When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
A total of 74,44,260 voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives.
Bharatiya Janata Party's Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi was in all praises for Telugu superstar turned politician Pawan Kalyan. Sharing the stage with him at a rally in Nizamabad, Modi said, "As long as there are people like Pawan, the Telugu spirit will never die."
Former West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar was on Thursday sworn in as the 14th Vice President of India.
In a day of frantic developments, Digvijaya Singh entered the fray for the Congress president's election as Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot opted out of the race and the suspense over his continuation at the helm in the state deepened with the party saying it would be decided in a day or two.
'The collegium system will remove any such doubts from the minds of people and the political parties.'
'The present-day Congress party does not lack leaders who want a Rahul-led Congress to taste electoral success, but wish he fails in his efforts to cleanse the party.'
Chauhan, a former Madhya Pradesh chief minister, said political parties governed by dynasty, family and caste politics were defeated everywhere including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in the general elections.
Nothing 'accidental' about this movie, feels Syed Firdaus Ashraf.
Nowadays, our politics is habituated to sitting on a high pedestal, hobnobbing with world leaders, generating impressions of a superpower and returning to earth for the purpose of winning elections. In contrast, the yatra never left earth, observes Shyam G Menon.
Describing the Congress veteran as a "symbol of socialism and secularism", Azad said Reddy functioned with utmost integrity.
During the Congress regime, India did witnessa slew of reforms which are now taken up by the Modi government too.
He also lashed out at veteran Congress leader Ambika Soni for her statement on the "repercussions of having a Hindu chief minister in Punjab".
BJP MLA M Raghunandan Rao submitted a representation to the Enforcement Directorate in Hyderabad to investigate into the matter.
Hans Raj Bhardwaj has slammed his own party, calling it too weak to fight the Bharatiya Janata Party.
'Agri reforms need to go beyond the limited concerns of these three laws in improving agriculture productivity in cereal and crop diversification and production patterns.'
The question is whether Prime Minister Modi can convince the world's investors that India is the ultimate investment destination of 2018, says Kanika Datta.
Also, with Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra not in the running for the party president's post, a non-Gandhi would be at the helm after over 24 years following the polling on Monday and counting on Wednesday.
A report about the officer has been sent to the 'higher-ups' in the government
'No PM has said no to anything we have proposed. I am not a politician and I cannot give speeches about things, but a lot of good things have been done in science by previous governments.' 'Under Dr Manmohan Singh, we could do a few important things. I used to meet him once in 6, 8 weeks. He often said, 'Professor Rao, you assume that you have my approval and carry on.' He was shy and decent. He is a real gentleman.' 'Science keeps me going at 80. I feel young.' Professor C N R Rao, the eminent scientist who was honoured with the Bharat Ratna, on the state of science in India.
Today, with the Lok Sabha polls only months away, any inter-state dispute over the Cauvery water dispute has the potential to take more political turns than otherwise, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Modi government finds itself in a contradiction of its own making. It has encouraged pro-Russian, Westophobic public sentiment while setting strategic policy that's exactly the opposite, points out Shekhar Gupta.
Sharad Pawar-Ajit Pawar, Bal Thackeray-Raj Thackeray, Gopinath Munde-Dhananjay Munde. Troubled uncle-nephew relationships have rocked the boat of more than one party trying to steer its way through Maharashtra's troubled political waters with the crisis in the Nationalist Congress Party only the latest in the series.
Ajit Singh represented a bridge between a constituency that represented a more traditional era in politics and a modern, forward-looking, India, remembers Aditi Phadnis.
Ramdev's Patanjali is a low-cost, low-margin business that gets away with pretty much what it wants because wily old Ramdev knows how to get around all politicians, says Vir Sanghvi.
Modi, who is leaving for Iran on Sunday, will also pay a two-day visit to Qatar from June 4.
The NCP chief says, "Self-styled' loyalists of 10, Janpath, convinced Gandhi that it would be better to back Narsimha Rao in 1991 as prime minister over him as the "Gandhi family was not about to let someone with independent mind" to get the top post, Sharad Pawar has claimed.
"No one is a saint in politics," he added, possibly a hint to the senior ally that committing such a 'sin' was not entirely unfathomable for the Sena.
Taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over his remarks that the United Progressive Alliance government left everything empty, Congress on Monday claimed "bad days have begun for the countrymen", citing a socio-economic survey of Gujarat.
'India, he announced, is a "free, open, inclusive region" committed to the "common pursuit of progress and prosperity".' 'Prosperity yes. But free? Open?' 'Ask the Dalit tanner, the Muslim butcher, the Christian priest who writes pastoral letters.' 'Ask cattle traders of any religion or a Delhiwallah who enjoys a juicy steak.' 'Ask a Muslim who falls in love with a Hindu or vice versa,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.
'If the Congress gets to form the government in 2024, then Sonia Gandhi by virtue of being CPP chairperson will have the authority to decide who will be the prime minister and not Kharge.'
'Modi's brilliance seems to be in combining Indira Gandhi's 'feel' for the Indian pulse and Narasimha Rao's cynicism.' 'By the time the Opposition leaders caught up with Modi over the 'surgical strikes', he had already moved on,' says M K Bhadrakumar.
The party's history shows that it has had at least 13 presidents from outside the Nehru-Gandhi clan since independence as against five from its first family. Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have headed the party for the majority of the period since independence.
Gehlot said Sonia Gandhi should continue to lead the party and if she has made up her mind, then Rahul Gandhi should come ahead and be the Congress president as the country faces the biggest challenge to save its democracy.
Though the 91-year-old leader is no longer politically much active, his joining the saffron party is being seen as a boost to it ahead of the Uttarakhand assembly polls.
The politician was shifted to the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital on October 26. He was suffering from fever and pneumonia.
People like Manmohan Singh and P Chidambaram, who as finance minister had fully supported the NPS, refuse to exercise their moral and political influence to try and stop Ashok Gehlot and others hell-bent on wrecking the states' finances, notes Virendra Kapoor.
'So you have welfare programmes, you reach out to the poor, you cut out the middlemen, you cut out the leakages and you try to raise the standard of living.'
'Sonia's term as Congress president -- which was 20 years -- was the longest in the party's history.' 'It will also go down as the period in which the Congress transformed in the way Indians viewed it,' says Aakar Patel.
"Very shortly we will come out with a concrete plan," Rao told reporters after meeting the Trinamool Congress president.
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