'Conrad Sangma is an interesting mix of charisma, ability and has emerged as a capable leader.' 'Neiphiu Rio is very unassuming, quiet, subtle and stands out among all Naga leaders today.'
'Metro man' E Sreedharan, a much-admired technocrat who is credited with changing the face of public transport system in the country, will join the Bharatiya Janata Party giving a boost to the saffron party ahead of the assembly polls in Kerala.
Flaying both the Congress-led United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance and a section of the "right wing" media for trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their 'vicious propaganda' by giving the Left a decisive mandate.
With most political parties failing to articulate the concerns of Muslims, who account for 15 per cent of the population and can swing the electoral outcome in 21 constituencies, the AIMIM hopes to make a mark in the ongoing assembly elections, says Shafeeq Rahman.
With Pinarayi Vijayan set to be chief minister, what will be the role for party patriarch V S Achuthanandan? And what are the key takeways from the election results in Kerala?
Oommen Chandy said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has requested Gandhi to contest from Wayanad but he has not commented on the proposal.
The Congress-led United Democratic Front on Wednesday suggested further tightening of the measures on liquor policy if it returns to power.
Veteran batter Cheteshwar Pujara slammed his second hundred of the ongoing Ranji Trophy season, guiding Saurashtra to a comfortable 242 for four against Rajasthan on the opening day of their Group A match, in Jaipur on Friday.
Shah also said Kerala used to be known for development, literacy and for promoting tourism, but "with the ruling LDF and opposition UDF coming to power alternately has resulted in making the state a platform for political violence."
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra Opposition leader Ajit Pawar, who belongs to Nationalist Congress Party, on Saturday said Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are trustworthy and the system cannot be manipulated by a single person.
It is not much of an issue just now, but it could become one if the idea of caste census captures socio-political imagination, going beyond electoral tags and identities, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a stunning electoral victory, the ruling Communist Party if India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF), rode back to power in Kerala winning 99 of the 140 seats, bucking the over four decade long trend of Communists and Congress-led United Democratic Front coming to power alternatively.
The Act deals with automatic disqualification of MPs and state legislators upon being convicted and sentenced for two years or more in a criminal case.
Governor Arif Mohammad Khan hit out at the state government for not informing him before moving the SC against the CAA. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan retorted: "This is a democratic country and one must understand the democratic system. Earlier, during the British Raj, there were resident commissioners to check local chieftains."
In fresh escalation of political violence in poll-bound Kerala, a 28-year-old Youth Congress worker was hacked to death allegedly by Democratic Youth Federation of India workers at Evoor in Alapuzha on Tuesday even as the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India - Marxist workers clashed in Thiruvananthapuram district leaving at least 30 injured.
Congress leaders feel party President Sonia Gandhi is withdrawing from centre-stage, but without her son filling that void, it could be continued chaos for her party.
A dominant force in the country's politics for decades, the grand old party's free fall continued as it lost Punjab to AAP and finished with just two seats out of 403 in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for five assembly polls, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to attend the meeting.
'One is happy. The moment one starts criticising the BJP, ED, IT and CBI comes to one's house.'
'The BJP will not be able to create dictatorship of the kind it is perhaps dreaming of.' 'We have Bengal as the biggest example.'
A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian said the Kerala Police Act was the successor legislation of certain police enactments of the colonial era which aimed at scuttling the democratic aspirations of the indigenous population.
The results for the polls will be announced on May 18, Election Commission sources said.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
CPI-M General Secretary Prakash Karat spoke briefly to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt on the party's prospects in the coming assembly elections in Kerala and West Bengal.
The plea filed by advocate Ashok Pandey asked whether the conviction of an accused can be stayed by the court of appeal and if, based on it, a Lok Sabha member's disqualification can be revoked.
'The cadres who die for the party are from the backward and scheduled caste communities while the leaders and those who enjoy power are from the forward community.' 'When this is the reality, who will stay with them?'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will be in Gujarat's Surat city on Monday to file an appeal before a sessions court against his conviction in a criminal defamation case, his lawyer said on Sunday.
Former Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan was on Wednesday unanimously elected as leader of the CPI-M in the assembly. Achuthanandan will also head the 68-member Left Democratic Front opposition in the 140-member house.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Monday ruled out any change in leadership following the poll debacle in West Bengal and Kerala as top leaders met in New Delhi to analyse what went wrong for the party in the assembly elections.
Changes have been made in the original schedule of the 2011 IPL-4 because of the assembly elections in the states of West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry.
Just as the superstars of Indian cricket only play IPL and international fixtures and ignore the Ranji and Mushtaq Ali trophies in domestic cricket, Narendra Modi should play a very limited role in state assembly elections, argues Sudhir Bisht.
Addressing an election rally at Pattambi, Kumar deplored the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing Kerala with Somalia.
'We will win all the 28 Lok Sabha seats in 2024.'
Given the reality of the disparity and the enormous shift over the last 50 years, this can be done without an open and frank conversation with the people, something that has not begun and, knowing the style of our leader, is not expected to begin, asserts Aakar Patel.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Thursday expressed his readiness to contest in the coming assembly election, if his party asked him to go for another electoral battle.
erala and Tamil Nadu will be going to polls on May 16 and ahead of the assembly elections, Rediff Labs analyses who's been making the most buzz
erala and Tamil Nadu will be going to polls on May 16 and ahead of the assembly elections, Rediff Labs analyses who's been making the most buzz
'Mamata Didi is the only politician who can take on the might of Modi.'
Sivadasan noted that the post of the governor is being misused by the central government to forward its agenda in the states.
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