The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Friday made a pitch for unity among opposition parties ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, stating that the Bharatiya Janata Party can be defeated if all key leaders of these political outfits keep aside their ego and stick to their current stance of not keen on becoming the next prime minister.
Voting began on Thursday in the by-election to seven assembly constituencies in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
Majithia had surrendered after the February 20 state assembly polls and is currently lodged in a Patiala jail.
The BJP bagged 1,989 of the 4,371 panchayat samiti seats while the Congress won 1,852 with almost all results of the four-phase local government polls being declared.
The Haryana advocate general has alleged that criteria had been tweaked for allotment of 14 industrial plots in Panchkula to the "near and dear ones" of the then Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and recommended their cancellation.
The elections in this phase are seen as a big test for the Bharatiya Janata Party
Dissatisfaction with the state leadership, along with caste and sectarian factors and economic issues -- particularly those relating to jobs and rural distress cost the BJP.
After the polling ends on Thursday evening, voters will seal the fate of 40 candidates who are in the fray.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday appointed Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Bhupendra Chaudhary as the party's chief in the state.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
The BJP president tore into the Congress, accusing its leaders of seeing the shastra puja performed by defence minister Rajnath Singh on India's first Rafale fighter jet as a farce.
An estimated 66 per cent of the electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise in assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh amidst sporadic violence in which one polling agent was killed.
Under fire over its announcement that charge of senior Indian Administrative Service officer Ashok Khemka's post has been temporarily given to another officer, the Haryana government on Thursday clarified that this will be effective only when he proceeds on poll duty.
Vinesh Phogat alleged on Sunday that the government is trying to protect Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
The Election Commission on Wednesday put off its proposed visit to Jammu and Kashmir for review of election preparedness following the flood situation in the state.
Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari reveal that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's name is now doing the rounds as President Kovind's likely successor.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday evening discussed the party's strategy ahead at a meeting of the Parliamentary Board, its highest decision-making body.
The sect chief is serving a 20-year jail term for raping two women disciples at his ashram in Sirsa, where the dera is headquartered.
As part of efforts to ensure peaceful, free and fair assembly polls in Maharashtra and Haryana, the Election Commission has directed the authorities to set up effective pickets and carry out patrolling to check influx of both licensed and illicit arms and ammunition into the poll-bound states.
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi on Tuesday said the organisational elections should be utilised to "reinvigorate and rejuvenate" the party following the debacle in the Lok Sabha and assembly polls.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said the views of the newly-elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh were being sought to bring out a consensus on who will be their leader.
The Indian National Lok Dal on Saturday announced that Om Parkash Chautala would continue to lead the party and also contest Haryana Assembly elections due in 2014, despite his conviction by a Delhi court in a case of illegal recruitment of over 3,000 junior basic trained teachers in the state.
Barring minor skirmishes at few places in Uttar Pradesh, where four assembly constituencies went to by-elections, polling remained peaceful in all the other states.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Exit polls by two television channels on Tuesady projected that Maharashtra's ruling Congress-NCP alliance will emerge victorious in the Assembly elections and one of them predicted Congress victory in Haryana.
The rebels, who contested as independents in the assembly polls, marred the prospects of BJP candidates in eight seats while Congress candidates were hit in four assembly segments.
After a series of desertions in the election year, the ruling Congress in Haryana may face another jolt as its senior leader and Rajya Sabha MP Birender Singh, who has openly revolted against the chief minister, appears set to dump the party and join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
After it failed the crucial May 2014 'exams' without even getting 'passing marks', its that time again for the Congress as elections for the two state assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana taking place on October 15. Renu Mittal reports
The trials for the wrestling World Championships will be held on August 25-26 in Patiala, the ad-hoc panel announced on Monday, ending weeks of uncertainty around the selection competition.
Wrestlers threaten Supreme COurt action over sexual harassment allegations against WFI President
The income tax department on Wednesday conducted raids in multiple states as part of a pan-India tax evasion probe against certain registered unrecognised political parties (RUPP) and their alleged dubious financial transactions, official sources said.
Demanding forensic examination of the pens used to cast votes, Hooda said the Election Commission should conduct a thorough inquiry.
The Parli assembly seat in Beed district will again see his daughter Pankaja Munde and nephew Dhananjay Munde lock horns for supremacy.
BJP leader from Haryana and actor Sonali Phogat died of a heart attack in Goa, police said on Tuesday.
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Besides in-charges, the party has also named co-incharges for several states, a BJP statement said.
The stage is now set for the first substantial round of polling in the Lok Sabha elections on Thursday, involving nearly 11 crore voters in 92 seats spread across 11 states, including Delhi and the national capital region and the riot-hit Muzaffarnagar.
Chautala said that the loss/gain of the break-up with the BJP would also be known only after the polls.
The Congress is of the view that firming up of proper opposition alliances in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Maharashtra is crucial.
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
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