Will the new Congress government implement the five 'guarantees' that helped it in part to wrest power from the Bharatiya Janata Party in toto or will they now add a "conditions apply" clause?
Actor-politician Vijayakant's Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam, launched in 2005 amid fanfare and claims of being an alternative to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, seems to have failed to make much of an impact at the grassroots level, with the party managing just two per cent of total votes polled in last week's civic polls. The ruling AIADMK romped home in all 10 corporations besides many other local bodies.
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.
Hoping to make its mark in Kerala, the BJP sewed up an alliance with the BDJS, the new party formed by SNDP, a powerful organisation of the backward Ezhava community.
A day after it emerged as the single largest party but fell short of a majority in Kalyan-Dombivali Municipal Corporation, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday hinted at a truce with the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying whatever happens during polls is temporary.
Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress inflicted a crushing blow to the ruling Left front in the civic polls on Wednesday, capturing the prestigious Kolkata Municipal Corporation and bagging 36 other municipalities in the "semi-finals" ahead of next year's assembly elections.
The announcement came days after party president Akhilesh Yadav met Khan at a Delhi hospital, where according to sources they discussed the bypolls to the Rampur seat.
As Congress received a drubbing in the Delhi municipal polls, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit on Wednesday sought to downplay the party's poor showing saying it was civic elections and could not be compared with anything else.
The veteran CPI-M leader, who set the agenda for the polls by bringing issues like corruption and sex scandals to sharp focus, had mounted a spirited campaign across the state which was the single most factor that helped LDF to shore up its sagging support base reflected in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
The rise of Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan after last week's dramatic developments in Communist Party of India-Marxist as the undisputed captain of Left Democratic Front in the April 13 assembly polls in Kerala once again is expected to make the contest tougher for Congress-led United Democratic Front.
President Pratibha Patil's son and Congress Member of Legislative Assembly Raosaheb Shekhawat was on Tuesfay questioned by the Amravati police in connection with the seizure of Rs one crore unaccounted cash ahead of the civic polls. Accompanied by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee general secretary Ganesh Patil and a battery of lawyers, Shekhawat reached the police commissioner's office in Amravati on Tuesday morning, where his statement was recorded in the case.
Amid tight security arrangements, polling for the second and final phase of Tamil Nadu local body elections on Wednesday commenced on a peaceful note.
The measures include an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) and State Election Commissions to provide reliable information around the elections, a custom emoji to encourage participation, a series of pre-bunks and debunks to tackle election-related misinformation, and a youth discussion series titled #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections.
The Congress, the main opposition party, had won only 36 seats, the SEC said about 4 pm.
The reshuffle is likely to take place after the ongoing Budget session ends on April 12, reports Archis Mohan.
In a disciplinary action, three other functionaries, also belonging to Theni party district like Raja were dismissed.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde on Monday criticised Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's statement that Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray would lose his clout after the February 16 civic polls in the state saying he was "living in fool's paradise".
Equating the Congress party to Moghul kings who have invaded Maharashtra, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Friday heaped scorn on Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, calling him "inept". In a strong-worded editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana, Thackeray ridiculed Chavan, who has been claiming that the Sena will become "inconsequential" after the Mumbai civic polls on February 16.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday inaugurated and laid foundation stones of development projects worth more than Rs 38,000 crore in different sectors in Mumbai, giving a big push to infrastructure, urban travel and healthcare ahead of civic polls in the city in which the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction will seek to showcase these ventures to take on their political rivals.
Shalini Thackeray, general secretary, Chitrapat Karmachari Sena, the cine wing of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, told rediff.com that the MNS is not targeting ABCL chairman Amitabh Bachchan in its bid to strengthen its position for the upcoming civic polls in Mumbai in 2012.
Kejriwal batted for positive politics in the country to ensure that India becomes number one country in the world
Having failed its litmus test, the Bengal's ruling party is back to square one, trying to draw up a fresh strategy ahead of the polls in Meghalaya and Tripura.
Sandeep Dikshit, Congress Member of Parliament and Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit's son, on Tuesday attributed his party's defeat in the Delhi civic polls to a disconnect between the party and the people. He also claimed that an environment was created by reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the anti-corruption movement led by Anna Hazare that made people believe the Congress was at the "centre of all the wrong" that was happening.
By breaking ranks with his Maha Vikas Aghadi allies, Thackeray has shown that he can leave the MVA altogether.
While Asaduddin was booked for his alleged involvement in the attack on Congress MLC Shabbir Ali on Tuesday, a case was filed against Akbaruddin after his followers allegedly assaulted M K Mahender, a BJP civic poll candidate, Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) V Satyanarayana said.
The week-long protest against Koodankulam nuclear power plant was suspended for two days on Sunday in view of the civic polls in Tamil Nadu even as the stir has left over 100 staff members stranded inside the main project complex.
Reflecting new strains in the Congress-Trinamool tie up, Union minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday asked his party to counter Mamata Banerjee's charge that Congress was responsible for the break up of the alliance for the upcoming civic polls.
Shah rubbished Delhi CM's contention that it may have something to do with alleged manipulation of EVMs.
"I am putting efforts to get the Opposition together. I am not in the race to become the prime minister as I am not contesting the next (Lok Sabha) election," he told reporters.
>All old signposts have been uprooted and milestones bulldozed. New ones have yet to emerge. The old order stands degraded in the new landscape whose contours are indistinct, observes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
With Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's grandson Aditya taking over the Yuva Sena's reins, the party, which once vociferously opposed Valentines' Day celebrations, has chosen to lie low on the issue, in a bid to woo young voters and avoid any controversy ahead of the civic polls.
Priya Rajan is Chennai's third woman mayor, and at 28, its youngest.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
The action was taken under a demolition drive, which will be carried out till March 9, officials said. It comes a month ahead of a G20 meeting planned to be hosted at the archaeological park in south Delhi.
'Such steps would be a barrier and something people do not want.'
The failed alliance with Congress for the May 30 civic polls in West Bengal notwithstanding, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her party did not want any rift with the United Progressive Alliance government.
Notwithstanding the failure of alliance with the Congress for the civic polls in West Bengal, Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee said on Wednesday that her party would be in the United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre as long as "we get the minimum respect".
In the wake of Trinamool Congress going it alone in the West Bengal civic polls, its UPA ally Congress on Monday dismissed as speculation reports that it was looking for a new ally in Samajwadi Party.
The arrest and an alleged attack on TMC workers by unknown persons whom the Trinamool Congress believes to be Bharatiya Janata Party supporters happened barely 24 hours before the Mamata Banerjee-led party's national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee is slated to reach Agartala to 'stand beside attacked party workers'.
The domination of the Ganesh Naik family in recent civic polls in Navi Mumbai is not a good augury for democracy, writes Mahesh Vijapurkar.
