Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi on Friday attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of making 'big promises' on bringing back black money and asked him to explain why he has not instituted a probe into the matter of the Chattisgarh chief minister's son's name featuring in the 'Panama Papers'.
The poll panel has asked state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra to respond to the notices by 3 pm on Thursday and 7 pm on Friday, respectively.
An impressive performance in Jharkhand and, especially, Maharashtra assembly polls next month by the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance will lay to rest the doubts over the party's political dominance after its underwhelming performance in the Lok Sabha polls and strike a body blow to the Opposition.
Gandhi also said the idea of 'One Nation, One Election' was aimed at distracting from real issues of the people.
The Congress, which won assembly elections with a thumping majority to retain power in Assam, would not have even got a simple majority had the Asom Gana Parishad and the Bharatiya Janata Party cobbled up a pre-poll alliance. As per the election statistics, the Congress would have been defeated in at least 20 seats had the AGP and the BJP joined hands in fighting the polls in the north-eastern state.
Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Speaker Tanka Bahadur Rai, Deputy Speaker Pranati Phukon and a host of Cabinet ministers and Congress veterans are among the total 485 candidates whose fate will be decided on Monday in the first phase of the Assembly elections in Assam to be held in 62 Local Authorities Constituencies spread over 13 districts.
The Trinamool Congress registered a decisive victory in West Bengal on Sunday, contrary to results of most exit polls which predicted a tight race between the BJP and the TMC with an edge to the Mamata Banerjee-led party.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
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.
A plea challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct assembly elections over eight phases in West Bengal was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.
Two person were killed and 20 others, including four police men, injured in a bomb blast near a temporary election office of BJP in Assam's Goalpara district.
Modi, in his rally just days ahead of the last phase of the Lok Sabha election, also said that "well-wishers of Naveen babu are worried over his deteriorating health condition."
Raijor Dal president Akhil Gogoi said on Thursday that his party has not accepted the Trinamool Congress's proposal of a merger as it does not want to compromise on its Assamese identity.
Helicopters are anticipated to be more in demand compared to fixed-wing aircraft as choppers will help in providing accessibility to rural and remote areas in a shorter time.
One of the high-profile contests in the high-stakes Bengal polls is likely to be a direct fight between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former confidant and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat.
With the first phase of Assembly elections in Assam slated for April 4, and the second phase on April 11, it appears that the ruling Congress is all set to stage a comeback under the leadership of Tarun Kumar Gogoi.
The Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs took a decision to this effect in the wake of the scrapping of the IMDT Act by the Supreme Court.
Legislative assembly elections in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state are due next year.
The counting of votes will take place on November 2.
The repoll will be held from 7 am to 4 pm, the Election Commission said on Tuesday.
A video shows the Congress leader taking instructions from workers of the Sadhuru tea garden on how to pluck tea leaves. She smiles as a few others click photographs, the minute long video shows.
The Election Commission on Friday barred Sarma from campaigning for ongoing Assam elections for 48 hours for his remark against Bodoland People's Front Chairperson Hagrama Mohilary.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's tally in Rajya Sabha has dipped below 90 for the first time in several years but the party and its allies are expected to not only recoup the their losses but also make some gains when by-elections to fill the existing vacancies are held in the coming weeks.
The results of the assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal are hours away and Dominic Xavier wonders if a fresh government battleplan to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will only materialise after the electoral outcome is known.
Gohain claimed that his discussions with Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma regarding the delimitation "did not bring any positive outcome".
BJP is set to win majority of 32 municipality boards and 42 town committees in Assam
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday named Union minister Narendra Singh Tomar and its general secretary Arun Singh as central observers for the election of the leader of its legislative party in Assam.
A home ministry spokesperson, however, said the decision does not imply that the AFSPA has been completely withdrawn from the three insurgency-hit states but will continue to be in force in some areas of the three states.
With assembly elections coming up in Assam and Bengal, the BJP election machine will go all out to woo MLAs from rival parties to its side. No one picks up MLAs better than Santa Shah, says Dominic Xavier.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be on a two-day visit to the North East from Tuesday, during which he will attend the oath-taking ceremonies of new governments in three states of the region.
The senior Congress leader opined that the situation in Assam can now be divided into two phases -- pre-CAA and post-CAA, and it was necessary to unite all anti-CAA forces in order to protect the ethos of the Assam Accord.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies are well on the way to power in two north-eastern states, and is almost certain to be part of the ruling dispensation in the third.
The poll panel has convened a press conference at 4.30 pm.
We are definite that we will form the government here," Sonowal told media persons.
Sangma will go to Raj Bhawan at 11:30 am on Friday and meet the governor to apprise him of the assembly election results, the official said.
'Everything was sacrosanct when the BJP was led by Vajpayee and Advani.' 'That was a different culture. But with Modi and Amit Shah nothing is sacrosanct.'
From the word go, Bihar growled its needs out when an MP from the state said aloud: "Give something for Bihar also, Madam." Every time the Budget mentioned cities and towns in Andhra Pradesh, "Kursi Bachao" was the call from Congress MPs.
In Maharashtra, where the 'Mahayuti' alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena and smaller parties is against the 'Maha-agadhi' led by the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party whereas the ruling BJP is locked in a contest with the opposition Congress and the fledgling Jannayak Janata Party for the 90 assembly seats in Haryana.
