Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
The Congress on Tuesday remained undecided whether to go it alone in poll-bound Jharkhand or tie up with regional parties.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
The legislators of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, led by senior leader Shibu Soren, on Tuesday met Governor Syed Ahmad to formally withdraw support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government in the state. Shibu Soren handed the letter of withdrawal of support to the governor after he withdrew support to the BJP-led Arjun Munda government on Monday evening, reducing it to minority, after talks between the two sides fail to reach an agreement.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
In a major organisational rejig ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress on Saturday appointed Avinash Pande the general secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh, replacing Priyanka Gandhi Vadra while Sachin Pilot was made the general secretary in-charge of Chhattisgarh.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal mounted a blazing campaign in the hot summer after he was released from the Tihar jail on interim bail on May 10, drawing huge crowds at rallies and roadshows, but it proved insufficient to propel his Aam Aadmi Party past the Bharartiya Janata Party challenge in the national capital.
According to the Aam Aadmi Party, it has received permission from the authorities concerned to hold the rally of more than 20,000 people.
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
Since Kalpana is not an MLA, her becoming the CM will need a present MLA to vacate his or her seat.
"What I understand from media reports [is that] some of my party colleagues are at pain following my continuation in the ministry," Radha Krishna Kishore said.
A dozen land parcels in Ranchi measuring about 8.5 acres in total are in 'illegal possession, occupation and use' of arrested former Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and are proceeds of crime under the anti-money laundering law, the Enforcement Directorate has claimed.
Two MLAs each from the BJP and the JD(U) were among the five who were inducted into the Cabinet.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raghubar Das was on Sunday sworn-in as the new chief minister of Jharkhand, becoming the first non-tribal leader to rule the state.
Pawar said in the last 10 years, people have voted Kejriwal to power, adding that Aam Aadmi Party ministers have been jailed and steps were being taken to arrest him as well.
The Congress indicated on Friday that it might seek President's Rule in Jharkhand if the "standstill" over government formation continued there without any solution.
Where do the big guns stand as counting underway for the Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand elections?
After losing the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand by three votes, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader SS Ahluwalia hinted that horse-trading led to his defeat.
Jharkhand leadership crisis resolved, Munda stays as CM
The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to entertain a plea by 14 political parties led by the Congress alleging arbitrary use of central probe agencies against opposition leaders, asserting that laying down guidelines without facts of a criminal case will be "dangerous".
The Maoist-infested state needs a visionary leader and Hemant Soren is definitely not one, opines Aditi Phadnis
The central election committee of the party met on Monday to finalize the list of candidates, but the exercise is being done in a vacuum since the party is still unclear of whether it is going ahead with any allies or not. The party is still negotiating with Babulal Marandi for seat sharing, with Ahmed Patel Sonia's political secretary, admitting that discussions are still on with him but so far there is not much headway.
The BJP will enter this election, as it does every election, as if it is fighting to prevent a 2004-style defeat. This is a party that wins big because it always behaves as if its back is to the wall, predicts Mihir S Sharma.
The Opposition objected to the Governor's decision to invite the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-Congress alliance to form the government.
Talks between India and China are going on smoothly and in a good environment over whatever issues there are, he said.
Former Jharkhand chief minister and JVM-P leader Babulal Marandi has said holding elections in the state is the only alternative.
Asserting that her government has zero tolerance to incidents of rape, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi Wednesday held consultations with senior party leaders, including A K Antony, as talks for an alliance with Jharkhand Mukti Morcha for the next Lok Sabha polls and formation of a coalition government in Jharkhand reached the final stage.
Raghuvar Das, the national vice president of the Bharatiya Janata Party will be the first non-tribal chief minister of Jharkhand after he was elected the leader of BJP legislative party.
Yadav, during his first visit to Guwahati, said he has already spoken to Congress and will hold talks with the All India United Democratic Front later in the day to formalise the alliance.
Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday pulled up senior Congress leaders in Jharkhand for factional politics which was harming the party interests in the state.
'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
Shibu Soren on Sunday got a shot in the arm when Nationalist Congress Party MLA Kamlesh Singh extended him support as the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha supremo is calling on independent legislators in his attempt to form a new government in Jharkhand.
Jharkhand Mukthi Morcha chief Shibu Soren was on Wednesday sworn in as chief minister of Jharkhand for the third time, along with two ministers from coalition partners, ending almost a year-long spell of President's rule in the state.
Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
Union minister Ramvilas Paswan's Lok Janshakti Party will contest six seats in Jharkhand, where the party was excluded by three other United Progressive Alliance partners in the seat-sharing arrangement. LJP candidates will contest for Palamu, Chatra, Dhanbad, Hazaribagh, Koderma and Jamshedpur seats out of 14 Jharkhand LS seats, party spokesman Sanjay Singh told PTI in Patna on Tuesday. =
The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
Jharkhand Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Arjun Munda on Thursday won the Kharsawan assembly by-poll, defeating his nearest Jharkhand Vikas Morcha (Prajatantric) opponent Dasrath Gagrai by over 17,000 votes. The by-poll was necessitated as Munda has to enter the state assembly within the mandatory six months period after becoming the chief minister on September 11 last year. BJP sitting MLA Mangal Singh Soy had resigned two months ago.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar's remarks on Pakistan sparked a political row on Friday, with his party quick to dissociate itself from the comments while the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party latched on to them, accusing the Congress of being an apologist for Pakistan and the terrorism emanating from its soil.
