The districts going to polls in this phase are Balrampur, Gonda, Faizabad, Ambedkar Nagar, Bahraich, Shravasti, Basti, Siddharth Nagar, Sant Kabir Nagar, Amethi and Sultanpur.
Former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot on Tuesday alleged that the Bharatiya Janata Party government at the Centre had 'failed in every field' and claimed if the Congress wins in upcoming state elections, then the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) will form a coalition government in 2024.
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday the issues related to the Maharashtra political crisis, triggered by the differences in the Shiv Sena, are "tough" constitutional questions to decide as they have "very serious" ramifications for the polity.
Authorities in New Delhi are all geared up for the counting of votes polled in the Delhi municipal elections, with officials saying 42 centres have been set up for the Wednesday exercise which will begin at 8 am amid tight security.
After casting his vote, Thirunavukarasar, also an MP, said the elections are being held in a transparent manner and Kharge is the most favourite of the two -- the other being Shashi Tharoor.
The Samajwadi Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party's formula to woo voters with laptops and tablet computers might work in some south Indian states but would not be of any help in Uttar Pradesh where the electorate is "much wiser", senior Congress leader Sriprakash Jaiswal has said. Exuding confidence that the issue of development would be the main issue in the UP elections, Jaiswal said there is a growing realisation that non-Congress governments have "hindered" growth.
The government has constructed the first dedicated centre at Matia in Goalpara district to put the suspected and declared foreigners found in Assam.
Contests in 13 seats would attract most attention during the Chhattisgarh assembly elections as they feature prominent leaders of the Congress and BJP.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the Kerala high court order suspending the conviction and sentence of Lakshadweep Lok Sabha MP Mohammed Faizal in an attempt to murder case and remanded the matter back to the high court for fresh adjudication in six weeks.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
Domestic stock markets would be driven by inflation numbers, global trends, and the last batch of Q4 earnings this week, analysts said. Markets will also react to industrial production data and consumer inflation numbers that were released after market hours on Friday. "Participants will react to macroeconomic data viz. IIP and CPI first, which were released post-market hours on Friday.
Siddaramaiah, who hails from the shepherd Kuruba caste, holds the record for presenting the highest number of Budgets in Karnataka -- 13 so far. He has often spoken about how he was mocked in 1994 before he presented his first Budget. 'Some people asked, "Can he count sheep?",' Siddaramaiah told a regional news channel.
For the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big move to push through his 'one-nation-one-election' concept promises to be the big ticket idea which can disrupt conventional calculations and allow it to frame the upcoming Lok Sabha polls along helpful lines as the party believes the issue has the potential to catch popular imagination.
The BJP launched an all-out and aggressive personalised campaign led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, but voters went by local rather than national issues.
'Young Dalits are looking for better educational opportunities, more job avenues in the private sector, which need not necessarily mean job quotas, but a more welcoming corporate world that offers a liberated social environment, essentially a new India.'
AIADMK insiders see the very idea of an NDA conclave as a measure of the BJP's current electoral assessment, stemming from relative weakness in 2024 compared to 2014 and 2019. In their reckoning, the BJP now needs allies more than the other way round, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tipra Motha has decided to go solo and hopes to sweep the 20 tribal-dominated seats that hold the key to power in the northeastern state that has a 60-member assembly.
'Now is the winter of our discontent,' said Richard, summing the emotions of most active Congressmen. But this winter seems chillier with senior party leaders not seeing eye-to-eye on how to muster up a consummate opposition in the parliament and is made bitter by the poor morale of the senior leaders who feel they are being sidelined by Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi, says R Rajagopalan.
The announcement came after the chief minister held a high level meeting with senior government officials on Thursday to discuss the implementation of both schemes, which are part of five poll guarantees of the Congress.
According to Congress, the five schemes are 200 units of free power to all households (Gruha Jyoti), Rs 2,000 monthly assistance to the woman head of every family (Gruha Lakshmi), 10 kg of rice free to every member of a BPL household (Anna Bhagya), Rs 3,000 every month for unemployed graduate youth and Rs 1,500 for unemployed diploma holders (both in the age group of 18-25) for two years (YuvaNidhi), and free travel for women in public transport buses (Shakti).
BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated his Samajwadi Party rival Asim Raja by 33,702 votes.
The list includes constituencies where the BJP came second or third in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, and also some which the party has never won.
'By naming Tejashwi as the next CM candidate, he has put us in a dilemma.' 'Who will lead us in 2025?' 'What will happen to the party after 2025?'
Priyank Kharge on Wednesday said criteria and frameworks are being decided for its implementation.
Tharoor said that he could not meet some delegates as their contact details were "missing" from the list that was provided to him.
In its exit poll released after the voting on May 10, India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 122-140 seats and gave the BJP 62-80 seats. It gave 20-25 seats to the JD-S.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday asked stakeholders like the Centre, Niti Aayog, Finance Commission and the Reserve Bank of India, to brainstorm on the 'serious' issue of freebies announced during elections and put forth 'constructive suggestions' to tackle it, saying no political party will oppose such handouts or like to debate it in Parliament.
In 2014, young Muslims became Owaisi fans. But five years of BJP rule and a weakening Opposition have drawn older Muslims too towards the AIMIM chief. Not enough, though.
District election officer Mahendra Bahadur Singh said Aman Giri won by a margin of 34,298 votes. He received 1,24,810 votes while Tiwari got 90,512 votes.
The dates for the much-awaited WFI elections have been confirmed, with the results also set to be announced on the same day.
A day ahead of the polling for Delhi assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party told voters that the contest between it and the AAP was a "choice between governance and anarchy".
'They want to win 45 out of 48 seats in Maharashtra in the 2024 general elections and joining hands with Ajit Pawar is in that direction.'
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
'Our party's stand has always been that the minorities must be protected.' 'It is not appeasement.'
This was her second term as chief minister and, in keeping with the tradition of voters choosing the Congress and the BJP alternately, the ruling party looks set to lose power.
Tharoor reached the AICC headquarters in New Delhi and spoke to Mistry at his office, a day before the Congress' central election authority is to issue the notification for the polls to elect the next Congress president.
Counting of votes began on Wednesday in the Congress presidential polls in which senior leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Shashi Tharoor faced-off for the post of All India Congress Committee (AICC) chief.
The final voter turnout figures in the state were released by the EC on Wednesday after addition of data from the polling parties deployed in remote areas of the hill state.
As one moves towards Vadnagar, local issues such as high prices of cattle feed and inflation becomes louder.
Officials said most of the preparations are complete and the counting will start at 8 am on Saturday.
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