Nagaland and Meghalaya BJP chief Temjen Imna Along and Ernest Mawrie, respectively also named party candidates approved by the party's central election committee.
While the results of the bypolls will not directly impact the composition of the 403-member state Assembly, the contest is being seen as a prestige fight between the BJP and opposition parties.
Himachal is first state in the country to pass such a bill under which "A person shall not be entitled for pension under the Act, if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution".
Speaking on the occasion of the unveiling function of various projects first in Aurangabad and then in Begusarai district by Modi, Kumar also said that he is confident that the NDA will win more than 400 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Breaking his silence, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday disapproved of comments of Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed giving credit to Pakistan, Hurriyat and militants for smooth conduct of Assembly polls, saying such a statement cannot be supported.
Reacting to his win, Sharma expressed his gratitude to the people of Amethi and the Congress party, saying the 18th Lok Sabha election in Amethi will be the biggest example of a strong and empowered democratic country.
In a letter to jailed RJD supremo Lalu Prasad, the veteran leader wrote he was quitting the party. "Since the death of Jannayak Karpoori Thakur, I stood behind you for 32 years, but not now," he wrote in his brief one-line resignation letter to Prasad, who is serving sentences in four fodder scam cases in Ranchi.
'The nuns were subjected to abusive language and all types of mental torture.'
Sources said the opposition parties would look to avoid the prickly leadership question as of now and emphasise on building a common ground.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
In the prevailing difficult circumstances, the Congress is the only party that can provide capable and decisive leadership to the country, Kharge asserted.
'There might be some internal tussles that can be expected between any two persons in any party.' 'But I do not see any tussle which might weaken the possibility of dictatorship.'
Asserting that Article 370 is a thing of the past, Shah stated that no one can bring it back.
As the Opposition on Wednesday held its first meeting on the presidential election, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party reached out to several parties across the political spectrum to build a consensus choice for the top constitutional post with senior party leader Rajnath Singh speaking to Sharad Pawar, Mallikarjun Kharge, Mamata Banerjee, Akhilesh Yadav and Naveen Patnaik, sources said.
Opposition parties have slammed the decision to change the long-standing practice, alleging it was being done with an eye on the assembly polls in five states.
Besides Azad, two PDP and one BJP candidate won.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
APCC president Ripun Bora said following discussions with various parties, it has been decided that the Congress will join hands with the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF), the Communist Party of India, the Communist Party of India-Marxist, Communist Party of India-Marxist Leninist and the Anchalik Gana Morcha.
With 19 border polling stations along the Line of Control in Rajouri and Poonch, a contingency plan has been worked out to deal with cross-border shelling though chances are negligible given the ongoing ceasefire between India and Pakistan that came into effect in February 2021, officials said.
This might be the first time in the country's electoral history that the poll body has convened a press conference on the conclusion of polls.
Nineteen candidates saw an extremely close contest in the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls in Jammu and Kashmir where the margin of victory was less than 100.
'It is sad and unfortunate. But we have to accept it'
Scenes from the National Democratic Alliance meeting at the Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi, July 18, 2023.
The Assam Assembly on Thursday witnessed a noisy scene after Bharatiya Janata Party MLA Rama Kanta Dewri alleged that women school teachers in Morigaon district are harassed by 'Bangladeshi Miya Muslims', leading to adjournment of the House. All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) MLA Aminul Islam objected to the ruling legislator's tone and language. The Speaker repeatedly asked Dewri to stick to the point and directly ask the supplementary question instead of raking up controversial issues.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
The central government has no plans "as of now" to hold talks with separatist groups of Jammu and Kashmir, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh said on Friday.
The BJP MP who facilitated the entry of the intruders, remains scot-free and has not yet been questioned, the Congress leader said.
"It will take time," Sayeed told media persons.
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
Debutant legislator Rekha Gupta was sworn in as Delhi chief minister along with six ministers on Thursday in a grand show of strength full of colour and spectacle to mark the Bharatiya Janata Party's return to power in the city after more than 26 years.
'Muslims need to work according to strategy and not fall into the trap of Opposition parties.'
'The Badals have made the Akali Dal a family enterprise and undermined the Sikh faith. They have no right to call themselves Akalis. We have approached the Election Commission to register ourselves as the Akali Dal with a different nomenclature. We will impress on people's minds that we are the real Akali Dal' Sai Manish reports on the fight for supremacy over the Akali Dal.
...the DMK chief minister's campaign -- which includes criticism of the BJP's 'pro-Hindutva, anti-Tamil, anti-federal' policies and building on his own government's social welfare programmes targeting especially women and youth -- appeals to Tamil Nadu's voters in next year's assembly election, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bharat Mata controversy in Kerala shows how political and symbolic fights between the state and the Centre have taken attention away from education, throwing the state's oldest university into confusion and disorder, observes Shyam G Menon.
Saha said BJP is confident about winning the assembly elections due this year.
On the announcement of his gurantees, Kejriwal said, "I have not discussed with my INDIA bloc partners about this. I will press upon my INDIA bloc partners to fulfill these guarantees."
'Neither did I approach the BJP nor did they ask me to join them. It was a natural choice for both of us to make.' 'It was never for me to ask or for them to give.'
Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena expressed concern over AAP supremo Arvind Kejriwal labelling Atishi a "temporary chief minister" and called it a "flagrant disregard for the democratic spirit and values enshrined in the Constitution". In his letter to Atishi, Saxena said Kejriwal's remark was an insult to President Droupadi Murmu, who appointed her, as well as himself as her representative. Hitting back, Atishi alleged the lieutenant governor's office was working as a BJP "proxy" and asserted that Kejriwal was Delhi's "tallest leader".
Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
She was initially detained on August 5 last year when the Centre abrogated special status of the erstwhile state and bifurcated it into two union territories -- Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
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