As the race for Maharashtra chief minister enters the last lap, Hemant Waje looks at several scenarios which can play out.
States like Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh had on Friday announced similar incentives.
Schemes like the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana strain fiscal resources amid rising unemployment and prices of food items.
The Bharatiya Janata Party swept Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh on Sunday inflicting a resounding defeat on the Congress to tighten its stranglehold in the Hindi heartland, in a big boost for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and setting the tone for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
With assembly elections due in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram in the next few months, the Congress is working on poll strategies in these states and has convened a meeting of state leaders on May 24.
The domestic equity markets are expected to extend gains following the strong showing of the Narendra Modi-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state elections - a crucial precursor to the general elections in May. The BJP decisively secured victories in three of the four key states - Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Chhattisgarh. While the battles in these three states were closely contested, the scale of the BJP's triumph has surprised many, heightening expectations for regime continuity in 2024 - a positive catalyst for the markets.
Among the free symbols are walking stick, baby walker, air conditioner, balloon, bangles, wheel barrow, whistle, window, wool and needle, water melon, walnut, wallet, violin, vacuum cleaner and trumpet.
Former Union minister Prakash Javadekar and another senior party leader Om Prakash Mathur was made poll in-charge for Telangana and Chhattisgarh respectively, a party statement said.
Railway Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, Madhya Pradesh Governor Mangubhai Patel, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Jyotiraditya Scindia, among others, were present on the occasion.
Kamal Nath had expressed regret over it and asserted that he did not say anything disrespectful.
'I will present them before you (media) when Kamal Nath asks me to do so'
Key states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana would go for polls this year, besides states from the North-East.
The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) could have performed better in the recently-held Lok Sabha polls and perhaps, too much time was spent in reaching seat-sharing agreements, Communist Party of India-Marxist-Leninist Liberation general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has said.
According to BJP sources, the party propped up Chouhan in its election campaign when the Congress plank of promising to conduct a caste census started finding resonance with the OBCs.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Madhya Pradesh on Saturday warned of legal action against Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra over her social media post, in which she accused the saffron party-led government in the state of indulging in corruption.
Many exit polls have kept the incumbent Bharatiya Janata party ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and Opposition Congress on Tuesday accused each other of "murdering democracy" by their behaviour in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly.
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
'The biggest change that the BJP can initiate in the run-up to 2024 is appointing new faces as chief ministers.' 'In doing so, it will send a message well beyond 2024.'
The BJP leader, however, also said that if MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan asks her to campaign for an election, she can do it.
The CM said that the film exposes the conspiracies of 'love jihad', religious conversion and terrorism and its "hideous" face.
'There is some deep rot that has set in the Congress party. This requires an organisational surgery.'
The discussion will prove Gandhi has more knowledge about religion and spirituality than these persons, Kamal Nath said.
The candidates believe that 'khatla' meetings and processions taken out in 'haat' (local markets) are quite effective and help in connecting better with voters living in remote and scattered settlements of Jhabua.
With challenges such as raising the legal age of marriage for women, combating malnutrition among women and children, and addressing women's safety issues, the new ministers face a formidable agenda.
Kankar Munjare, a former MLA and MP, said he would return home after polling day on April 19.
The BJP said it will seek a floor test in the Madhya Pradesh assembly on March 16.
A controversy has erupted after Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son, Kartikey, said during a public meeting in bypoll-bound Budhni that 'not even a brick will be laid in any village' in case a Congress candidate wins the by-election.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
'You don't have any options within the BJP. You only have to follow the orders of the top leadership.'
With this, the Congress's strength in the house has come down to 89 now.
The counting of votes in three out of four states on Sunday showed that less than 1 percent of the voters exercised the 'none of the above' option in the just-concluded assembly polls, according to the election commission.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
Madhya Pradesh Bharatiya Janata Party executive committee member Baijnath Singh Yadav, a loyalist of Union minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, quit the saffron party on Wednesday to return to the Congress fold, months ahead of the assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Anuppur district unit chief in Madhya Pradesh, who had vowed in 2017 not to wear footwear till the party forms a government in the state, started wearing it again on Saturday, days after the saffron party registered a resounding victory in the assembly polls.
Union minister and the BJP's election in-charge for Rajasthan Pralhad Joshi, co-in-charge Nitin Patel, the party's in-charge for Rajasthan Arun Singh, state president C P Joshi, Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kailash Chaudhary, Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Rajendra Rathore, Deputy Leader of Opposition and former state president Satish Poonia and other leaders were present at the meeting, which is likely to continue till late, the sources said.
The principal said that particular day was reserved for "speaking in English only" and that is why the students were stopped, the sources said, quoting her.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
other polls being held in the union territory, CEC Rajiv Kumar said.
The politically crucial Malwa-Nimar region of Madhya Pradesh played a key role in propelling the Congress to power in 2018 after a gap of 15 years and the party is utilising the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Yatra to strengthen its position in the belt a year ahead of the assembly polls.
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