A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial Narendra Modi on Saturday hit back at Congress Vice president Rahul Gandhi for attacking him on his links with Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, saying he was "proud" of the ideology and the principles based on the "altar of sacrifice and service".
Political leaders bid an emotional goodbye to Vajpayee.
Returning to JNU campus on his release from jail three weeks after his arrest, Kanhaiya Kumar said they are seeking freedom within the country and not from India.
A highly respected figure in the field of music, Balamuralikrishna featured in the popular national integration song "Miley Sur Mera Tumhara" in which he rendered Tamil lyrics.
The colour has been rendered to activities that would have astonished Swami Vivekananda, says Sunanda K Datta Ray.
An Istanbul-bound Turkish Airlines flight from Bangkok with 157 passengers and crew on board landed at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi under emergency conditions following a bomb scare but was cleared for take-off after the security agencies did not find any explosive.
Joining the BJP cannot have been an easy decision for former UP Congress chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi, who grew up with secular values and appears to be a victim of the party's durbar politics. Amit Agnihotri reports.
'Shivraj Singh Chouhan gave an affidavit in the Supreme Court that his government will give reservation in promotions which resulted in a powerful reaction by the youth.' 'These youth used to vote for the BJP, but will not vote for it in this election.' 'Even if the Congress does not make any gains, the BJP is losing voters in the current situation. It is losing farmers, OBC votes.'
Aseem Chhabra picks the finest Indian films in the 2010-2019 decade.
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
'The emphasis is on nationalism, which the party apparently feels will have greater resonance than one on religious identity which may have lost some of its appeal in recent years.'
Modi said he saw the election results, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, as the "foundation of the new India".
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Jyotiraditya Scindia and Sumer Singh Solanki on Friday won Rajya Sabha election from Madhya Pradesh.
This time round, even 'petrol coupons' were reportedly distributed for those attending campaign rallies, especially those addressed by top leaders, cutting across party lines. If this owed to the rising cost of petrol and diesel -- which is a poll issue this time -- there were the customary coupons for 'quarter' (liquor bottle size) and non-vegetarian biryani. Some media reports claimed that some of these 'crowds' attended more than one political rally on the same day in the last week, and at times for rival political parties in adjoining constituencies or districts, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Locals are overly concerned as horrifying tales emerge of patients running from pillar to post to secure hospital beds or even get themselves tested.
The Food Security Bill, the Land Acquisition Bill and the Aadhar card could bring electoral dividends to the government as it tries to hard to woo the poor, reports Renu Mittal
The event was attended by senior Congress leaders such as former prime minister Manmohan Singh
Amid the Bharatiya Janata Party governments at the Centre and in Haryana beginning to turn the heat on him, businessman Robert Vadra, also the son-in-law of Congress President Sonia Gandhi, recently ensured his companies filed their pending balance sheets.
'Ram Sir was a creator of law. He has his stamp on every leading judgment in criminal law.'
'The people who were assigned the role to look after the affairs of the Congress in Maharashtra have failed.'
After arriving in Brisbane, Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with students at Queensland University of Technology.
Vadra launched Skylight Hospitality four months after the DLF shares got listed, amid complaints of inadequate disclosure from investor associations and former business partner Kimsuk Krishna Sinha.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
'The NRC had an effect on Assam and I think to cover up or make up for that, CAB has been brought in.'
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ananth Kumar said the government is ready for a discussion on the issue of alleged financial irregularities in the banking sector and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley will reply to the debate.
"Our neighbouring country thinks such terror attacks can weaken us, but their plans will not materialise," he said at a function to flag off a new semi-high speed train from Delhi to Varanasi.
People queued up to pay their final respects to former President APJ Abdul Kalam.
A recap of events that occurred in India in the past 24 hours.
A round-up of Ranji matches played on Wednesday.
The AAP won in 62 with a total vote share of 53.58 per cent. The BJP recorded victory in eight seats, receiving 38.49 per cent of the total votes. The Congress could not even manage a single seat and ended with 4.27 per cent vote share.
Though the government claims there are more beds than needed, the national capital's COVID-19 reality, retold through social and other media, is also about the anguish of sons, daughters, wives and others trying desperately to get medical help for their unwell family members.
'The feeling in Telangana is that without her a separate state cannot be created... All the MPs and MLAs from Seema-Andhra have a business background. Their interest is to save their business,' Congress MP K Raj Gopal Reddy, who played a key role in Thursday's turbulent events, tells Rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt.
Congress on Monday announced a slew of populist measures including sops to farmers, students, unemployed youths, minorities, raising subsidised LPG cylinders from 9 to 12 and constitution of Vidhan Parishad in its manifesto for the Madhya Pradesh assembly elections.
The 'nonsense' slur hurled at the Cabinet approved ordinance cannot apply only to the PM and his ministers. Soniaji must also share responsibility, says Bharatiya Janata Party patriarch L K Advani in his blog.
Although the authorities had maintained till the last minute that Mevani and his supporters did not have permission to hold the event, it seems the rally organisers and Delhi Police reached a compromise later.
The Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday attributed the drubbing the Congress-led UPA has received in polls mainly to the "communication deficit" on part of outgoing prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi and also to issues like hike in prices of fuel and LPG cylinders by the ruling dispensation.
'If the Congress is to challenge the NDA government, Rahul Gandhi will have to shed his indifference to Parliament, become more visible and vocal and, essentially, lead from the front,' says Rediff.com contributor Anita Katyal.
Parliament's monsoon session began amid sloganeering and protests from opposition of different issues.
