It is possibly the first time that a regional party with not even enough numbers to move a no-trust motion has taken the lead, and others are following it. The hints of a no-trust move first came from the YSR Congress, and the ruling TDP could not have stayed on together when the question is another version of 'Telugu atma gouravam' - an issue that fired its founder N T Rama Rao in the 1980s, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Great Agriculture Story that propelled Shivraj Singh Chouhan to power just won't sell any longer.
Smartly blending its development agenda with Hindutva politics, the BJP has not lost assembly elections in the state since 1995.
Performance is considered a major reason why Ravi Shankar Prasad might have had to leave telecom.
'The army has been open about its determination to keep the PML-Nawaz out of power at all costs.' 'Both the military and the higher judiciary have indicated a preference for Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehrik e Insaaf,' says Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan Desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
Buoyed by a hat-trick win in the assembly polls, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Sunday vowed to bag the maximum number of seats from his state for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the next Lok Sabha elections.
By ending the Shiv Sena's political untouchability, the Congress is creating a level playing ground for itself in the political battle of Hindu identity, explains Sheela Bhatt.
Congress rivals have put factionalism aside for now. The party is betting on a series of well-received welfare schemes to return to power
PM to launch outreach campaign with a rally in UP on May 26, ministers to visit 200 cities in 2 weeks.
A section within the RSS feels Union HRD Minister Smriti Irani should be projected as the BJP's CM candidate in UP, says Rajeev Sharma.
With election results just around the corner, Congress is floating the idea of an 'enlarged' United Progressive Alliance-III taking on board new allies and keeping their options open on leadership issues to stop Narendra Modi.
As its own national worth augments the BJP might decide to be more cautious with its local allies.
Taking a cue from the success of the online campaign in Lok Sabha election, parties have opened up their war chest to spend on social media to expand the reach of their mass contact campaign for the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
'In India a strong leader with a majority has never yet been defeated by a challenger.' 'He (or she, as with Indira Gandhi in 1977) must defeat himself,' says Shekhar Gupta.
The Congress considers the community to be in its fold without bothering about its representation or welfare while the BJP assumes that the Muslims would not vote for its candidates, says Shafeeq Rahman.
Congress leaders feel party President Sonia Gandhi is withdrawing from centre-stage, but without her son filling that void, it could be continued chaos for her party.
The results will be seen as a virtual referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity after his demonetisation decision.
Talk that Anil Kumble, the former Indian captain, will contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election from Karnataka has been making the rounds. Rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa finds out if Kumble will indeed spin a political googly.
'The autonomy of essential institutions is clearly under question as the Modi government seeks to influence them politically.' 'The credibility of institutions such as the EC, the CBI, the CVC, the UPSC, the RBI, media, and universities, has been compromised,' notes Zoya Hasan, the distinguished political thinker.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Saturday held parleys with the chief ministers of Maharashtra and Haryana amidst the possibility of a change of guard in some of the states where it is in power as the party prepares for a massive rejig in the wake of its unprecedented debacle in Lok Sabha polls.
'Even if we expect that the economy will be hit and GDP is lowered for a few quarters by the reckless demonetisation, this will itself not be sufficient to dislodge Modi's popularity,' says Aakar Patel.
'In Gujarat, for 22 years when the BJP was in power, they sold only dreams, but the delivery was zero.'
The Bihar CM will have make good on his poll promises of a clean administration, providing piped water, toilets, pucca roads and unemployment allowance
The BJP, on the other hand, learnt from past mistakes to clinch power.
Even before the trends started coming, eager party workers were seen glued to their smart phones viewing the counting progress online.
A total of 1,203 candidates, including 109 women, are contesting for the 140 assembly seats in which a total of 2.61 crore voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.
Flowing from an inadequate understanding of Tamil history and politics is an urban elitist mindset that does not seem to be able to touch and feel the real angst of the larger Tamil-speaking masses, cutting across the social and economic status of the individual, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
After Arunachal Pradesh slipped out of its control and Uttarakhand was placed under President's rule, the Congress president took matters into her own hands.
Assembly elections in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat are over. Another set of state elections is due in 2018. Here's an assessment of the next round of the electoral challenge and how it could change India's political equations.
'I think he had this in his head to go to different places, get some experience and then become the Congress president.'
After garnering 28 seats in an impressive debut, the Aam Admi Party came close to scripting a political history by finishing second in 20 of the 70-seat Assembly, losing some of them with only a narrow margin.
The result in Gujarat was not as grand as the saffron party had expected as the party did not even cross its 2012 tally.
'Rahul is misguided by a handful of family retainers who don't want him to show unrestrained initiative in forming allies.' says Sudhir Bisht.
The BJP emerged as the single largest party but fell nine short of a majority, while the Congress, JD-S stitch alliance to keep saffron party out.
Despite the strong anti-incumbency sentiment against the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government, the Congress neither had the strategy nor an organisation to cash in, says N D Sharma
Telangana and Rajasthan are the last states to go to the polls in the current round of assembly elections, which also covered Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Mizoram.
A total of 89 seats -- out of 182 -- spanning the Saurashtra and south Gujarat regions, are up for grabs in the first phase with 977 candidates in the fray, including Chief Minister Vijay Rupani.
Surat -- Gujarat's diamond city and the epicentre of the Patidar quota movement -- is set for a tough assembly poll battle as the Congress has added the face of the Patidar agitation Hardik Patel to its arsenal this time.
'If one is looking for evidence of his talents as a mass leader, it has been on display since he announced demonetisation on November 8.' 'Let us look at it and appreciate it, because we are in the presence of a true master,' says Aakar Patel.
After it failed the crucial May 2014 'exams' without even getting 'passing marks', its that time again for the Congress as elections for the two state assemblies of Maharashtra and Haryana taking place on October 15. Renu Mittal reports
