Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged people to vote in large numbers. "Today, there are bypolls taking place in various places across India. I urge those voting in these seats to vote in large numbers and strengthen the festival of democracy," he said in a tweet.
'At this moment, the Trinamool has an edge.'
'Maybe the BJP believes, in the post-poll scenario, it will have the might to foist, anybody endorsed by the RSS, upon Bihar,' observes Mohammad Sajjad.
Security measures have been heightened in view of the violence in the previous phases, particularly the death of five people in Cooch Behar in the fourth phase of polling on April 10, an Election Commission official said.
An interplay of Modi government's outreach in Bihar and the sequence of events in Chirag Paswan's life could make Bihar a game of musical chairs when the results are out.
Rediff readers share selfies and tell us about their election day style.
The Sikhs, especially in Punjab, are already angry and frustrated, cautions Shekhar Gupta.
The Opposition must understand that while 2024 may draw mileage from the growing resentment towards the BJP, the real battle and proof of how well India learnt from its disastrous dalliance with the Right-wing, will be in 2029, observes Shyam G Menon.
The much-awaited schedule for the Lok Sabha polls was announced by Chief Election Commissioner VS Sampath on Wednesday at a press conference at the Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, instead of Nirvachan Bhawan, the EC headquarters.
A senior BJP leader from Bihar said that a strategy has been worked out to ensure Tejashwi's defeat from the Raghopur seat in Vaishali district, from where he is also the sitting MLA.
'It did not start as a Hindutva slogan.' 'It started to tease the TMC and slowly it got internalised and the BJP started countering with Jai Shri Ram slogans because Mamata was getting provoked.'
If the BJP wins by getting Hindu voters to consolidate, its opponents can't beat it by bundling together the Muslims and some of the 'others', observes Shekhar Gupta.
The TMC, in total, bagged 75.02 per cent of the votes cast, whereas the BJP got some 14.48 per cent votes, in the four assembly segments.
After some recent events that turned against the party, including the Congress' G-23 Group asking for a revamp in the party, Congress leader and MP Manish Tiwari has been included in the star campaigners list of Congress for Assam and West Bengal Assembly polls.
The three-judge panel of the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday upheld a previous ruling that dismissed the Trump campaign's request for an injunction in the case in Pennsylvania to challenge the election results and slammed the lawsuit.
Counting of votes will take place on May 15.
Of the total 81 seats, elections to 50 seats concluded in the first three phases held between November 30 and December 12. The fifth and final phase of polling to 16 seats will be held on December 20 and votes will be counted on December 23.
The tallying of VVPAT slips with the votes cast and stored in the EVMs will be done to demonstrate that the voting system has been working perfectly.
He secured required 44 votes after votes of two Congress MLAs who cross-voted for BJP were rejected by EC.
Arora also said he is confident that the EC will be able to hold the next set of assembly polls on time and the internal exercise for those is already underway.
While the DMK fears that the Congress with its poor strike rate will pull it down in the 2021 state elections, like it did five years ago, the ruling AIADMK is worried that the BJP may ultimately do a Bihar on it, relegating it to second place in Tamil Nadu, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Beginning with the bird's eye view of itself -- a narrow state of hills, rivers and high population density, in a tapering part of the Indian subcontinent. It can be a beautiful place shaped by aesthetic founded in appropriate lifestyle and progressive views, or a junkyard shaped by money and what money buys. The choice is Kerala's, notes Shyam G Menon.
The Hindutva social media continues to present the DMK especially as anti-god, anti-Hindu and anti-Brahmin. The strategy did not work in the past, it has not worked in the present, and would not work in the future, as a massive vote-getter, asserts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The BJP believes that the only party still capable of leading a credible challenge against it is the Congress. Please note how BJP campaigners in states where the Congress may count for a cipher or thereabouts, mostly attack the Congress, observes Shekhar Gupta.
These books are sure to send a chill down your spine!
'My vote has gone for better education, health, and jobs for the youth, as I am one'
The hits and misses of the week.
What is the magic in the make-up of 007 that keeps us coming back again and again?asks Sandeep Goyal.
The challenges before the coming Budget are more daunting than those in 2021, reveals A K Bhattacharya.
The department of investment and public asset management (Dipam) can also seek in-principle approval from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for strategic divestment of PSUs on a case-to-case basis considering investor appetite and sectoral trends.
The AISA, SFI, DSF and AISF have come together to form the 'United Left' alliance.
'How do you apply indelible ink without coming into contact?' 'There have to be options for other activities like casting of vote where you press a button and that of the signature identifying oneself.' 'None of our procedures should lead to exposure to infections.'
Commenting on the Narcotics Control Bureau investigation of a drug case, related to actor Sushant Singh Rajput's death case, Raut said, "The probe of the case started about murder and suicide. Now, narcotics came into the case. Nobody knows where will it go. It is under NCB's jurisdiction to summon anyone to join the probe."
They also demanded that if any discrepancy is found during VVPAT verification, 100 per cent counting of the paper slips of VVPATs of all polling stations of that particular assembly segment should be done and compared with the electronic voting machine (EVM) results.
With just hours to go before the United States presidential election all eyes are turning stateside as Donald Trump seeks a second term in the White House and Democratic candidate Joe Biden campaigns to become America's 46th president. If you're struggling to wrap your head around the presidential election and how it compares to India, which competing parties will be vying for the White House, and how a winner is selected, scroll on for a comprehensive guide that details all there is to know about the upcoming elections.
Sonchiriya is that rare Bollywood film, one that soars wildly above others in its genre, notes Ritwik Sharma.
Where does Basavaraj Bommai stand three months after he assumed the reins of power in Karnataka?
"That is a fact of life because we are not being able, after 75 years, to bring the SCs and STs to the same level of merit as the forward classes," Attorney General K K Venugopal told a bench headed by Justice L Nageswara Rao.
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