Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra was expelled on Friday from the Lok Sabha after the House adopted the report of its Ethics Committee that held her guilty of accepting gifts and illegal gratification from a businessman to further his interest.
However, it fell nine seats short of a majority.
Aiming to breach the Bharatiya Janata Party's Gujarat bastion, the Aam Aadmi Party fielded its candidate to contest all 182 assembly seats and carried out a high decibel campaign in the run-up to the polls in Gujarat.
Several ministers, including Parsadi Lal Meena, B D Kalla, Mamta Bhupesh and some independents like Suresh Tak, are present at the hotel in the lake city.
According to the findings of the CSDS-Lokniti survey, the BJP saw a marginal increase in its support among the Muslim voters as compared to the 2017 assembly elections.
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
'If the Pawars are so powerful, then why are they scared of me?'
The Bharatiya Janata Party's student wing Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad swept Delhi University students' union elections by bagging all four positions.
Union minister and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Raosaheb Danve on Monday claimed 12 members of Parliament of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena are in touch with the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde faction and are ready to cross over.
Congress veteran P Chidambaram held a meeting with the Goa assembly poll candidates of his party and those of ally Goa Forward Party on Wednesday night, where it was decided that the alliance will name its leader immediately after the election results are out and stake claim for government formation, sources said.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which contested the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh for the first time, drew a blank securing just 1.10 per cent of the total votes cast.
Among those killed were eight from TMC, and one worker each of the BJP, the CPI-M, the Congress and the ISF.
Gujarat has registered a voter turnout of 64.33 per cent for the recently-concluded elections to 182 assembly seats, a drop of more than 4 per cent as compared to the turnout registered in the 2017 polls.
Some constituents of the alliance have raised concern that the panels, particularly the 14-member coordination committee, are at risk of becoming ineffective, as their decisions have so far not been acted upon.
Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav will face Union Minister SP Singh Baghel on Karhal seat of Mainpuri where both of them filed nominations on Monday.
'The Bihar verdict has shown that the people of Bihar don't desire to go back to the mandir-masjid rhetoric.' 'Jobs, wages and development are the aspiration of the people of Bihar and we hope the next government will keep that in mind.'
Belying all expectations, the Trinamool Congress registreted a landslide victory in West Bengal assembly elections, overcoming the might of the Bharatiya Janata Party after a bitter campaign that had turned into a virtual duel between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Half-way through the polls, the fight has become more personal.
'This is not about revering women; this is about women entering politics.' 'This is about women having a say in how State policies have to be shaped.'
Opposition parties will hold the next meeting of their 26-member INDIA coalition in Mumbai on August 25 and 26, sources said on Thursday.
In a thumping performance, Bharatiya Janata Party candidates emerged victorious in all seven Lok Sabha constituencies in Delhi by margin of more than one lakh votes as the party's vote share neared the 50 per cent mark.
The municipal house of Delhi failed to elect a mayor for the third time in a month after ruckus erupted over the nominated members being allowed to vote in the election to the post.
Ironically, the BJP, which seeks to unseat the TMC from power, has taken a leaf out of Mamata Banerjee's strategy of soliciting tinsel town's support towards causes and fielding actors in elections.
'The BJP's defining character is Hindutva. The party's political strategy is based on a combination of Hindutva+Development.'
The BJP is still short of the halfway mark of 123 in the 245-member House, but can now muster a 'working' majority with help of allies, friendly parties, some Independents and nominated members.
For now, the BJP's strategy for Khushbu seems to be one of denial -- denying the rival Congress in the state and also at the national-level a Muslim voice acceptable to Hindu audiences and TV news-watchers. This is much less than the induction of DMK veterans like Duraiswamy and Selvam, who still have a greater chances of winning assembly seats,, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to the Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, the mayor and the deputy mayor are to be elected in the very first session of the House after the civic polls.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath who went on a whirlwind tour of the state to ensure the victory of his party candidates, described it as a "historic win". He attributed the victory to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision and BJP chief Amit Shah's guidance.
Sporadic incidents of violence were reported on Tuesday in some areas where voting is underway in the third phase of the West Bengal assembly elections, even as the overall situation by and large remained peaceful with 34.71 per cent turnout recorded till 11 am, officials said.
Nine of the turncoats were fielded by the BJP and 10 by the Samajwadi Party.
Stating that the Third Front has no policy or commitment, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader M Venkaiah Naidu on Wednesday termed the 'alternative' combination of parties as a "parking slot."
The Jats are a political force in Rajasthan and the community's presence in 85 assembly constituencies may tilt the balance in electoral politics.
Besides Singh, who makes his electoral debut from Noida, Rita Bahuguna Joshi's name also featured in the list.
Nitish Kumar will be the chief minister only till the time the BJP wishes, points out Ramesh Menon.
Former Home Secretary R K Singh and two Rashtriya Janata Dal leaders, who recently joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, figure in the third list of 97 Lok Sabha poll candidates released by the party on Thursday.
Claiming that neither the Congress nor the Bharatiya Janata Party would gain majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav on Monday said the Third Front would form the government at the Centre and his party would "play a key role".
Riding a strong anti-incumbency wave coupled with Narendra Modi factor, BJP on wrested power from Congress decimating it by grabbing a three-fourth majority in the 200-member Rajasthan Assembly.
Shah said that it is "a 3-D government in Rajasthan and three Ds stands for 'dange' (riots), 'durvyavhar' (ill-treatment) with women and 'Dalit' atrocities.
The BJP has fielded Rajya Sabha MP Swapan Dasgupta as its candidate for the Tarakeshwar seat in the upcoming West Bengal assembly elections.
Nandi had defeated, by a margin of more than 14,000 votes, Keshri Nath Tripathi who was a five-time MLA, and had served thrice as the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker and was the BJP's state unit president at that time.
