A report by Indian civil society group Association for Democratic Reforms states that Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje spent the most while Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal spent the least during their election campaign.
Vishnu Deo Sai, a prominent tribal face of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Chhattisgarh, will be state chief minister after he was elected as leader of Bharatiya Janata Party's legislative party during a meeting of 54 newly-elected MLAs in Raipur on Sunday.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Saturday approved the Religious Freedom Bill 2020, which provides for prison term of up to 10 years and fine of Rs 1 lakh for conversion through marriage or by any other fraudulent means, state Home Minister Narottam Mishra said.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
With organisations like the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh, which is a front of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, telling Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman they want OPS back, the government is in a bind, report Shiva Rajora and Aditi Phadnis.
Meena, however, refused to elaborate on the incident, which is seen as an attempt at 'badabandi' -- holing up elected leaders in resorts as a show of strength.
The 15-month-old Kamal Nath government in Madhya Pradesh was pushed to the brink.
Earlier, there were speculations that the party may nominate Pankaja Munde, the daughter of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde, for the MLC polls, to be held on June 20.
The Congress had moved the motion on Wednesday, targeting the Chouhan government over law and order, unemployment, inflation, corruption, 'discrimination' against the opposition legislators, atrocities against women and tribals, farmers' problems and other issues.
From being called 'paon paon wale bhaiya' (foot soldier) by villagers to being addressed as 'Mama' (maternal uncle) by children, Chouhan's long innings at the top was interrupted when the BJP fell short of seven seats from the majority mark in the 2018 polls.
The Election Commission (EC) had in September last year recommended to the Union law ministry to tweak the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 to ensure that voters on poll duty cast their vote at voter facilitation centre located where they are deployed.
The Madhya Pradesh cabinet on Tuesday gave nod to an ordinance on the bill against religious conversion through fraudulent means, including those for the sake of marriage, that stipulates a jail term of up to 10 years for violators.
The 71-year-old leader from Madhya Pradesh has almost four decades of legislative experience.
The Kamal Nath-led Congress government plunged into crisis after the resignations of 22 rebel MLAs of the ruling Congress earlier this month.
Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari has tested positive for Covid-19.
Dr Raman Singh, who on Sunday led the Bharatiya Janata Party to a third consecutive victory in the Naxal-affected state of Chhattisgarh, has earned the reputation of being a 'silent performer'.
The Election Commission on Wednesday changed the Mizoram assembly election schedule by advancing the polling on November 25 and postponing the counting by a day to December 9.
National vice-president of All India Congress Committee Rahul Gandhi, on Thursday played his master stroke and told a huge gathering of tribals to join politics as he wants that India's prime minister, chief ministers, members of Parliament and legislators come out of tribal communities.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
The Maharashtra cabinet had approved the two bills on Friday and they were introduced in the assembly and later in the Council for passage.
A revamp of the All Indian Congress Committee is also on the cards.
One of the ministers said they are going back to Ranchi for a Cabinet meeting scheduled on Thursday.
The Congress expressed confidence that it will prove its majority in the House, while the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party claimed that the ruling dispensation has been reduced to minority as 22 of its MLAs have resigned.
The BJP often forgets that in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, the voter does not mix religion, which is personal, and politics that is in the public sphere, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'The Scindias betrayed Jhansi ki Rani and now the Congress party.' 'So this is nothing new as he is repeating the history of his family.'
Besides the four ministerial berths, the Congress has also sought the post of Speaker of the state assembly, but Kumar is not keen on giving that, sources said.
"Nathji should take the moral responsibility for the defeat as he is chief minister and mostly importantly the state party chief as well," a Congress leader said.
Dalit votes could play a decisive role in 28-30 constituencies in the 230-member assembly.
Congress leader Sachin Pilot on Friday stressed that the party would fight the Rajasthan assembly polls "unitedly" and said that a decision on who would lead the next government would be taken by the high command after consultations with the newly-elected MLAs.
The passage of the bill will pave the way for setting up of a GST council that will decide the tax rate, cess and surcharges.
Addressing a gathering after the 'bhoomi pujan' of a bottling plant here, Adityanath said people are seeing that those who showed little respect for law and order earlier were now running for their lives.
The Madhya Pradesh Assembly on Monday passed a bill that penalises religious conversion through marriage or any other fraudulent means and provides for a prison sentence of up to 10 years.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers. "Today, there are bypolls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," he said in a tweet.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pankaja Munde on Friday said she was planning to take a break for "one or two months" as she was anguished at her integrity being questioned time and again.
It's 'brand Shivraj' on which the Bharatiya Janata Party is banking to make a hat-trick in Madhya Pradesh, where discontent against sitting MLAs of the party threatens to snowball into a crisis in a number of constituencies.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah and chief ministers of some BJP-ruled states were among those present at the Raj Bhavan ceremony.
Rawat has a short tenure in his new role, but it is likely going to be an eventful one, reports Sahil Makkar.
Along with the development plank, the Bharatiya Janata Party is counting on the 'Gujarat formula' of dropping 'unpopular legislators' as a strategy to minimise the anti-incumbency factor and return to power in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh.
A senior Madhya Pradesh Congress legislator joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday hours after hitting out at his own party in the assembly.
Only 18 Bharatiya Janata Party legislators switched parties to contest the polls in this period
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