Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.
Confrontation between the Sikh bodies of Punjab and Haryana has become more political than religious, says Rediff.com contributor Upasna Pandey.
The deceased leader's nephew, Kapoor Singh Rathee, said that his uncle's elder son Bhupinder and younger son Jatinder have received 18 threat calls from an unknown number.
An Indian student has claimed that he was disqualified from the London School of Economics (LSE) Students' Union elections as a result of a deliberately orchestrated smear campaign because of his Indian and Hindu identity.
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
Some of the farmers allegedly tried to block Khattar's motorcade but police managed to provide a safe passage to the chief minister, sources said.
The biggest shocker is in Haryana where at least three exit polls predicted decimation of the Opposition, but the BJP won 40 seats in the 90-member assembly and the Congress 31 seats.
'This can eventually start the end of the current market frenzy, which has lasted for a full year.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
They were suspended for misbehaviour and shouting slogans in the House.
Sharma's remark came a day after Grover and some other BJP leaders were held up for hours inside a temple complex in Rohtak's Kiloi as several villagers and farmers staged a protest outside.
The only occasion when the BJP had 100 seats in the Upper House was in 2022.
The Congress on Sunday demanded a thorough probe into Siddique's murder and said Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy Devendra Fadnavis, who holds home portfolio, should take moral responsibility for law and order "failure" and resign.
While the markets have factored in a number close to 350 for the BJP and almost 400 for the NDA, 50 seats fewer could trigger a market correction
The assembly elections in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh will be held in a single phase on October 13.Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla announced the dates in a press conference on Monday.The counting of votes will take place on October 22.Electronic Voting Machines will be used in the electoral process in all three states, he said. The electoral battle will be fought in 288 seats in Maharashtra, 90 seats in Haryana and 60 seats in Arunachal.
The Shiromani Akali Dal also issued a two-day ultimatum to her to stop "anti-party" activities, failing which, it said, strict disciplinary action would be taken against her.
If Meena resigns, it is likely to put pressure on other ministers whose areas also saw poor performance in the general elections.
'In the BJP I realised they are a different people with different mindset. They had a different ideology which was more rigid, and somewhere I was not comfortable.'
Sources within the Congress, including those who have been members of the teams that drafted its 2019 and 2024 Lok Sabha poll manifestos, said the Karnataka government decision lacked any empirical basis.
The assembly elections in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh will be held in a single phase on October 15, and the Election Commission (EC) is likely to take a final decision on the matter by Tuesday, say sources in the EC.The EC is also expected to hold a press conference next week to announce the schedule.EC staffers are busy making draft notifications, which will be sent by special couriers to the governors of the election-bound states.
'Rahul Gandhi is going to turn 54 and in India political leaders peak when they are around 60.' 'This 'bhai-behen ki jodi' has done a wonderful job for the Congress.' 'Priyanka Gandhi was a very effective campaigner.'
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.
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming to unseat the ruling Congress, which is fighting hard to change the trend of alternate governments in the state.
The Rajya Sabha elections have again highlighted dissension and lack of cohesion in the opposition ranks from Maharashtra to Karnataka and Haryana.
The National Democratic Alliance presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu on Thursday consolidated her lead after the second round of counting by getting nearly 72 per cent votes of the total votes of all MPs and MLAs of 10 states counted so far.
Per capita income in the state has consistently been below the national average for at least 24 years. However, it has narrowed the gap with the all-India level in recent years.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
Seen by political watchers as the favourite to retain power for a third straight term, the Bharatiya Janata Party has set itself an ambitious target of winning 370 Lok Sabha seats, a goal aimed as much at projecting its strength as at diminishing the opposition in popular imagination.
Some of Independents claimed that the Congress and the BJP have been in touch with them.
Speaking at the Congress manifesto launch programme, Gandhi said it is a much closer contest than what is propagated by the media, and expressed confidence in winning the polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday described as 'historic results' the electoral victory in Haryana and Maharashtra and said it was a matter of immense happiness and pride for the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary was among the first to cast his vote, exercising his franchise in Balotra.
Maharashtra and Haryana voted in assembly elections on Monday. Several prominent personalities also exercised their franchise.
The BJP is willing to offer two Lok Sabha seats, including Baghpat which is currently represented by its MP Satya Pal Singh, to the RLD and may also give it a Rajya Sabha seat, they added.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
The assembly election results are likely to put a lid on the impending battle the old guard and young Turks, strengthen the hands of the veterans, and force the younger leaders to negotiate a truce. Archis Mohan reports.
