Among the keenly watched contests are those involving former Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj, UP) and Union ministers Giriraj Singh (Begusarai, Bihar), Nityanand Rai (Ujiarpur, Bihar) and Raosaheb Danve (Jalna, Maharashtra).
A total of 121 people, mostly women, died in the stampede at self-styled godman Baba Bhole's satsang in Hathras on Tuesday.
The Congress on Wednesday criticized the Centre and the Uttar Pradesh government for a stampede at the Sangam during the Maha Kumbh, blaming mismanagement and a focus on VIP movement instead of common devotees for the tragic incident. Rahul Gandhi called for reining in "VIP culture" and improving arrangements for devotees. Congress leaders expressed condolences to the families of the deceased and demanded action to prevent such incidents in the future.
On the occasion, Gandhi said their campaign was against hatred, violence and fear being spread in society.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
Lok Sabha polls held over 5 phases so why hold assembly elections in single phase, asks Oppn.
Yashpal Arya and his son, along with their supporters, joined the Congress in the presence of senior party leaders Harish Rawat, K C Venugopal and Randeep Surjewala in New Delhi.
Tharoor's campaign team has also raised 'serious issues' in the conduct of the election in Punjab and Telangana.
SP president Akhilesh Yadav and ally RLD chief Jayant Chaudhary are unlikely to participate in the Yatra due to "preoccupation" with their party programmes, their party leaders said.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Wayanad in Kerala on June 12, party sources said on Monday.
"You don't change party leadership for losses in one or two elections. The leadership is ideology. They make teams. Our team failed there (in UP)," he said.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
Haryana is now in the same bracket as Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh where the BJP is the centre-point of politics.
The firing took place outside his MLA son Zeeshan Siddiqui's office.
A 15-member delegation from the Samajwadi Party (SP) will travel to Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh, on Saturday to investigate violence that occurred following a court-ordered survey of the Shahi Jama Masjid complex. The visit comes after tensions escalated in Sambhal due to the survey, which was ordered by a local court based on a petition claiming the mosque was built on the site of a demolished temple. The violence on November 24 resulted in four deaths and numerous injuries, prompting the SP to postpone its initial visit. The delegation, led by SP state president Shyam Lal Pal, includes prominent party figures, including the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly and the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council. The district administration has imposed prohibitory orders, barring outsiders from entering Sambhal until Saturday. However, the SP delegation is expected to proceed with its visit, aiming to gather information about the violence and submit a report to party chief Akhilesh Yadav.
The three gunmen involved in the killing of Nationalist Congress Party leader Baba Siddique in Mumbai practiced firing near a waterfall in adjoining Raigad district before executing the murder, police officials said on Tuesday citing their investigation.
This has invited sharp reaction from the Opposition, with the Samajwadi Party saying that the BJP was afraid of its defeat in Milkipur due to which it moved the court for "stalling" polls on the assembly seat.
The SP chief said, "If the Congress behaves like this, who will stand with them."
'This is against the Constitution and we will oppose it tooth and nail.'
Telangana Minister J Krishna Rao told reporters that the chances of survival under the circumstances are "not that good."
The Uttar Pradesh Police on Monday said it has gunned down a second accused in the Sultanpur jewellery store robbery case in a pre-dawn encounter in Unnao district. "Akhilesh Yadav's wish has been fulfilled, a Thakur has been encountered," said the father of Anuj Pratap Singh.
A united opposition is set to corner the NDA government on issues ranging from the NEET paper leak case to railway safety.
Kharge also hit back at the BJP for criticising his party colleague Rahul Gandhi over a copy of the Constitution with a red cover. He showed a picture of PM Modi gifting a similar copy to former president Ramnath Kovind.
Congress leader Jitin Prasada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday, in a boost to the saffron party as it works to strengthen its social coalition ahead of assembly elections in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh early next year.
Akhilesh Yadav said those who are looking for "profit" in the situation will leave.
Polling is scheduled in all 13 seats of Punjab and four of Himachal Pradesh, 13 constituencies in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight in Bihar, six in Odisha and three seats in Jharkhand besides Chandigarh.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
Maurya's remarks assume significance as they came barely a couple of weeks after his statement that the party organisation will always be bigger than the government caused a flutter.
Delhi is set to get its third woman chief minister, after Congress' Sheila Dikshit and Bharatiya Janata Party's Sushma Swaraj, as Aam Aadmi Party leader Atishi has been chosen to succeed Arvind Kejriwal.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
The article had criticised the BJP for forming an alliance with the NCP.
Two Union ministers and two senior Uttar Pradesh Congress legislators got together and roughed up a handful of Samajwadi Party activists who attempted to stage a black flag demonstration against Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi on his arrival in Allahabad on Monday afternoon.
The police also mentioned that the accused had done recce of Baba Siddiqui's house and office premises and were in Mumbai for one and a half to two months and were keeping an eye on him.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
Otherwise detractors, Congress general secretary Ahmad Patel and Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit appeared to team up to keep Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Salman Khurshid out of Delhi.
If the party's members aren't sure what it stands for, see no path to wealth or power, and endure control by a dynasty, which, almighty as it is within the party, cannot get them the votes, they are likely to explore options, notes Shekhar Gupta.
While Brijlal Khabri, former BSP MP from Jalaun, is UP Congress Committee chairman, former UP cabinet minister and Mayawati's once close confidant Naseemuddin Siddiqui heads the party's state media department. Completing the ex-BSP troika, Nakul Dubey, former UP cabinet minister in the Mayawati dispensation (2007-12), is one of the six UP Congress regional presidents. He is reckoned among the most active of the three.
The BJP, which contested more seats this time than in 2019 but is likely to fall short of the magic figure of 272, garnered 36.91 per cent of the total votes polled, a drop of around 0.39 percentage points as of 6.15 pm.
An official source said the Delhi police had written to X and added a response from the social media company was still awaited.
The Congress and the Left parties have not only extended support to the Samajwadi Party candidate but are also campaigning for him, in accordance with the spirit of the new opposition togetherness ahead of next year's general election.
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