the election on Thursday.
Congress wants single-phase polls while BJP prefers multi-phase polls
'The Opposition parties will continue to woo Chandrababu Naidu even though he has said he will support the BJP.'
'Bihar and Jharkhand have witnessed the most communal campaign but the Election Commission is conspicuously silent,' says an editorial in the latest issue of RSS mouthpiece Organiser.
WC star Azad beats state BJP heavyweight Ghosh from Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency
'Mr Ballot Box' occupied the front row seat in the aircraft escorted under the watchful gaze of the Assistant Returning Officers of their respective states.
The Election Commission on Wednesday strongly disapproved Oil Minister Veerappa Moily's announcement of raising subsidised LPG quota ahead of Gujarat elections and asked him to be circumspect in future.
The petition, which was filed in the apex court on Tuesday by Lucknow-based advocate Ashok Pandey, said it is challenging the August 7 notification issued by the Lok Sabha restoring Gandhi's membership.
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The apex court said that a debate on polls reforms can only take place after the election process in the state is over.
"Those who won in the recount are now asking the Election Commission why Modi is going to Gujarat," he said.
He secured required 44 votes after votes of two Congress MLAs who cross-voted for BJP were rejected by EC.
12 of the 20 MPs with the highest winning margins in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls have not been re-nominated by their parties for the 2024 general elections.
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