Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
These are the 15 seats to watch out for in Rajasthan where assembly elections will be held on November 23. The state has 200 constituencies.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's bypoll win in four of the six seats it contested has invigorated the party ahead of assembly polls in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
The Supreme Court on Thursday held the Maharashtra governor was not justified in calling upon then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray to prove his majority in the assembly on June 30 last year but refused to order the status quo ante, saying he did not face the floor test and resigned.
Amid protests against a proposed oil refinery in Maharashtra's Ratnagiri district, state industries minister Uday Samant on Tuesday said the current site for the mega project was suggested by then chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, while the Opposition urged the government to stop soil survey work and be sensitive in handling the situation arising out of the agitation.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena leaders who were sworn in today during the expansion of Devendra Fadnavis ministry include some who have been ministers in the past and some new faces.
Days before the first vote for the Lok Sabha polls is cast, the Supreme Court on Thursday asked the rival Nationalist Congress Party factions led by party founder Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar to abide by its directions on the use of symbols, party names and disclaimers in publicity material for the elections.
Thackeray, 59, became the third Sena leader after Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane to occupy the top post.
In a setback to the Congress ahead of Lok Sabha elections, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan on Monday quit the Congress, amid speculation that he is veering towards the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The 61-year-old MLA from Islampur seat of Maharashtra has been asked to depose before the federal agency in Mumbai on Friday, they said. Patil, a former minister of home and finance, is also the Maharashtra president of the NCP and is a seven-term legislator.
'Switching loyalty from one party to another is completely unfair as it devalues my vote.'
Seven people, including two minors, were killed and over 40 injured after a fire swept through a residential building in Mumbai's Goregaon area in the early hours of Friday, a civic official said. Five of the injured are in a critical condition.
These MLAs were present when BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis and NCP's Ajit Pawar were sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister at Raj Bhavan. Both the MLAs said they were with the Nationalist Congress Party and expressed solidarity with its president.
The governor of a state is not empowered to enter the political arena and play a role in inter-party or intra-party disputes, the Supreme Court said on Thursday, holding that the discretion exercised by then Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari asking Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to face a floor test was "not in accordance with law".
Pawar, who was also the deputy CM in the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which was in power from November 2019 to June 2022, enjoys the image of a grassroot leader and an able administrator.
Shelar demanded that Desai's death should not be treated just as a case of accidental death, but must be dealt with from a larger perspective.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday continued to target late Hindutva ideologue V D Savarkar, saying that he helped the British rulers and wrote a mercy petition to them out of fear.
Hours after asserting that there was no split in the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar is its leader, party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday claimed that he did not make any such statement.
After being outwitted by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party in the recent Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra, the ruling Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is now facing another challenge of getting all its six candidates elected to the state Legislative Council in the June 20 polls, which has once again put the spotlight on Independents and smaller parties.
'I want to warn Ajit dada and all those who have stabbed Pawar saheb by joining hands with the BJP.' 'Don't write saheb's obituaries so soon.'
The Congress on Thursday secured a seat in the present Bengal assembly as its candidate Bayron Biswas won the Sagardighi bypoll, defeating the nearest rival of the Trinamool Congress by 22,980 votes.
'Gautam Adani will not be able to step inside Dharavi.' 'We will ensure Adani will not get what he wants.' 'Adani has no reason to do politics with people of Dharavi but he is still doing it.'
The 36 new ministers included 10 cabinet and four ministers of state (MoS) of the NCP, eight Cabinet and four MoS of the Sena, and eight Cabinet and two MoS of the Congress.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The veteran politician accused the BJP of breaking duly elected governments in opposition-ruled states even as it boasted about providing a stable government at the Centre.
The world knew who Balasaheb's Shiv Sainik was. But who was Uddhav's Shiv Sainik? And most importantly, why did he believe in Uddhav, and not Nitin Gadkari or Devendra Fadnavis?
The MLAs of the three ruling parties and the BJP have reached Mumbai ahead of the elections.
'We don't feel that the law and order situation will turn bad because of our agitation.'
Chief ministers and other senior leaders made last-minute appeals to voters for their support in Mokama and Gopalganj of Bihar, Adampur of Haryana, Manugoda of Telangana, Gola Gorakhnath of Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar of Odisha.
Murmu's vote share is now likely to go past 61 per cent, while it was earlier estimated to be around 50 per cent at the time of her nomination.
'Their conduct is as if they have come to arrest some dacoit.' 'They behave with everyone in this manner, whether it's Manish Sisodia, Anil Deshmukh or anybody else.' 'It is as if they are ambassadors of god and we are satans.' 'This is solely due to the sections in some laws like the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.' 'This is a cruel law. In fact, the death penalty is better.'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, whose 13-day-old Bharatiya Janata Party government survived a controversial trust vote in the Legislative Assembly in voice vote, has dismissed allegation of "foul play" by opposition Shiv Sena and Congress, saying all rules and procedures were adhered to in the passage of the motion.
'Ajit Pawar's speech leaves no room for reconciliation.'
The street-fighter attitude is what keeps Rane going even at 69. The expectation is -- at least in the BJP camp -- that he will be itching for a battle royale with the Shiv Sena in its bastions.
Amid a brewing political storm in Bihar, the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal on Monday said it was ready to "embrace" Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and his Janata Dal-United if he broke ranks with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Friday expanded his council of ministers, inducting 11 ministers, including 10 new faces, in the exercise which left Shiv Sena unhappy as it was denied a Cabinet berth.
'Badle ki bhavna (revengeful politics) was never seen in Maharashtra and Indian politics, but now we are witnessing all that today.'
There is the problem of regions in the North East being theatre for power-play by nations with borders and influences converging in those parts, which in turn requires a sizable presence of the armed forces, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Shiv Sena is leading currently in terms of criminal candidates. Out of the 14 declared by them in the first list 12 have a criminal background, as per the Association for Democratic Reforms.
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