The states and union territories where the elections are being held in this phase are Assam (4), Bihar (5), Chhattisgarh (7), Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu (2), Goa (2), Gujarat (25), Karnataka (14), Maharashtra (11), Madhya Pradesh (8), Uttar Pradesh (10) and West Bengal (4). The BJP has bagged the Surat seat unopposed.
The 10 who put in their papers include nine Lok Sabha MPs, including Union ministers Narendra Singh Tomar and Prahlad Patel, and the one Rajya Sabha member, officials said.
When the prime minister was offering floral tributes to Patel, flower petals were also showered on the world's tallest statue by an Indian Air Force helicopter.
The best-case scenario is that the BJP will top out at around 50 seats in UP -- a drop of 12 from the 62 it had won in 2019. Taken in tandem with Maharashtra and Karnataka, this is what is likely to put paid to the BJP's ambitions of a third term for Modi, argues Prem Panicker.
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Samandar Patel, 52, an Other Backward Classes leader from Jawad area of Neemuch, had joined the BJP when Scindia and MLAs loyal to him rebelled against the Congress in March 2020, leading to the collapse of the Kamal Nath government.
The state government cancelled the exam on March 2, following reports that the paper was leaked.
It dropped sitting MP from Guna, Krishnapal Singh Yadav, to field Union Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia from the seat.
Political observers lauded the SP's choices in fielding several non-Yadav and Scheduled Caste candidates, the party's alliance with the Congress, and Rahul Gandhi's campaign around the danger to the Constitution if the BJP won a big majority.
Sir Osborne Smith was the first governor of the Reserve Bank, serving from April 1, 1935, to June 30, 1937.
A series of events were held across the country to mark the day and government officials, security personnel and others took a pledge 'to preserve the unity, integrity and security of the nation and also strive hard to spread this message'.
"The country has taken an important decision with the inspiration of Sardar Patel, to walk a new path to resolve a decades-old problem," Modi said.
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 coming weeks are sure to have a lot of drama unfolding in Maharashtra, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Minister of State Prahlad Singh Patel on Monday posted on social media platform X that the Union Cabinet has approved the women's reservation bill, but deleted the post within an hour.
He said it will be 'foolhardy' to diminish institutions for short-term political gains.
Are faulty design, hurried construction and private ownership to be blamed for the incidents of airport roofs crashing?
Shrirang Barne, an MP of Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde, on Monday expressed disappointment over the party not getting a cabinet berth in the newly-formed Narendra Modi-led government and alleged partiality.
A division bench of the Bombay high court on Wednesday delivered a split verdict on a bunch of petitions challenging the amended Information Technology (IT) Rules dealing with fake news against the government on social media.
'For voters, PM Narendra Modi's name and developmental works in Rajkot are enough reasons to support the BJP'
Four of seven Bharatiya Janata Party MPs who fought the Rajasthan assembly elections won their respective seats while three others lost the polls.
Patel has already been questioned by the ED in an another money laundering case linked to the aviation scam.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
Stocks of smallcap and midcap companies, which had caught the fancy of retail investors, also feature in the portfolio of leading politicians in addition to bluechip stocks.
Majority of these constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh and the party that is on the third slot even as the counting is still underway on several seats is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a party neither with the National Democratic Alliance nor the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday appointed election in-charges and co-in-charges for 23 states and Union territories in view of the Lok Sabha polls this year.
These leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Mohan Yadav, state BJP president V D Sharma and former CM Shivraj Singh Chouhan at the party's state headquarters on Saturday morning.
With this, the ruling BJP has so far declared candidates for 136 seats. Earlier, the BJP had announced 79 candidates, including two lists of 39 each, and another list of one nominee.
'The Opposition will continue to be attacked through misuse of agencies, civil society will be force-marched towards extinction and India's plummeting on global indices will continue.' 'Minorities and especially Muslims will continue to have open season declared on them. Institutions will continue their decline,' predicts Aakar Patel.
Patel urges government to rein in borrowings, inflation
The youth -- their dreams of government jobs unfulfilled -- are voicing their frustration.
The university has also directed security agencies to deploy ex-Army personnel to strengthen the security of its hostel blocks, the official said.
The rains were being caused due to a cyclonic circulation lying over north east Arabian sea and adjoining Saurashtra and Kutch regions, the IMD said in its bulletin.
The Congress-AAP alliance this time aims to give a tough fight and stop the division of anti-BJP votes.
The Bombay high Court on Tuesday said the recently amended Information Technology (IT) Rules against fake news on social media give "unfettered power" to a government authority in the absence of "guidelines and guardrails".
Union ministers Rajnath Singh, Nitin Gadkari, Arun Jaitley, J P Nadda and Prakash Javadekar were among the key leaders from the BJP at the meeting.
'From April 25, 2021, Modi disappeared. He made no public appearance for 20 days.' 'The prime minister of India fled the field when his people needed the government most,' points out Aakar Patel.
After getting a nod from apex court, GCMMF on Friday held the election in the presence of poll observer.
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