Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Sonia Gandhi is still to reach a decision on the matter.
The BJP, which has two MLAs in the MDA government, backed the Cabinet decision.
While 67 per cent of India's population is 39 years old or younger, states are governed by chief ministers who are 70 or older.
The proportion of postal votes polled in the general elections has gradually risen since 2009.
How can a chief minister shrug off his responsibility not just for the illegality taking place under his nose but also for the lives that are likely lost? asks Aditi Phadnis.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
The ruling Left Front on Friday stormed back to power for the fourth consecutive term in Tripura while Meghalaya appeared to be heading for a hung verdict with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party. The election to the 60-member Meghalaya assembly threw up a hung House with the ruling Congress emerging as the single largest party bagging 25 out of 59 seats for which polling was held on March three.
Senior Congress leader Donwa Dethwelson Lapang was on Wednesday sworn-in as the Chief Minister of Meghalaya, where President's rule was lifted on Friday.
Voting to elect 60 members of the state assembly in Meghalaya is scheduled for Monday, February 27. The results will be declared on Thursday, March 2.
Achik National Volunteer Council chairman Dilash R Marak's younger brother Sengman Marak is the Congress candidate from Rongjeng constituency at East Garo Hills district in Meghalaya. The ANVC, a banned outfit, is considered the most influential militant group in the Garo hills region of Meghalaya. The insurgent group, formed in December 1995, signed a ceasefire agreement with the Centre in 2004.
Uncertain political times in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura.
Campaigning ended on Wednesday evening for 102 Lok Sabha seats across 21 states and Union territories which will go to polls in the first phase on April 19 with top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) making a last-gasp effort to woo voters.
Dr Mukul Sangma on Tuesday took oath as the chief minister of Meghalaya, replacing veteran Congress leader D D Lapang, who quit as the Congress Legislative Party leader on Monday night after losing the support of 21 of the Congress' 28 Members of Legislative Assembly in the 60-member state assembly.Governor Ranjit Sekhar Musahary administered the oath of office to Dr Sangma and three other cabinet ministers at a ceremony held at the Raj Bhawan in Shillong today afternoon.
Conrad Sangma, 35, Leader of the Opposition in the outgoing Meghalaya assembly that goes to the polls on Saturday, explains the need for a fresh approach to solve the problem of insurgency in the state, the reasons for the lack of women in state politics and the need for cultural exchanges between the North-East and the rest of India.
In some constituencies like Jowai, Mylliem, Mawlai and Jaiaw, women voters were about 20-25 per cent more than men. Observers attribute this to the matrilineal system followed by the society, unlike in other parts of the country.
Key states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana would go for polls this year, besides states from the North-East.
After Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram would go for polls this year.
The Centre on Wednesday decided to impose President's Rule in Meghalaya, where the Nationalist Congress Party-led government survived a controversial confidence vote in the state assembly on Tuesday by a whisker. A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the Union Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The Centre had received a report from Governor R S Moosahary about breakdown of the Constitutional machinery in the state and recommended President's rule.
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.
Assembly elections in Tripura will be held on February 14 and in Meghalaya and Nagaland on February 23 and their results will be out on February 28, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
'...despite not being ideologically aligned with a vast section of the people of the north east.' 'But the results in Tripura, Nagaland and Meghalaya show that no party, including the BJP, can say that it has really done well.'
Pawar has summoned a meeting of party leaders in Mumbai on Saturday to finalise its plans for the assembly elections in Karnataka scheduled for May 10.
Its candidate Jopsimon Phanbuh defeated her nearest rival Sanbor Shullai of the NCP.
Four states -- Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura -- will go to polls on February 26. While Himachal Pradesh has 65 assembly constituencies, the three northeastern states have 60 each.
The overall voting percentage in the bypolls to 51 assembly seats was nearly 56.84 per cent, the Election Commission said while releasing data available till 7 pm, adding that the polling passed off peacefully.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to the North East from Tuesday, during which he will attend the oath-taking ceremonies of new governments in three states of the region.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The northeastern state has witnessed change of guard six times in the last five years.
Congress nominee and Meghalaya Education Minister Ampareen Lyngdoh on Friday won the by-poll to Laitumkhrah constituency defeating the United Democratic Party candidate Malcolm Tariang by a margin of 2,327 votes.
As the two parliamentary constituencies in Meghalaya, Tura and Shillong go to polls on Wednesday, the glare will be on Tura constituency where former Lok Sabha Speaker and eight-time Lok Sabha member Purno A Sangma, 66, of the National People's Party is fighting the most crucial election in his life against Congress greenhorn Daryl Williams Ch Momin, 27, in a straight contest.
Cricketer Yusuf Pathan will contest from the Baharampur Lok Sabha seat, whereas Kirti Aazd will fight from the Bardhaman-Durgapur constituency.
'Earlier, a lot of fear was in the minds of people that the BJP is anti-Christian and anti-minority, but over the years people have learnt to accept that the BJP is just another national party.'
Founder Cajee, a ruling Congress legislator in Meghalaya, on Monday assaulted a photo journalist in the premises of the assembly complex in Shillong, much to the surprise of all other legislators and journalists present there. The incident occurred just after the assembly session got over for the day, when photo journalist Wanton Jyrwa was talking to two other legislators in the lobby of the House. It has triggered a sharp reaction and attracted widespread condemnation.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
Sangma will go to Raj Bhawan at 11:30 am on Friday and meet the governor to apprise him of the assembly election results, the official said.
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