The Assam government has asked the Centre for 600 companies from the armed forces to be deployed during the upcoming assembly polls in the state.
Dissidence in Congress in Punjab came to the fore in the wake of the party's debacle in the assembly polls with a former stat unit chief on Wednesday demanding an emergency meeting of the PCC to go into the causes.
The Election Commission defended its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for Bihar's voter list in the Supreme Court, calling it accurate and dismissing allegations of impropriety by political parties and NGOs.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Gujarat was unable to end its 18-year jinx in Visavadar as it lost the bypolls to Arvind Kejriwal's Aam Aadmi Party despite a strong campaign.
West Bengal's Chief Electoral Officer reports over 10 lakh SIR enumeration forms identified as 'uncollectable' due to absentee voters, duplicates, deaths, or permanent relocation. The special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is underway with significant BLO involvement.
He will hold the office till February 9, 2027.
'...the electoral playing field is tilted significantly in its favour.'
The Congress party has alleged that approximately 23 lakh women's names have been removed from the voter list in Bihar, particularly in constituencies with close contests in the 2020 elections. They claim this is a deliberate act of 'vote theft' orchestrated by the ruling party through the Election Commission.
The upcoming Delhi Assembly polls have taken an interesting turn with the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) engaging in a poster war inspired by the popular film 'Pushpa 2.' The AAP has released a poster featuring Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while the BJP has countered with a poster featuring state president Virendra Sachdeva, both using imagery and slogans from the film.
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge stated that the party high command will decide on the ongoing speculation about a chief minister change in Karnataka. This comes amid intensified power tussle within the ruling party as the Congress government reached the halfway mark of its five-year term.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
Gandhi's remarks came on a day it emerged that the Election Commission has formally written to him on his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls, saying all polls held by the poll panel strictly as per laws passed by Parliament and rules, and the entire exercise involves thousands of personnel, including booth-level agents appointed by political parties.
Jharkhand's ruling JMM announced it would not contest the Bihar assembly elections, citing a "political conspiracy" by allies RJD and Congress. The party will review its alliance in Jharkhand with the Congress and RJD.
Congress in Goa is in a bind as the aspirants who have failed to secure party tickets are vowing to queer the pitch for the official nominees for March 3 assembly polls.
Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee chief Raj Babbar said, "It has been decided that she will campaign for the party in the state elections. She has accepted our request to campaign. Whenever we will get her schedule, we will use her time accordingly".
The Congress claimed that dynastic politics exists across party lines and also hailed the Nehru-Gandhi family's leadership.
Tejashwi Yadav and Prashant Kishore claim that a group of senior Janata Dal-United leaders and retired bureaucrats, locally dubbed the 'Bhunja Party', manages the state administration on Nitish Kumar's behalf.
'Nitish Kumar is our CM today and he will be CM going forward also. Nitish Kumar will continue as CM till he wishes.'
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP), an NDA member, announced it will contest 153 seats in the upcoming Bihar elections after not being allocated any seats by the NDA. The party claims the BJP's Bihar unit provided a negative report regarding their strength.
The opposition party is likely to use this new-age technology to reach out to a wider section of people, specially youngsters who are tech-savvy.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of India of engaging in "vote chori" (vote theft) to benefit the BJP, claiming his party possesses substantial evidence of electoral irregularities.
Reacting to the alleged incident, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar directed the DGP to take "immediate action".
There is no confusion or dispute in the 'Mahagathbandhan' over Tejashwi Yadav being the main face for the Bihar chief minister's post, Congress leader Kanhaiya Kumar said on Friday while asserting that the CM will be from the Rashtriya Janata Dal if the alliance gets a majority in the upcoming polls.
The Election Commission (EC) has published the draft electoral rolls for Bihar, marking a key step ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The publication follows a month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise.
In the 2017 assembly elections, a record was set as former chief minister Virbhadra Singh and his son Vikramaditya Singh were elected and incidentally the duo were oldest and youngest members of the house.
The BJP is faced with the crucial question of who will lead the party in the four impending state polls this year: In Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Telangana.
Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray visited MNS president Raj Thackeray on Ganesh Chaturthi, further fueling speculation of a potential alliance between the two parties ahead of local body elections.
As Bihar goes to the polls in two weeks, locals speak about what the election means to them in the shadow of a devastating flood in Saran, Bihar.
An Assam Cabinet minister's use of 'gobi farming' imagery after the Bihar election results has drawn sharp criticism from the opposition, who allege it references the Bhagalpur communal riots.
Yadav died at Khushhalchak village three days ago during election campaigning. An assailant reportedly shot him, and an SUV crushed him, officials confirmed.
In a fresh twist to the ongoing power struggle in Karnataka, caste groups backing Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and his deputy D K Shivakumar on Thursday threw their weight behind them, with one warning Congress against unseating the incumbent CM while the other community strongly batted for Shivakumar's elevation.
Although the Supreme Court has mandated the Centre to conduct the polls by the end of September, a spate of terrorist attacks in J&K could cause delays.
With assembly polls to four key states and one Union Terrority at hand, Vicky Nanjappa finds that one in four elected representatives has a criminal record.
.jpg)
Assembly seats in which the victory margin was less than 1.5 per cent in the 2009 elections.
Congress on Tuesday said it planned to go it alone in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls and would consider tie-ups only on its "own conditions and interests", a development that could queer the pitch for parties like Ajit Singh-led Rashtriya Lok Dal.
Having struck a seat-sharing deal, leaders of the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party sat across the table in Patna on Monday to thrash out, among other things, constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies in Bihar.
The election process got underway in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday with notification for the first phase of Assembly polls which will be a litmus test for Union Minister Beni Prasad Verma and National Commission for Scheduled Caste Chairman PL Punia.
Hitting out at Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar for indulging in a blame game over the MVA's defeat in the state assembly, Raut said those who don't believe in consensus and compromise have no right to be in an alliance.
The EC reiterated that the process was transparent with the involvement of candidates or their agents at every stage.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances