Nitish Kumar was sworn in as Bihar's Chief Minister for a record 10th time, extending his tenure and joining the list of longest-serving CMs in India.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday went around some quake-hit areas in Sikkim where the toll has climbed to 50 and promised all help to the state to tide over its major crisis.
Governor B P Singh administered the oath of office and secrecy to the 59-year-old chief minister and his ministerial colleagues at Raj Bhawan in Gangtok.
The Sikkim Democratic Front got 15 seats in the hill state, Sikkim Krantikari Morcha, which came into being in 2013, bagged 17 seats, one more than required for a majority in the 32-member assembly.
Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) supremo Prem Singh Tamang on Monday took oath as the chief minister of the Himalayan state for the second consecutive term.
Fifteen years after quitting the Sikkim Democratic Front in 2009, he decimated Chamling's party, scripting history by winning 31 of 32 assembly seats in the Himalayan state in 2024.
Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling drove down from Gangtok to Rangpo and submitted to the governor a letter recommending dissolution of the House.
Former chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and senior Sikkim Democratic Front leaders were conspicuous by their absence at the swearing-in.
"I think loss and damage will be not less than Rs one lakh crore. We will assess thoroughly the loss of properties," Chamling said at a press conference in Gangtok.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has appealed to the people of the state, especially the youth, to use the resumption of Sino-Indian border trade through Nathula as a major instrument for economic growth.
With a major earthquake measuring 6.8 on the richter scale rocking mountainous state of Sikkim, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday spoke to its chief minister Pawan Kumar Chamling and offered help in all possible ways, including availability of defence forces.
Setting aside ideological differences, the Congress, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Communist Party of India Marxist have joined hands in Sikkim to unitedly fight Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling's Sikkim Democratic Front in the assembly polls scheduled to be held later this year.The decision to form the UDF was taken in a meeting of Opposition leaders. The alliance is between the three national level parties and two other regional parties.
It is remarkable that all three states that had assembly elections along with the Lok Sabha polls Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Sikkim have re-elected the parties that were running their governments till now.
Bu Jiamguo, minister counsellor at the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, made this point to Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling when she led a four-member Chinese team to meet the latter in Gangtok on Tuesday.
The resumption of border trade between India and China through Nathula in Sikkim has been set tentatively for September this year.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
The elections to 32 assembly constituencies in Sikkim were held simultaneously with the first phase of Lok Sabha elections on April 19.
The SKM, founded in 2013, won a slender majority in the 32-member legislative assembly by bagging 17 seats against 15 won by the Sikkim Democratic Front.
The BJP is yet to open its account in the 32-member assembly of the Himalayan state.
'Chamling's legacy is toxic.' '7 out of 10 teenagers in Sikkim abuse drugs.' 'The youth are dying and the future looks bleak.'
The directives came after he took stock of the situation arising from the massive earthquake at a high-level meeting attended by Ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh, National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Principal Secretary Nripendra Misra and senior officials of National Disaster Response Force and Indian Metereological Department.
Bhaichung Bhutia, India's iconic former football captain, is set to try his political luck again, this time in his native state of Sikkim, as he plans to contest the assembly elections due this year.
In Sikkim, the BJP had not won a single seat in the recent assembly polls.
Can Baichung Bhutia's Hamro Sikkim party pose a challenge to Pawan Chamling who has not lost an election in 24 years?
The Election Commission will start counting votes for Vidhan Sabha elections on May 23. The assembly elections were held in four states -- Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim -- simultaneously with the Lok Sabha Elections over April and May. The Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, and Sikkim Assemblies went to polls in the duration between 11 April and 19 May, and the Election Commission will declare the results for at least 534 assembly seats - which is almost as many as the Lok Sabha seats - on May 23.
Sikkim's new chief minister will have to achieve growth without compromising nature.
Sikkim Chief Minister Pawan Kumar Chamling has promised to make every Sikkimese a 'crorepati' if he or she votes for his Sikkim Democratic Front in the April 12 Lok Sabha election, inviting criticism from his opponents.
The elections to legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will be held simultaneously along with the Lok Sabha polls
Prime minister-elect Narendra Modi's first official visit as head of government will likely be to Dhaka, where he is expected to sign the much-awaited Teesta water-sharing agreement with Bangladesh Prime Minister Hasina.
The protesters marched from Rajghat to Jantar Mantar carrying the flag, depicting 110 years of their struggle for separate state.
Singh addresses a first-ever meeting of chief ministers of five Himalayan states.
Shatrughan Sinha won't attend, citing 'important personal engagements.' Will L K Advani be present? M I Khan reports on a swearing-in ceremony the likes of which Patna may not have seen before.
Rediff.com takes a look at record-setting wins in Indian politics.
Anil Sharma had already 'offered' a finger twice to a local deity to 'express happiness' at Nitish's swearing in.
'That's the beauty of Naveen.' 'His intermittent support to the NDA and Modi confuses BJP workers in Odisha.' 'It gives an impression that Naveen has a tacit understanding with the NDA and that the BJP will not really challenge him wholeheartedly.'
The PM appealed to politicians, members of the film fraternity, sportspersons, businessmen, spiritual leaders and members of the media to encourage increased voter participation and urged them to inspire more people to come out and vote during the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
'Few leaders are fortunate to win such a ringing endorsement from the electorate in an election when the prime minister and his lieutenant staked their all and almost daily upped the ante.' 'Now that he has won the election so convincingly, the Mahagatbandhan's Mahanayak needs to get to business at hand,' says Archana Masih.
On its own or with allies the Congress has a strong presence in states that account for a total of 253 LS seats, or 20 short of the magic figure of 272 required to form a government at the Centre. So what is Mamata Banerjee talking about, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
The fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections began on Friday, covering seven constituencies in four states where over half-a-crore voters decide the fate of 74 candidates.
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