Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
Labelling the NIA as a 'mere political tool' of the BJP government at the Centre, Gogoi said the judgment will be a landmark for those arrested through the misuse of the two anti-terror laws.
Despite the CBI informing the Supreme Court that Lok Sabha MP Mani Kumar Subba was a citizen of Nepal, and not India, Subba has remained defiant. Subba, one of the Congress' biggest fund-raisers, has maintained that he is Indian, and said he would prove it before the apex court. The Congress, meanwhile, is adopting a wait-and-watch approach towards Subba, even as many party leaders demand his resignation.
The BJP needs to win maximum number of seats from northeast to strengthen Prime Minister Narendra Modi so that development of the region continues.
The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections began on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
Actor-turned-politician and sitting MP Locket Chatterjee has been fielded from Chunchura and another MP Nishit Parmanik from Dinhata. Also, a number of film personalities have been nominated as candidates in the high-stakes battle for West Bengal.
Rediff.com's data journalists have broken down 2012 district-wise National Crime Record's Bureau data into a constituency-wise listing.
Ahmed Patel, K C Venugopal and Jairam Ramesh will be part of the Rajya Sabha Committee, which will also include Leader of Opposition Ghulam Nabi Azad and party's deputy leader Anand Sharma. Azad and Sharma are signatories to the letter that demanded an overhaul of the Congress party and a new 'full-time and visible' party president.
A senior EC official said the COVID-19 pandemic and the flood situation were two reasons behind the decision.
Upholding principles was a luxury when there were charismatic leaders capable of winning elections without stooping low to indulge in identity politics, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Embattled Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday addressed the state online, and made it clear that he had no intention of continuing in office if his own MLAs didn't want him.
The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday announced the name of Vadodara deputy mayor Ranjan Ben Bhatta as its candidate for the Vadodara Lok Sabha seat vacated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
As counting is on in the five states - Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal -- here's a look at where the heavyweights stand.
The fulcrum of victory or defeat of parties attempting to form a government is held by smaller players and those willing to defect.
Voting was adopted as per the directive of the All India Congress Committee for selection of a Congress candidate for the prestigious Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency on Wednesday. There were a total of 7 aspirants for the party poll ticket.
Amid the chanting of hymns, preceded by a gun salute and band played by the Assam Police, the state's longest serving chief minister's mortal remains were consigned to flames by his son Gaurav Gogoi.
Sonowal's name as the party's face came as no surprise as he came with a clean image and no baggage and enjoyed the confidence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
It may well be possible to defeat Modi. But nobody seems to know how, points out Vir Sanghvi.
Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Friday won the bypoll to the Champawat assembly seat defeating Congress' Nirmala Gahtori by a record margin of over 55,000 votes to retain his office.
The seriously injured Congress leader was rushed to Guwahati Medical College Hospital where he was declared dead.
Brisk polling began on Thursday morning in 91 constituencies spread across 18 states and two union territories in the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. As people queued up across the nation to cast their vote, there were some famous faces in the lines at different polling stations. Take a look.
She also took a swipe at the Bharatiya Janata Party over its defeat in the just-concluded Himachal Pradesh assembly elections, saying the ruling party's president could not hold on to his home state. "Who is the Pappu now?" she asked.
That AAP managed a sizeable vote share in Gujarat is creditable. The BJP can no longer ignore AAP's growing presence in its strongest bastion, explains Ramesh Menon, long-time observer of Gujarat politics.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
The CEC said the chief electoral officer of Assam will give a factual report in the coming week on various aspects arising out of the publication of the final draft NRC.
'But will there be matching action as far as tribals are concerned on the ground?'
Large dams and flood problems are campaign issues both for the Congress and Asom Gana Parishad locked in direct contest in most of the six assembly seats in THE flood-prone Lakhimpur and Dhemaji districts which go to the polls on April 4.
In spite of his trying hard he is unable to connect not only with ordinary voters but with most party colleagues as well, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Nagaland Chief Electoral Officer Abhijit Sinha said the violence in Akuluto constituency in Zunheboto district left one dead and two injured.
The BJP can't be sure if it should celebrate that the old rival is fading or worry that new ones are rising. Because the last thing the BJP wants to see is alternatives rising, if only to the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
Rediff Labs analysed the data on MPLADS to see how the money given to each constituency was spent.
Joining hands with smaller parties with a political base in different castes was a part of the BJP strategy as it won big in Uttar Pradesh in the 2017 assembly polls and 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
In the last ten years, 96 per cent of the sedition cases against 405 individuals pertained to making critical remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, points out Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
The victory of the Bodoland People's Front, the Congress's coalition partner since 2006, in all the 11 assembly constituencies in the Bodoland Territorial Council areas will be crucial for the ruling party's win in the forthcoming assembly elections.But for the support of the BPF, which is headed by the former leader of the now disbanded Bodo Liberation Tiger Hagrama Mohilary, the Congress, which had only 53 seats in its kitty, would not have been able to form the state govt.
The high-stakes battle in the virtual Presidential-style contest between BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi with a few other regional satraps also in the fray in the Lok Sabha elections begins on Monday in six constituencies in two states in the first of the nine-phased polls.
'Most Assamese don't understand a word like ghuspethiya and its insulting connotation.'
The April 11 polling will decide the fate of several political bigwigs.
Voting is underway in three Lok Sabha and 33 assembly seats across 10 states where by-elections are being held on Saturday.
