'... in the form of possible payments to MLAs and horse-trading for the BJP to win.'
The counting for all five states will be held on March 11.
'The win in Assam is likely to have a ripple effect in other north-eastern states like Manipur and Nagaland which have been reluctant to embrace the BJP in the past,' says Nitin A Gokhale, the distinguished commentator on strategic affairs, who lived and reported from Assam between 1983 and 2006.
Clashes erupted between agitators and police in Greater Imphal area on Sunday as supporters of introduction of Inner Line Permit in Manipur continued their defiance of the curfew, which stepped into the fifth day, and took to the streets in large numbers.
BJP's overwhelming win in UP shows that 2014 was no fluke, says R Jagannathan.
As the second phase of polling commenced on Thursday amid heightened security, bigwigs came out to cast their votes for constituting the 17th Lok Sabha. Among those who took to their respective polling booths were former Finance Minister P Chidambaram, actor-turned-politician Rajinikanth, BJP candidate from Bengaluru South Tejasvi Surya, and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman, among others.
'It indicates the grooming of the party's new leadership.' 'It is also a signal to the states that these ministers represent.'
The government is planning to appoint new Governors in at least six states in the next 15-20 days, with Bihar, Punjab and Assam likely among these.
Deepti Priya Mehrotra, who documented Irom Sharmila's struggle for peace in Manipur in the book Burning Bright, puts the icon's electoral loss in perspective.
As neighbouring states of Nagaland await clarity on the Naga peace accord, Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has said any move that affects the interests of his state will be opposed "tooth and nail".
The Congress vice president has eyes on the larger objective of his partnership with Akhilesh, which may provide the template against the BJP in 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
"I do not mind if attacks are made on me but what pains me is that Modiji snatched the food park from Amethi...it was meant to transform Amethi and Raebareli," he said.
As the results pour in from the five states which have gone to polls, scenes of celebrations can be seen across the nation.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
A 7-hr debate was held over the contentious bill. Oppn amendments rejected.
The Congress president's absence from the party's campaign in the five poll-bound states has left everyone and guessing whether she is prepping her son to take over.
Dubbing the NPR exercise as 'a dangerous game', Banerjee said the form, which seeks birth details and residential proof of parents, was nothing but a precursor to NRC implementation.
He also played down reports of Shivpal planning to form new party post the assembly polls.
The church bells don't toll in Churachandpur any more. The hill district in Manipur has been in mourning for more than a year.
It will be presented in the Lok Sabha next week in its original form.
Even as the BJP makes inroads into previously unfamiliar territories in eastern India, the party will have to be wary of losing out elsewhere, says Amulya Ganguli.
Roy's son Subhrangshu is also a Trinamool MLA from Bijpur constituency of North 24 Parganas.
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Sikkim and Odisha will be held simultaneously in the first phase.
The epicenter of the quake was Sonitpur and the quake occurred at 7.51 am at a depth of 17 kilometres, it said.
Celebrations erupted across Assam with opponents of the bill bursting crackers, distributing sweets and breaking into frenzied dancing on the streets.
With the announcement of the dates of the forthcoming assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttrakhand, political parties have sharpened their attacks on their rivals in order to score a political advantage and attract voters to their fold. Bharatiya Janata party leader Rajnath Singh claimed that Congress party's presence in UP polls would be insignificant.
BJP strategists know it may not repeat its 2014 performance in its traditionally strong bases in the north and the west. This is where the success in the north east and east is so important.
Aditi, a management degree holder from North Duke University, North Carolina, returned to India in 2013 and since then has been working for the constituency nurtured by his father, Akhilesh Pratap Singh, the sitting MLA.
Shah said the government was committed to ensure development in the country.
The BJP would want that by March 2022, when UP votes, the economy starts looking up and it heads into the polls with no other issue distracting from its main poll plank of the construction of the Ram temple in Ayodhya.
The bench also disagreed with the appellants that claim that their nominations were rejected 'arbitrarily and malafidely', saying 'cogent and convincing evidence needs to be led to prove this' and such a finding cannot be arrived at based on mere documents and annexures in a writ petition.
He said India has a rich tradition and a long history of both discovery and use of science and technology.
The results of the Assembly elections were nothing to exult about for the Bharatiya Janata Party with the party faring poorly in Uttar Pradesh and its chief minister B C Khanduri losing in Uttarakhand although it grabbed Goa from Congress.
Aslam Hunani/Rediff.com gives the lowdown on the constituencies going to polls in the first phase on April 11.
The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Around 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, 190 coys (companies) of Central Armed Police Forces and 19,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of election in the national capital, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's carping ally said the police assertion about security threat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Maoists was just a 'conspiracy theory'.
Apparently taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi over his 'Chai pe Charcha' initiative, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Saturday said her party does not believe in sitting at a tea shop just before the elections.
Union Minister Kumari Selja was named the Congress nominee for Rajya Sabha elections, putting an end to speculation that former Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit could be brought to the Upper House from Haryana.
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