However, he said it would have been better to have an alliance and expressed confidence that the party will win upcoming assembly elections in all states --- Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana.
During the presser, Gandhi showed a picture of a woman who appears on the voter list 22 times in 10 booths in the Rai assembly constituency, and said this shows that this was a 'centralised operation'.
The swearing-in ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, BJP national president J P Nadda and several other top leaders of the NDA.
With an eye on the Lok Sabha elections, Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party is expected to chalk out a strategy today. AAP's national executive is holding a meet at Delhi's Constitution Club to draw up a plan for the general elections.
The bypolls are termed as a 'rehearsal' for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls by CM Yogi Adityanath.
'When Harivansh sits in the chair, you feel your voice will be heard.'
There are over five lakh villages in the country which do not have post offices, the government said.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting individuals involved in voter deletion and election rigging, citing data from Karnataka and Maharashtra.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi visited the family of Shubham Dwivedi, one of the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack, and called for a special session of Parliament to ensure justice for the victims. Gandhi, along with the opposition, has demanded the government take strict action against the terrorists and provide justice to the bereaved families. He met with Dwivedi's family in Kanpur and expressed his condolences, emphasizing the need for a united front against terrorism. The Congress has also issued statements calling for a strong response to the attack and demanding accountability for the perpetrators.
Formally kicking off his party's campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi on Friday paid obeisance at the dargah of renowned sufi saint Haji Waris Ali Shah and held a road show in Barabanki.
Veteran politician Satyapal Malik, who served as governor of multiple states and later became a vocal critic of the government, has died at the age of 79.
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati paid tribute to the party founder, late Kanshi Ram, on his 91st birth anniversary. She emphasized the BSP's commitment to action over words, highlighting the party's focus on the upliftment of backward classes. Mayawati also referred to herself as the "iron lady" and emphasized the importance of understanding the power of one's vote.
BJP sources said the formal process to elect current party President J P Nadda's successor will begin in mid-January, following Makar Sankranti, with Nitin Nabin expected to be the frontrunner to file his nomination.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accuses the government of a politically motivated witch-hunt against his brother-in-law Robert Vadra after the Enforcement Directorate filed a chargesheet against him in a money laundering case.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, the NDA won 64 seats -- 62 bagged by the BJP and two by Apna Dal.
Here are some top quotes from Prime Minister Modi's speech in the Lok Sabha.
'Excited to start my new journey from Bihar!' he tweeted.
Making a statement in the lower house soon after a meeting of the Union Cabinet, Modi said, "An autonomous trust has been formed, it is called 'Shri Ram Janambhoomi Teertha Kshetra'." The Supreme Court had directed the government to form the trust within three months and the deadline was ending on February 9.
Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav attacked the Congress over the food security ordinance, accusing it of indulging in vote bank politics and said its intentions were not good.
A day after Arvind Kejriwal stepped down as Delhi chief minister, Aam Aadmi Party today made it clear that it would contest the Lok Sabha polls under his leadership.
The polarisation politics seems to have succeeded in western UP much to the delight of the BJP. However the non-BJP parties are hoping that the polarisation will not be as intense and they will be able to hold on to majority of their vote banks, says Girish Nikam.
The polarisation politics seems to have succeeded in western UP much to the delight of the BJP. However the non-BJP parties are hoping that the polarisation will not be as intense and they will be able to hold on to majority of their vote banks, says Girish Nikam.
The Congress and the government engaged in a war of words in Lok Sabha on Tuesday over sedition cases with the opposition party alleging the stringent law is being misused, drawing a sharp retort from Union minister G Kishan Reddy who asked it not to lecture others on democracy.
Gandhi said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the "champion of corruption".
Amid the political push and pull, the Centre's decision to allow sugar exports and remove the 50 per cent duty on molasses exports has rekindled hope in the industry that more relief may follow.
Curbs under Section 163 (power to issue an order in urgent cases of nuisance or apprehended danger) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS), which were set to expire on Sunday, have now been extended till December 31 in Sambhal.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
"It is high time India traded dynasty for meritocracy. This would require fundamental reforms, from imposing legally mandated term limits to requiring meaningful internal party elections, together with a concerted effort to educate and empower the electorate to choose leaders based on merit," Tharoor said.
Nearly 86.5 lakh deaths were reported in the country during 2022, a significant decline of more than 15 per cent from Covid-affected 2021 which had recorded over 1.02 crore deaths, according to a new data from the Civil Registration System (CRS).
A Lucknow court on Tuesday granted bail to leader of opposition and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi after he made an appearance in a defamation case filed over his purported remarks on Army personnel, his lawyer said.
The law minister said 20 Muslim countries in the world, including Pakistan and Malaysia, have banned the triple talaq. "Why can't a secular India do it?" he asked.
Uttar Pradesh and Bihar appear to have got the maximum representation in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's new council of ministers, while assembly poll-bound Maharashtra also found a significant presence.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, BJP national president JP Nadda and several other famous faces were seen at polling booths, exercising their franchise in the final and seventh phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Home Minister Amit Shah and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav engaged in a humorous exchange during a Lok Sabha debate on the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, with Shah taking jabs at Yadav's attempts to highlight internal party dynamics. Yadav, in turn, poked fun at the BJP's leadership selection process and hinted at potential internal divisions within the party.
In seniority in the BJP leadership team, V K Malhotra, who passed into the ages this week, was next only to Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and Nanaji Deshmukh, notes Sudhir Bisht.
Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The bypolls, however, will not have any direct impact on the respective legislative assemblies. The results will be declared on November 23. In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki. Ninety candidates are in the fray in these seats with the maximum of 14 in Ghaziabad. This will be the first electoral test of the INDIA bloc as well as the NDA in the politically-crucial state after the Lok Sabha elections. In Punjab, bypolls will be held in four assembly seats - Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala. The bypolls were necessitated after MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha. Polling will also be held for the Palakkad seat in Kerala and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.
The numbers tell us the BJP's acceptability in Maharashtra is growing -- at the expense of the Shiv Sena, no matter what the faction, points out Aditi Phadnis.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday evening released its first list of 54 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
For Adityanath, it's not just a chance to reaffirm his dominance in Uttar Pradesh, it's an opportunity to solidify his narrative as a vote-winner.
Bypolls to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be a litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s unity after the group's success in the recent Lok Sabha polls when they won more than 40 seats, significantly contributing to the Bharatiya Janata Party's failure to win a simple majority in parliament.
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