Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said like other states, the BJP started the game of using money power, power of the government and muscle power to destabilise the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh but has failed.
The desertion of MLAs is worrying for the party which has fielded its senior leader Ahmed Patel for the Rajya Sabha election.
Taking no chances after the Rajya Sabha poll setback, the ruling Mahi Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra has asked all its MLAs to gather in Mumbai ahead of the June 20 election to the state legislative council.
In the past five years, UP's Opposition remained passive and defensive against the BJP, a trend that does not augur well for the impending battle.
Senior Congress leader Rajani Patil is set to be declared elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha from Maharashtra after the opposition BJP on Monday withdrew its candidate from the next month's bypoll.
Their joining is likely to come as a big boost to the BJP in Haryana with a few months remaining for the polls.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday suggested that if the Congress comes to power, it would redistribute wealth of people to Muslims and cited former PM Manmohan Singh's remark that the minority community had the first claim on the country's resources.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
This will be the first major electoral test after the political realignment that emerged in 2019.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
The list also includes the names of Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar, fielded from the Vandre West seat, and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane's son Nitesh Rane, fielded from Kankavli, a seat he currently represents in the assembly.
Gehlot exuded confidence that all the three candidates of the Congerss will comfortably win.
In the battle for 2024, the place is hogging the limelight, primarily because of Rajesh Ranjan alias Pappu Yadav, who according to some opinion polls, may turn out to be the dark horse when votes are counted on June 4.
High drama was witnessed during the Himachal Pradesh Cabinet meeting on Saturday with ministers Jagat Negi and Rohit Thakur leaving midway following a 'heated debate' over policy decisions, sources said.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, IT expert Nandan Nilekani and cricketer Mohd Kaif are among 194 candidates as Congress tonight released the first list of its nominees for Lok Sabha polls that contains several new and young faces.
A special court in Mumbai on Thursday rejected the pleas filed by Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik and former minister Anil Deshmukh seeking a day's bail to vote in the Rajya Sabha elections to be held on Friday.
There is a growing unease among Lok Sabha ticket aspirants in the Shiv Sena amid its decision to drop three sitting MPs and the ongoing seat-sharing talks between the Mahayuti partners, party sources said.
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.
The first list has 10 Patel or Patidar faces, 11 tribals, 10 OBCs and five SCs.
Bharatiya Janata Party-backed independent candidate Sadabhau Khot and Nationalist Congress Party's Shivajrao Gajre on Monday withdrew their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, leaving 11 contestants in the fray for 10 seats as the state was set to witness another bitter fight between the BJP and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after the last week's cliffhanger in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Tuesday sought to give credit to his party for the women's reservation bill but Home Minister Amit Shah refuted his claim, saying that the legislation brought by the Manmohan Singh government had lapsed following the dissolution of the 15th Lok Sabha.
In an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana, the MVA lead party, in a rare move, praised BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for his 'cleverness and astute poll management.
On the eve of the Haryana assembly poll results, the issue of chief minister-ship has taken centre stage in the Congress with all eyes on its high command's next move as the party expects to regain power after 10 years in the state.
Janata Dal-Secular chief HD Kumaraswamy alleged "horse-trading" in the Karnataka Rajya Sabha elections claiming that Congress leader Siddaramaiah was pressurising JD-S MLAs to not vote for their own party but that of the candidate of the grand old party.
What would Parliament be without these nine ladies?
Defectors getting tickets is causing tremendous heartburn in the BJP, says Aditi Phadnis
A controversy has erupted after Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son, Kartikey, said during a public meeting in bypoll-bound Budhni that 'not even a brick will be laid in any village' in case a Congress candidate wins the by-election.
Pratibha Pawar, wife of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, was allegedly stopped from entering the premises of Baramati Hi-Tech Textiles Park in Pune district on Sunday for half an hour. This was informed by the office of Baramati MP Supriya Sule. Notably, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's wife and Rajya Sabha member Sunetra Pawar is the chairperson of the Baramati Hi-Tech Textiles Park. A video shared by Supriya Sule's office shows female aides of Pratibha Pawar and Sule's daughter Revti Sule asking a security guard at the Park to open the gate as they wanted to do some purchasing. The guard told them he was instructed by one Anil Wagh to not open the gate. A male aide accompanying Pratibha Pawar and Revti Sule confirmed to PTI that they were not allowed to enter the premises for at least 30 minutes. When contacted, Textile Park chief manager Anil Wagh said he was not aware that Pratibha Pawar was supposed to visit the premises. He claimed he instructed security personnel to not allow any political rally inside. When he was told that Pratibha Pawar had arrived, he immediately asked security guards to open the gate and allow them inside. According to Wagh, Pratibha Pawar and Revti Sule visited some companies on the premises of the Park and interacted with women workers. Baramati Hi-Tech Textile Park is one of 26 parks approved by the Union Ministry of Textiles. Under the chairmanship of Sunetra Pawar, this park was set up in the year 2008 over an area of 65 acres in Baramati in Pune district. A fierce electoral battle is playing out in the Baramati assembly constituency between Ajit Pawar, who revolted against uncle Sharad Pawar last year, and his nephew Yugendra Pawar.
The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
Ahead of its presidential poll, the Congress on Monday issued a set of guidelines for the election, debarring party office-bearers from campaigning for candidates.
Here is the lowdown of the each state and parties.
If Priyanka wins the Lok Sabha bypolls, it would be for the first time that three members of the Gandhi family will be in Parliament. Her mother Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.
'I told Rahul: "You have to become president. Taalne se nahin hoga (you can't avoid the responsibility any longer)".' 'Rahul said: "I will think about it".'
BJP candidate from Ballari City G Somasekhara Reddy has said his brother's wife and rival Kalyana Rajya Pragati Paksha (KRPP) candidate Aruna Laxmi is a 'housewife and has no idea about the problems of the constituency'.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
The Election Commission had on July 16 said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.
Doddamani has maintained a low profile; he has always worked actively behind the scenes in managing and strategising for Kharge's successive electoral campaign.
Fadnavis said that with this win in the Rajya Sabha elections, the BJP has started its victory march, which he said would continue till the next polls.
Maharashtra deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party president Ajit Pawar on Saturday won from his traditional Baramati assembly constituency by defeating his nephew and NCP-Sharadchandra Pawar candidate Yugendra Pawar by more than one lakh votes.
