Campaigning came to an end on Saturday for the single-day election in Uttarakhand and Goa, two states known for political volatility where the Bharatiya Janata Party is attempting to retain power, and for the second phase of assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh on February 14.
Coming as it does only months ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Chennai meet could provide the launch pad for a national alternative to the BJP-NDA, and MK Stalin may be given the credit for getting it going, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Losing power after having come so close, Yediyurappa was determined to regain the reins of power from H D Kumaraswamy.
Lashing out at Mulayam Singh Yadav over the handling of the situation in riot-hit Muzaffarnagar, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Ajit Singh on Thursday said the Samajwadi Party chief has become the 'Narendra Modi' of Uttar Pradesh.
There are no permanent friends or foes in politics. It's true that the RJD supported us on the trust vote, but it doesn't mean we needed them, says Bihar new chief minister, Jitan Ram Manjhi.
'Karpoori Thakur must be remembered by people today who are tired of witnessing fractious politics where corruption, bigotry, hatred and violence seems to have become distressingly recurrent,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
'Nitish Kumar's government has proved during these floods that it is a helpless government.'
Manohar Lal Khattar, who is stated to be close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was unanimously elected leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party, paving the way for his becoming the first chief minister of the saffron party in Haryana.
Why are far right Hindu organisations growing in strength? Why is there a rising subscription to Neo-Wahabism, the Saudi Arabian version of contemporary Islam?
Gandhi accused Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik of being remote-controlled by Modi
Outside CM's residence, high drama was witnessed with youth supporters of Akhilesh assembling in large numbers to vent their fury.
The party also nominated six others, including former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, an influential Kushwaha leader who recently quit Congress and returned to the Samajwadi Party, and realtor Sanjay Seth for the biennial polls scheduled next month.
'Consider this image of today's youth in Bihar -- armed with a bike, a smartphone and possibly some illegal arms too, imbibing incessant stream of images from the Internet and television.' 'Some of them would turn into gau bhakts, some would listen with interest the exploits of Salafism, dig deep into the Internet to come out with images which cry vociferously that their respective religions are in danger.'
An interplay of Modi government's outreach in Bihar and the sequence of events in Chirag Paswan's life could make Bihar a game of musical chairs when the results are out.
'I hope the honourable PM and Mr Shah take steps to ensure that the NDA doesn't split.'
'Congress and BSP are in the fray, but not in the contest.'
The 75-year-old Lingayat leader broke his own record of the most short-lived head of government in Karnataka.
'Nitish Kumar wouldn't have won Bihar without Lalu. He needed a voter base and Lalu has a much bigger voter base than Nitish.'
A lot is riding on the Rajya sabha polls that are scheduled for Saturday. Major parties are whisking away candidates of other parties, while protecting their own, MLAs are being sent to 'camps' in the final countdown to the polls for 57 seats. Here is a state-by-state look:
Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com explains the compulsions that forced Bihar strongman Lalu Yadav to play second fiddle to Nitish Kumar.
Yeddyurappa would take the oath alone as the chief minister and once the majority is proved on the floor of the assembly, cabinet members would be inducted.
The economic muscle in the Mangalore region is generally sympathetic to the BJP, says Aditi Phadnis.
Meets leaders from Haryana, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, and Jammu and Kashmir; party keen to form government in Delhi.
73 constituencies will vote on Saturday.
Amid signs of a rapprochement, all Shiv Sena MPs will attend the high tea being hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi on Sunday for the National Democratic Alliance even as Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale said Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was "very keen" on forming a government with the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra.
Polling for three parliamentary seats and 29 assembly constituencies were held on October 30, an exercise being seen as a barometer of the political mood in the country ahead of assembly elections in politically critical Uttar Pradesh as well as other states.
Elections in Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan will see the BJP and Congress in direct contest.
Nearly 2.6 crore people in 73 constituencies of western Uttar Pradesh are voting on Saturday in the first of the seven phases of high-stake assembly elections
When the results for the Rae Bareli assembly seat came in on March 11, Aditi Singh (Congress) had won 128,319 votes, Mohammad Shabaz Khan of the BSP had won 39,156 votes and the BJP's Anit Srivastava had won 28,821 votes. It was a stunning victory for the US-educated rookie Congress candidate.
While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly, holds key to the fate its ninth nominee.
Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
The Sangh has let it be known that a 'social' outfit called the Hindu Yuva Vahini, set up years ago by Yogi, did not have its approval.
The Congress wants the 28 seats it won in 2012 plus 20 seats where the party was runner-up plus 57 seats where it was ahead of the SP in 2012.
Lok Sabha elections result of 2019 tells us the Modi wave has only consolidated, instead of waning.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's historic Lok Sabha election success in Uttar Pradesh has influenced its two main rivals in the state, the Samajwadi Party and Congress, to field fewer Muslim candidates for the 11 assembly seats that go to the by-polls on Saturday.
5 states that contribute just under a fifth of the Lok Sabha's seats will go to the polls early this year.
He said the government had examined the video recording of the February 28 condolence meeting of slain Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Arun Mahaur, where Minister of State for Human Resource Development Ram Shankar Katheria had participated.
'If Lalu puts the agenda of his son's career ahead of the coalition's interest, this coalition will fare very badly.' 'Lalu will ultimately want that his son becomes deputy chief minister but if he's prepared to wait for some time, nothing bad will happen for the coalition,' Professor Prabhat Ghosh, Director, Asian Development Research Institute, tells Archana Masih/Rediff.com
Around 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, 190 coys (companies) of Central Armed Police Forces and 19,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of election in the national capital, officials said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances