Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat were among the early voters to exercise their franchise as polling was underway on Wednesday for the state assembly elections.
BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis was sworn in as the new Chief Minister of Maharashtra in a grand ceremony at Azad Maidan in Mumbai.
In its election manifesto -- 'Sankalp Patra' -- the Bharatiya Janata Party has vowed to implement the Union Civil Code (UCC), maintain peace in the Northeast, among other key poll promises.
The Congress on Tuesday accused Home Minister Amit Shah of harboring "hatred" towards B.R. Ambedkar, demanding an apology from him for his remarks in the Rajya Sabha. Congress leaders pointed out that Shah's comments, which criticized the frequent invocation of Ambedkar's name by the opposition, demonstrate a deep-seated animosity towards the architect of India's Constitution. The allegations sparked outrage among Congress members, who accused the BJP and RSS of having a history of disdain for Ambedkar. The incident has fueled political tensions, with the Congress vowing to hold Shah accountable for his remarks.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was on Tuesday poised to form the government for a third consecutive term with the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance getting a majority in the Lok Sabha, notwithstanding crushing losses in three Hindi heartland states after a bitterly fought election that was projected as a referendum on his popularity.
The meeting, which began around 10:30 pm on Thursday, lasted for more than four hours and was held at the party's headquarters in New Delhi.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
The Supreme Court on Monday imposed an interim stay on directives passed by the Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand governments that eateries along the Kanwar Yatra route must display names of owners.
Accusing the Centre of meting out "step-motherly" treatment to Uttarakhand in granting financial assistance, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Wednesday staged a walkout in the Uttarakhand Assembly.
Six persons were travelling to Punjab from Hemkund Sahib Yatra in a vehicle which was intercepted by Uttarakhand STF and local police following a tip-off.
Dhami and his eight ministers were administered the oath by Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh (retd).
Political parties have fielded sons, wives and daughters-in-law of legislators who quit after being elected to the Lok Sabha.
The legislature party meeting will be held on Friday in the presence of the central observers and party in-charge of Uttarakhand affairs Shyam Jaju.
Once implemented, Uttarakhand will be the second state after Goa in the country to implement it .
'People want to do business in the name of the Kedarnath temple.'
Describing Khanduri as "able and efficient' administrator, Singh said under his leadership the government would be able to live up to the expectations of the people.
It rejected the government's contention that there are no provisions to declare tragedies as a national calamity.
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.
rivals Congress, JMM and TMC and Samajwadi Party.
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 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.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
Hours before the ceremony, Saini visited the Valmiki Bhawan and offered prayers at a gurdwara and the Mansa Devi temple in Panchkula.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti said it won't issue any clarification on the July 22 order as "We have said what needed to be said in our July 22 order. Can't force anyone to disclose names."
The party has fielded Parvati Das for the by-election to the Bageshwar assembly seat in Uttarakhand and Lijinlal G for the Puthuppally assembly seat in Kerala.
The BJP holds 28 of the 59 Rajya Sabha seats that will soon face election.
He won two terms in office, which was a stunning feat for a leader who used his silence as the most vocal weapon to change the economy and the lives of a billion people, asserts Tarun Vijay, former BJP MP and former Chief Editor, Panchjanya, the RSS weekly.
Dhami is often regarded as a protg of Maharashtra Governor and former Uttarakhand chief minister Bhagat Singh Koshyari, whom he served as an Officer on Special Duty and an adviser.
Amid war of words between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over reports that Narendra Modi had rescued 15,000 Gujaratis from Uttarakhand, BJP chief Rajnath Singh said the Gujarat chief minister never gave such a statement.
Koshyari said he decided to resign as he could not keep pace with the daily schedule as the governor of the country's largest state due to his health.
Reacting to the statement, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Bhupendra Singh Chaudhary said "insulting the Sanatan Dharma again and again" has become the habit of the Samajwadi Party and its leaders.
The ceremony was attended by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and the family members of Advani, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a post on X.
Her election to the post was a foregone conclusion as the main opposition Congress chose to stay out of contest.
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.
At least half a dozen names have begun doing the rounds as Dhami's likely replacement, including Chaubattakhal MLA Satpal Maharaj, Srinagar Garhwal MLA Dhan Singh Rawat, former chief minister Triveda Singh Rawat, who did not contest the polls this time, and Didihat legislator Bishan Singh Chufal.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party governments in both states, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh on Thursday reached an agreement on the division of their assets and liabilities, pending since their partition 21 years ago.
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
A blame game began in the Congress on Tuesday as it failed in its bid to come back to power in Haryana after 10 years, with senior party leader Kumari Selja saying the party high command should assess all reasons that led to the disappointing result and identify the people responsible.
At 45, Dhami takes over as the youngest chief minister of Uttarakhand.
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