The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
Opposition is using a 'marak shakti' (killing power) to harm BJP leaders, says BJP's Bhopal MP.
In a close race to power in four states, a pre-poll survey released Friday today shows Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party tied in Rajasthan but the saffron party having an edge in Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.
Along with Modi, senior BJP leaders including Rajnath Singh, Amit Shah, Nitin Gadkari, Nirmala Sitharaman and S Jaishankar, all ministers in Modi 2.0 Cabinet, took oath as cabinet ministers at the Rashtrapati Bhavan. In all, 71 ministers were sworn-in along with Modi, taking the strength of the Union council to 72.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
At a Madhya Pradesh cabinet meeting held in the temple town of Ujjain, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan ceded his seat to Lord Mahakal's portrait, an act some former bureaucrats said was "unprecedented" in the history of the state and could have been avoided.
Several states declared a holiday for schools, while government offices, other establishments and public sector banks remained closed for half a day.
Lok Sabha constituencies that sprung a surprise in the 2024 polls.
Hindu religious leader Kalicharan Maharaj, arrested over alleged derogatory remarks about Mahatma Gandhi, was on Friday sent in judicial custody by a court in Chhattisgarh's Raipur district.
He alleged that the Congress was putting hurdles in the construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya.
A number of high-profile electoral battles, starring veterans and debutants, formidable opponents and unlikely contestants, feature in Tuesday's outcome.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Gaur, 89, passed away due to caridiac arrest. He was suffering from various old-age related ailments and was hospitalised for quite some time.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
Calling former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda-led party "communal" following its alliance with the BJP, he urged Janata Dal-Secular, to remove the word 'Secular' from its name.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
'There may be some planted stories here or there, people trying to create manufactured controversies but the party is fully united. We will make sure the yatra is even more successful than it has been in other states'
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said he does not need an invitation from anyone to visit the newly-constructed temple in Ayodhya as Lord Ram resides in his heart.
Caste assertions, including from the upper castes, could have the Sangh Parivar stumble yet again in its efforts to construct a Hindu rashtra.
The Indore-3 legislator and son of senior party leader Kailash Vijayvargiya was recently jailed for thrashing the municipal officer, on an anti-encroachment drive, following a heated argument.
No 'hijab' ban in MP: Day after, minister backtracks
Polling is scheduled in all 20 seats of Kerala, 14 of the 28 seats in Karnataka, 13 seats in Rajasthan, eight seats each in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh, six seats in Madhya Pradesh, five seats each in Assam and Bihar, three seats each in Chhattisgarh and West Bengal, and one seat each in Manipur, Tripura and Jammu and Kashmir.
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