After the snapping of ties between the BJD and BJP, the CPI on Monday expressed hope that BJD supremo Naveen Patnaik would play a key role in formation of a third alternative to NDA and UPA.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Brajendra Singh Yadav of the Congress defeated his BJP rival Baisahab Yadav by a margin of 2,124 votes to win the Mungaoli seat while in Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav prevailed over Devendra Jain of the BJP by 8,083 votes.
With two phases of voting already completed, political parties are busy with filing nominations, addressing roadshows and undertaking hectic campaigns for the constituencies that will vote this month.
A 6 per cent swing in favour of Biju Janata Dal appeared to have catapulted the regional party to a landslide victory in simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha where it stormed back to power for the fourth consecutive term.
BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
Though electoral verdicts have historically been accepted, even though grudgingly, by all parties, there has been a sharper edge to the questions being raised by Opposition parties this time over the polling process, including the Election Commission.
Three of the fence-sitters rule fairly large states Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Odisha that together send 63 members to Lok Sabha -- where the Congress or other opposition parties have been pushed to the margins.
Naveen Patnaik is known as an "absentee landlord" who needs bureaucrats like Pandian to run his government.
He claimed even the media is debarred from entering the secretariat and reaching out to the chief minister and thus changes need to be made in the governance model in Odisha.
Pandian joined the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) in 2011, and since then, he has been Patnaik's private secretary.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who is on a three-day visit to Odisha, is set to meet her counterpart in the neighbouring state, Naveen Patnaik, on Thursday afternoon.
Unable to persuade former Odisha law minister and dowry torture accused Raghunath Mohanty to surrender, the ruling Biju Janata Dal on Friday asked him to respect the law of the land or face consequences. "Through the media, I will like to request Raghunath Mohanty to cooperate with the law before the matter gets more complicated," government Deputy Whip Sanjay Dasburma told reporters.
The high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' approached 62 parties out which 47 responded -- 32 in support of holding elections simultaneously, 15 against it.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal in Odisha on Sunday announced that it would abstain from voting in the vice-presidential election scheduled to be held on August 7.
Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal chief Naveen Patnaik on Monday reiterated his party's support to former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma even as former president A P J Abdul Kalam expressed his unwillingness to contest the presidential poll.
Besides Defence Minister Singh (Lucknow), Minister of Women and Child Development Irani (Amethi), those in the fray are Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Kaushal Kishor (Mohanlalganj) and Minister of State of Consumer Affairs Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti (Fatehpur).
If the Congress reached 90, it would have a pretty good chance of holding the BJP below the 272 mark. A hundred seats will rock national politics, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Noting that he fully respects the Supreme Court order on electoral bonds, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the scheme was introduced to end black money in politics and added that it should have been improved rather than scrapped.
The breakaway faction is led by former Union minister Dilip Ray.
The Left on Sunday came out in support of the Naveen Patnaik government, which was reduced to a minority following snapping of ties with ally Bharatiya Janata Party, and even hinted at forging an alliance with the Biju Janata Dal for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Orissa.
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
All political parties put together received more than Rs 12,000 crore till last fiscal since the introduction of the now-annulled electoral bond scheme in 2018, of which the ruling BJP got nearly 55 per cent or Rs 6,565 crore, according to the data available with Election Commission and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
For renomination to the Rajya Sabha, Nadda will have to look for a seat outside his home state of Himachal Pradesh as the Congress is in power there.
The bill seeks to reserve one-third of all seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the state legislative assemblies.
The Rajya Sabha has been witnessing repeated disruptions ever since it met for the Monsoon session on July 20.
Union ministers Prahlad Joshi and Dharmendra Pradhan alleged that Gandhi has been spreading lies on this issue.
He also said there are leaders who stand firm in their ideology but their number is gradually declining.
Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka was kidnapped as his party did not honour a "secret deal" struck with the Maoist-backed Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangha during the recent Zilla Parishad elections, opposition Congress Chief Whip Prasad Harichandan alleged on Tuesday.
Orissa MP Jay Panda defends his state's anti-Maoist record.
Odisha Chief Minister and Biju Janata Dal president Naveen Patnaik on Tuesday signed on the nomination paper as a proposer for the candidature of former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma in the coming Presidential election.
With Rajya Sabha Member of Parliament Pyari Mohan Mohapatra suspended from the ruling Biju Janata Dal, Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday said he was not adverse to taking back certain leaders who had quit the party earlier.
As the raids were completed, the I-T team took two managers of the distillery located at Sutapada to an unknown location for interrogation, they said.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services whose director is the lottery magnate Santiago Martin is the top purchaser of electoral bonds having purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368, according to data uploaded by the Election Commission of India on its website on Thursday.
Nineteen opposition political parties, including the Congress have announced a boycott of the ceremony on May 28, demanding that President Droupadi Murmu and not Prime Minister Narendra Modi do the inauguration.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal appear to be unwilling to have seats in Lok Sabha along with Congress which has the largest number of seats in the non-governmental side.
Harivansh, a Janata Dal-United MP, is likely to get the support of 126 members in the Upper House, which has an effective strength of 244 MPs, sources in the Bharatiya Janata Party said.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday became president of the ruling Biju Janata Dal for the fifth consecutive time unopposed.
The Bharatiya Janata Party sealed its alliance with the Telugu Desam Party on Saturday for the upcoming Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh assembly elections, with former chief minister of the southern state N Chandrababu Naidu asserting that the combine will sweep the polls.
The tax department has deployed about 40 large and small machines to count currency notes and brought in more department and bank staffers to finish the counting process, which began on December 6 following raids against Boudh Distillery Pvt Ltd and others, they said.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances