Wordsmiths and artists of different parties are working overtime to deliver punches and counter punches in their bid to reach out to voters through different platforms ranging from Facebook to YouTube.
The voting will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm after the electioneering came to an end on Saturday, 48 hours before the electorate begin casting their votes.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
In Uttarakhand, where the campaigning is reaching a fever pitch for the January 30 assembly elections, several politicians are facing the tag of "outsider" due to the change in their constituencies post delimitation.
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.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Elections will be held on June 10 to fill 57 Rajya Sabha seats from 15 states falling vacant due to the retirement of members on different dates between June and August, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
Speculation is rife that Neelam had not committed suicide but had been murdered since she had started blackmailing some politicians
Voting was underway on Friday in 102 Lok Sabha seats spread across 21 states and Union territories in the first of the seven phases of the world's largest electoral exercise, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging voters to exercise their franchise in record numbers.
Rediff Labs analysed the 2012 Uttrakhand assembly election results merged with 2014 Lok sabha election result are to develop a Sentiment Meter for the 2017 electoral battle.
The decision was taken to ensure the betterment of the state and the party in the days to come, senior leader Ratan Lal Nath told reporters shortly after Saha, the state BJP president, took oath as the new chief minister.
'Where is the remote control in the BJP? When I become president, the remote control will stay with me'
Bihar Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ashwani Choubey and his family, who were stranded in a temple in Kedarnath, have been rescued and brought to Dehradun by a helicopter on Thursday.
No matter how smug they sound on the surface about the potential of the dissenters to disturb the proverbial applecart, the Congress and the BJP know that their electoral calculations are precariously hinged in a seemingly tight contest.
Chaudhary's jibe comes in the wake of his allegations the BJP has been trying to woo RLD leaders as well as the party chief into the saffron fold ahead of Uttar Pradesh assembly polls.
By March 17 it would be clear on who will be anointed to the post.
"Why did Congress oppose creation of Uttarakhand as a state? Those who cannot think well of the people here, how can they govern?" Prime Minister Modi said while addressing an election rally.
The Congress continues to decline and BJP's regional rivals are making their presence felt, even in Uttar Pradesh where Samajwadi Party consolidated anti-BJP votes to a large extent.
"There are clearly two sides. On one side, there is an organisation of patriots in the form of BJP and on the other side, tukde-tukde gang have come together under the leadership of the Congress. It is for the people of Karnataka to decide now whether they are with the patriots or those who support people who want to divide this country," he added.
Congress leader Vaibhav Walia said Rawat's remarks were not just an insult to the father of the nation but also an insult to the country.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna on Wednesday won the Sitarganj assembly seat by a record margin of 39,954 votes over his nearest Bharatiya Janata Party rival to retain the top post. The victory margin is the highest in all the assembly elections in Uttarakhand so far, officials said
Political temperatures shot up in Dehradun on Friday abruptly after the arrest of Bharatiya Janata Party MLA from Mussoorie, Ganesh Joshi in the Shaktiman case, with the entire place agog with rumours that the BJP was trying to woo disgruntled Congress legislators to prove that the party had been reduced to a minority.
Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha has made a veiled attack on Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi on the issue of rescuing Uttarakhand victims from his state alone, saying no politician should be parochial in his approach while saving lives of the stranded people.
The Congress had governments in eight states in 2014, but now, the number might come down to five.
The AAP, which is the only party to declare its chief ministerial candidate before the polls, is trying hard to make the contest triangular.
The names of Minister for Tourism and Parliamentary Affairs Prakash Pant and Health Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal are doing the rounds as possible front-runners to replace Khanduri.
For the first time, non-upper castes are in a majority in the board, as the party continues with its outreach to traditionally weaker and backward sections of society.
Harish Rawat's political one-upmanship weakened the party; nine MLAs who left won on BJP tickets.
'Both Modi and Yogi are contesting this election together.' 'Both bring their individual strengths to BJP in UP.'
It also assured that the amount of medical insurance coverage under the Ayushman Bharat scheme would be doubled from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
The tragedy took a political hue with CM Yogi Adityanath suggesting the involvement of SP in 'such mischievous acts'.
The meeting, which lasted for over four hours, was attended by chief ministers and deputy chief ministers of 18 states.
As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
Uttarakhand Governor Krishna Kant Paul on Saturday asked Chief Minister Harish Rawat to prove his majority on the floor of the state assembly by March 28 as the political crisis escalated with the Bharatiya Janata Party, claiming the support of rebel Congress MLAs, stepped up efforts to form its government.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi Friday said the natural calamity that struck Uttarakhand has the proportions of a national tragedy.
Under the Supreme Court-monitored proceedings, the result of the vote will be given to the court on Wednesday morning.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Tuesday questioned Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat in connection with its inquiry into a sting operation in which he is purportedly seen trying to influence some dissident Congress MLAs.
Kejriwal asked whether the BJP-led central government was waiting for the Lok Sabha elections to make a move in this direction.
Who else do we know who meditated so with such impeccable timing (much of the Lok Sabha elections over and with only the last phase to go) and hordes for unsolicited defence of the grand meditation at public expense? asks Shyam G Menon.
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