Here are the 10 key issues likely to be the centre of discussion in the seven-phase general elections that begin on April 19.
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.
Occasional lovers' tiffs have marked the history of RSS-BJP relations. To think that Nagpur will bring about any change in leadership is a misreading of both its intent and its power, points out Shekhar Gupta.
At least five Assam Police personnel were killed while defending the "constitutional boundary" of the state with Mizoram and more than 60 people injured, including an SP, as the festering border dispute between the two northeastern states erupted into a bloody conflict on Monday.
Sources said the Indian troops resolutely confronted the Chinese PLA soldiers.
In a veiled attack on CM Shinde, Thackeray said the 'Kansa Mama', a reference to a character in Mahabharat, is busy getting rakhis tied on his wrists and asked when he will get justice for the nieces.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Scores of Youth Congress workers clashed with the police on Wednesday while staging a demonstration outside the Bharatiya Janata Party headquarters in New Delhi against the opposition party's "reluctance" to engage in a debate.
Mufti said her father Sayeed was not power hungry and wanted to deliver Jammu and Kashmir from its problems and troubles.
Clash of the two richest titans, a celebrity and a 'royal', is on the cards in Himachal Pradesh's Mandi Lok Sabha constituency, known for electing erstwhile 'royals' maximum number of times.
At Thamnapokpi under Moirang constituency in Bishnupur district, armed men fired several rounds in the air near a polling booth prompting voters to flee, police said on Friday, adding additional security personnel were rushed to the spot to contain the situation.
Acrimonious scenes were on Monday witnessed in the Rajya Sabha as members from the Bharatiya Janata Party, Lok Janshakti Party and Nationalist Congress Party clashed over the issue of reported low Muslim representation in admissions to private schools in Delhi. The sharp exchanges during Zero Hour also led to a heated argument between Ram Vilas Paswan, who raised the issue and BJP members, who alleged that Paswan was casting aspersions on P J Kurien (in the Chair).
The exercise will continue till 6 pm in all the polling stations except those in Maoist-affected areas of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts where it ended at 3 pm, an official said.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
The Congress resisted all temptation to comment on senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani's decision to step down from key party posts on Monday, but there was a palpable sense of relief that Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's elevation had not been a smooth affair and had, in fact, triggered a major storm in the opposition camp, feels Anita Katyal.
The response was tepid in other parts of the country even as several INDIA bloc parties as well as other non-BJP outfits extended their support to the bandh.
On Monday, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress clashed over the findings of the Liberhan Commission, which is believed to have indicted senior BJP leaders Atal Bihari Vajpayee, L K Advani and M M Joshi, among others, for the demolition of the Babri Masjid on December 6, 1992.
Dhankhar expressed his anguish on the conduct of Opposition members and left the House for a while.
Incidents of arson and vandalism were reported on Saturday after stones were pelted at the rally when it was passing through a Muslim-dominated locality, according to police.
Ugly scenes were witnessed in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday when Bharatiya Janata Party and Trinamool Congress members came to the verge of a clash over the Railway Budget whose withdrawl was demanded by members from West Bengal.
A video had surfaced on social media which purportedly showed SP leader Mukesh Siddharth making the controversial statement.
Several students organisation, civil society groups and parties cutting across political lines took out rallies in various parts of Kolkata and the state to protest against the violence that rocked JNU.
'When Fadnavis takes our help, it was sabka saath.' 'But when we support his rival, the latter is branded as appeasing Muslims.'
"I am ready to fight the money power (of her political opponents), and (central) agencies (which her party alleges has been unleashed on TMC with a political motive), but I will not bow my head," she said.
Polls to 108 municipalities of West Bengal will be held on February 27, the State Election Commission said in its notification on Thursday, setting the stage for yet another contest for the ruling Trinamool Congress and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, nine months after the assembly polls.
The Congress has not released a poll manifesto but a declaration of appeasement.
"This is Modi's India, this is new India. Now if anyone raises an eye against the country he gets a befitting reply," BJP spokesperson Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore asserted.
The BJP councillors retaliated by raising slogans against AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal as AAP members returned fire by sloganeering against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Clashes were reported from Kharagpur in West Midnapore district, Narayanpur in North 24 Parganas, and Alipurduar town in north Bengal, among others.
The West Bengal government said the situation was under control in Baduria, Swarupnagar, Deganga and Basirhat, which had witnessed violence. Prohibitory orders are in force there. No untoward incident was reported.
The Supreme Court on Thursday criticised Kolkata Police for their 'extremely disturbing' delay in registering the case of a woman doctor who was raped and killed at RG Kar Hospital, while also urging the agitating doctors to return to work amid the fourteenth day of disruptions in healthcare services in Bengal's state-run hospitals.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Sunday ended his sit-in protest outside Khajuraho police station in Chhatarpur in Madhya Pradesh against the death of a party worker during assembly polls held on November 17.
In the last assembly elections in 2018, the state recorded a voter turnout of 74.06 per cent. The Election Commission has set a target of at least 75 per cent turnout in each constituency this time.
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
Rebel Himachal Pradesh Congress MLA Rajinder Rana on Saturday claimed that nine more party legislators 'feeling suffocated' due to Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's style of functioning are in touch with him as he called the chief minister 'liar number one'.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Rane, 87, who has served as the chief minister of the coastal state for six times, had won from the Poriem assembly constituency as many as 11 consecutive times.
A blood-soaked Nandigram made Mamata Banerjee what she is today and underpins the hopes of the combustible West Bengal leader of clinching a third straight term in office.
The AIADMK is convinced that the BJP will remain an electoral burden for a long time to come, beginning the Lok Sabha polls next year, reveals N Sathiya Moorthy.
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