As per the preliminary estimates, the BJP has significantly improved its national vote share from 31.34 per cent in 2014 to a new record high, while there appeared to be only a marginal change in case of the Congress from its 19.5 per cent score of the last elections.
Yogi Adityanath's aura is no longer limited to Uttar Pradesh. At the age of 49, his journey to the higher echelons in the BJP has well and truly begun, predicts Sudhir Bisht.
Aditi Phadnis picks five key seats in the three states where assembly elections are being held today.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
Priyanka Gandhi addressed 209 rallies and roadshows, the maximum by any top leader during the UP election campaign, followed closely by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who spoke at 203 poll events.
He said that to concentrate on the upcoming polls in Uttarakhand, it had been on his mind to seek to be relieved of the responsibility of the party's Punjab affairs in-charge.
The government on Wednesday approved the inclusion of certain communities in the lists of Scheduled Tribes in Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, fulfilling long-pending demands from these states.
The Congress national general secretary was responding to a question on Uttar Pradesh Chief minister Yogi Adityanath remarks that there might be a rift between Priyanka and Rahul.
Uttrakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri has resigned more than a month after Bharatiya Janata Party's rout in the Lok Sabha election in the state and mounting dissidence against him.
Corruption will be the theme of a two-day conclave of the Bhartiya Janata Party chief ministers being held in Mysore from May 10.
The ambit of the G-23 grouping increased this time as some more leaders -- Patiala MP Preneet Kaur, former Gujarat chief minister Shankar Singh Vaghela, former union minister Mani Shankar Aiyar and former Haryana speaker Kuldeep Sharma -- joined them.
"Objectively, it is only the Congress that has a footprint, shall we say, in eight to 12 states. So to have healthy democracy in which one party does not steamroll the Opposition, the kind that India experienced from the late 1970s till 2014, to revive that, to restore it, which I believe would be very good for all of us, it would depend a lot on the Congress becoming more competitive," he claimed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday downplayed Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's absence from its national executive meeting in Delhi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday held deliberations with Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP president J P Nadda amid speculation about a reshuffle in the Union cabinet, an exercise Modi has not undertaken since forming the government for a second time in May 2019.
Congress members staged a walkout after Singh said that "a boat is bound to sink if it has a hole".
"It seems this is the beginning of a new victory trail which started with the MCD polls. We look at the future with a new hope," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said. In Gujarat, BJP won five of the seven assembly seats, where by-polls were held.
The BJP expelled Harak Singh Rawat from the primary membership of the party for six years on Sunday amid speculations that he was joining the Congress.
'The Hindu electorate is more or less in the BJP defined space now.'
'He has been made CM of Uttarakhand because everybody thinks he is not a challenge to anyone.'
In a setback to Congress in Uttarakhand, its MP from Garhwal Satpal Maharaj joined Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday, saying the country needed strong leadership.
Conforming to the cycle of the ruling party being ejected from power in the hill state, the saffron party bagged 41 seats, five short of two-thirds majority in the 68-member assembly. In the outgoing House, BJP had only 19 MLAs.
"We always said Tuki did not have a majority. His resignation proves BJP right as well as the actions of the governor," its national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.
Home Minister Amit Anilchandra Shah, National Security Advisor Ajit Kumar Doval and Congress MP Rahul Gandhi on Friday laid wreaths on the mortal remains of Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat and his wife Madhulika Rawat.
Union Agriculture Minister Narendra Singh Tomar has said that the three farm laws, which have now been repealed, were a big reform after 70 years of freedom which was not liked by some people and the government has moved 'a step back' and will 'move forward again' as farmers are the backbone of the country.
'The Congress can exist without (someone from) the Nehru-Gandhi family being its president.'
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra appears to have shed the maximum sweat among top leaders for over the last 45 days in the seven-phase Uttar Pradesh assembly elections campaign.
It also allowed political parties and candidates to hold meetings and rallies with the restriction of using only 50 per cent capacity of space being relaxed.
Modi said the state election results "give a glimpse" of the outcome of the general elections of 2024.
Popular Tanglish song 'Kolaveri di' and the raunchy 'Ooh La La' number are rocking Uttarakhand's Garwhal hills with the Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party candidates using parodies of the songs to take potshots at each other.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on Saturday credited 'Modi wave' for the party's stong showing in the high stakes Uttar Pradesh elections.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered prayers at the famous Kedarnath temple in Uttarakhand's Rudraprayag district on Friday.
The ruling alliance also has some smaller parties like Republican Party of India-Athawale, Asom Gana Parishad, Mizo National Front, National People's Party, Naga People's Front, Pattali Makkal Katchi and Bodoland People's Front, which have one seat each, totalling seven seats.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Thursday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is committed to bring Uniform Civil Code (UCC) in the country but only after following all democratic processes and discussions on it.
Reacting sharply to the development, BJP lodged a protest with Governor K K Paul and alleged it was "abduction" of its MLA.
In Haridwar, where he performed 'Ganga Aarti' at the famous Har Ki Pauri Ghat, Gandhi said, "We will give you a chief minister who comes to you, listens to your problems and runs the government accordingly."
The complaint was submitted with Mallital police station on Wednesday by Pushkar Singh Dhami, vice chairman of state urban development monitoring board and a BJP leader.
BJP president Nitin Gadkari attributed the stunning victory of the Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh to polarisation of votes
Vajpayee told reporters while celebrating Holi at his residence in Delhi that he was confident about the BJP's prospects in the key state of the Hindi heartland.
The rigorous search for an assembly seat for Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna may soon be over with a couple of MLAs from not just ruling Congress but also from opposition Bharatiya Janata Party ready to vacate their seats for him.
