The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday accused the ruling Congress of trying to poach its members of Legislative Assembly in Uttarakhand to get a seat vacated for Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna, enabling him to enter the state Assembly.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
The BJP, which has allied with a few smaller parties, has sought to upend the state's conventional politics, which has so far been indifferent to Hindutva politics, by taking the ruling DMK head-on for its alleged insult of Sanatan Dharma besides involvement in corruption.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
The Congress had governments in eight states in 2014, but now, the number might come down to five.
Congress members trooped into the Well of the House, raising slogans against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi after Leader of the House and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said no discussion other than on proclamation of President's Rule in Uttarakhand can take place.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
The crisis in the ruling Uttarakhand Congress persisted as 17 of the 32 party members of Legislative Assembly supporting Union Minister Harish Rawat, abstained from taking oath in Uttarakhand assembly on Thursday.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Uttarakhand Speaker has issued notices to nine rebel Congress MLAs asking them why they should not be disqualified from the House for aligning with the opposition BJP.
The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Centre's response on a PIL that questioned the non-election of deputy speaker in Lok Sabha and several state assemblies, and observed that the issue is "very important".
'It is an existential crisis. We cannot recover lost ground through social media. We need to forge alliances and reshape our ideological contours.'
Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi mentioned the appeal before a bench comprising Justices Dipak Misra and Shiva Kirti Singh, which asked him to approach the Registry for listing it for hearing on Friday itself.
Elections are scheduled in five states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Manipur, Goa and Punjab.
'We can't sit back clutching our memories of the riots. The country, the future of our children are more important.' Jyoti Punwani reports on an unusual election meeting in Mumbai.
In a tweet in Hindi, Rawat said, 'Isn't it strange that the organisational structure at most places, instead of extending a helping hand, is standing with its head turned away or playing a negative role at a time when I have to swim across the ocean of elections.'
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
With the strategy working in its favour, the BJP could be encouraged to undertake similar steps in states, including Karnataka, where elections are due next year, to counter factors that might work against it.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
The CBI has found the sting CD genuine, the sources said.
Shiv Sena on Wednesday came out strongly against its ally, Bharatiya Janata Party over imposition of President's rule in Uttarakhand
After 16 days of intense efforts by multiple agencies, all 41 workers trapped in Uttarakhand's Silkyara tunnel in Uttarkashi have safely been evacuated on Tuesday evening.
The Supreme Court on Thursday closed activist Tushar Gandhi's contempt plea against the Delhi police after taking note of submissions that a charge sheet in a case of hate speeches made at religious assemblies in the national capital in 2021 was filed in a court in New Delhi.
Despite falling short of majority, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttarakhand on Wednesday began efforts to form the government with its senior leaders trying to establish contact with Independent members of Legislative Assembly and the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri won the trust vote in the state Assembly on Wednesday.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna is on his way out, according to Congress sources, and Union Minister Harish Rawat and state minister Pritam Singh are emerging as the frontrunners for the top job in the hill state.
A total of 70 Assembly seats are up for grabs in the ensuing elections.
It is in circumstances like this that the Constitution becomes extremely important. It reminds us that we have a commitment towards higher human values to fulfil, a path to get back to, suggests Shyam G Menon.Else, we risk being rudderless in an ocean of money and majoritarianism, suggests Shyam G Menon.
He was brought dead at Max Hospital in Saket in south Delhi, the hospital said.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
The IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.
The Supreme Court on Monday took note of the submission of the Delhi police that the probe in a case of hate speeches made at religious assemblies in the national capital in 2021 was at an advanced stage, and asked them to place on record the charge sheet to be filed in the matter.
Legislative assembly elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state are due next year.
The issue of imposition of President's Rule in Uttarakhand echoed in Parliament on Monday with Congress members in both Houses storming the Well and party leader Mallikarjun Kharge staging a dharna in the Lok Sabha.
The BJP and the Congress have been oscillating the power in the state since its creation in 2000,
Congress on Tuesday night appeared on course to form government in Uttarakhand after it took a wafer-thin one seat advantage over ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in a cliff-hanger of a contest in state assembly polls.
Uttarakhand was on Sunday brought under President's rule by the Centre on grounds of "breakdown of governance" in a controversial decision.
Describing the passing of Lokayukta Bill in Uttarakhand as a "revolution" in governance, Team Anna member Kiran Bedi on Wednesday said their campaign in Hisar bypolls has paid dividends though some of them had to face "bitter" experiences due to it.
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