Rajya Sabha elections in Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana were marred by allegations of cross-voting and 'horse trading', leading to suspensions and warnings from the Congress party.
The Congress party has issued a show-cause notice to a fifth MLA from Haryana, Jarnail Singh, for alleged cross-voting during the recent Rajya Sabha elections, further exposing internal rifts within the state unit.
AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami met with new district secretaries to discuss the party's future strategy amid an ongoing internal rift. The meeting follows the removal of senior leaders and cross-voting during a recent confidence vote.
The AIADMK is facing a deeper crisis as factions clash over the floor test of the TVK government, with accusations of defying party directives and demands for disqualification under the anti-defection law.
Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay-led TVK government successfully won the trust vote in the Tamil Nadu assembly, securing 144 votes in favour, with support from the Congress, VCK, and an AIADMK rebel faction.
Former Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda has accused the state government of imposing arbitrary conditions on crop purchases, alleging anti-farmer policies and demanding compensation for weather-related crop damage.
The Congress party in Haryana boycotted a special session of the state assembly, accusing the ruling BJP of using the platform for political propaganda related to a defeated Constitution amendment bill on women's reservation. The BJP criticised the Congress's move as anti-women.
The ruling NDA alliance has secured a majority in the Rajya Sabha elections, winning key seats in Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana, while other candidates were elected unopposed across multiple states. The elections were marked by cross-voting allegations and political maneuvering.
Haryana Congress MLAs will visit 'mandis' to assess and support farmers facing difficulties in wheat and mustard procurement, following a decision made at a Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting in Delhi.
Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien criticizes the government's focus on cross-voting in the vice presidential poll, urging attention to issues like US tariffs, Manipur violence, and MGNREGA funds.
Two individuals have been arrested in Bengaluru for allegedly attempting to bribe Odisha Congress MLAs, who are staying at a resort, as part of what Karnataka's Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar claims is the BJP's 'Operation Lotus'.
The Congress party in Odisha has moved its MLAs to Karnataka due to concerns about cross-voting in the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. Meanwhile, the BJD has called for meetings of its legislators.
The Rajya Sabha elections saw several candidates elected unopposed, including Sharad Pawar and Ramdas Athawale, while Bihar, Odisha, and Haryana prepare for contested elections.
Two members of the Pawar family, Sharad Pawar and his grandnephew Parth, are contesting Rajya Sabha seats from Maharashtra, marking a potential first where both serve simultaneously in Parliament.
The Congress party has announced its support for Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra.
A dispute has erupted between MVA allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress after the Sena (UBT) supported the BJP in the Chandrapur mayoral elections, leading to a BJP victory despite Congress being the single largest party.
The Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has sent its corporators to Malaysia to prevent cross-voting in the upcoming Vishakapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) mayoral election on April 19. The YSRCP, which holds a majority in the GVMC, is also planning to shift its corporators abroad to prevent poaching from the TDP. The TDP corporators are being sent to Malaysia to avoid pressure and influence from the YSRCP, according to a TDP corporator.
The BJP won the Chandigarh mayoral election on Thursday, defeating the AAP-Congress alliance. Harpreet Kaur Babla of the BJP was elected as the new mayor, while the AAP-Congress alliance won the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor. The victory of the BJP candidate indicated that cross-voting took place during polling. The Supreme Court had previously overturned the result of the 2023 mayoral poll, which had seen the BJP candidate win despite allegations of tampering with ballots. The court had ordered prosecution of the returning officer for the poll, Anil Masih, a BJP leader, for his "misdemeanour." The court had also declared defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the new city mayor. This latest victory is a significant win for the BJP in the city and represents a setback for the AAP-Congress alliance.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including Janata Dal-Secular contestant D Kupendra Reddy.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Four Samajwadi Party MLAs who cross-voted for the Bharatiya Janata Party in the February 27 Rajya Sabha elections have been allocated Y-category security, a senior government official said on Sunday.
Action will be taken against such MLAs, he said.
Radhakrishnan defeated INDIA bloc nominee Justice B Sudershan Reddy by 152 votes in the Vice Presidential elections held between 10 am and 5 pm on Tuesday.
The disqualified MLAs are Rajinder Rana, Sudhir Sharma, Inder Dutt Lakhanpal, Devinder Kumar Bhutoo, Ravi Thakur and Chetanya Sharma.
The Congress on Monday shifted all its MLAs to a hotel ahead of the biennial election to fill four vacancies from Karnataka in Rajya Sabha apparently to keep the flock together.
A sizeable number of MLAs from across state assemblies cross-voted in support of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, defying their parties' stated support to Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, sources said on Thursday.
A notification in this regard was issued on Thursday evening which further said that these six MLAs ceased to be members of Himachal Pradesh legislative assembly with effect from February 29.
The Congress had 31 MLA and needed as many votes to win the Rajya Sabha seat from Haryana, but one of its legislators cross-voted and another's vote was cancelled.
Cross-voting was held during the Rajya Sabha elections and the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls last month.
AIADMK leader Edappadi K Palaniswami is under pressure from his party as his unclear stand on the BJP alliance has brought back fears among party workers that the party may lose its identity, be forced into an unwanted coalition, and be taken over by the BJP later, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Leader of Opposition Gulab Chand Kataria issued an order stating Kushwah voted for Tiwari despite a whip and that she was being suspended from the BJP's primary membership.
Several legislators in states on Monday said they have cross-voted in favour of National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu by not following their respective party lines in the presidential election.
Praful Patel said all the MLAs of the NCP, the Congress, and the Shiv Sena voted as per the party line.
EPS' acceptance of Amit Shah's proposal for an electoral alliance with the BJP is being interpreted to mean how the AIADMK has signed up the NDA national leader as a junior partner. Not many have appreciated EPS for this strategic move that has now forced the BJP to play second fiddle to the AIADMK. This has meant that the BJP has buried its ambitions of capturing power in Tamil Nadu now, and is willing to wait until after the 2029 Lok Sabha polls, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Wary of the possibility of cross-voting during the polling for two Rajya Sabha seats, the Congress is likely to take its Haryana MLAs to the party-ruled Chhattisgarh to protect them from poaching.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The BJP won both the Rajya Sabha seats from Assam.
Even as the Bharatiya Janata Party won all five seats it contested in the Maharashtra legislative council elections on Monday, Mohit Kamboj, its leader from Mumbai, claimed that three MLAs of the party indulged in "cross-voting".
These MLAs are: Shankarsinh Vaghela, his son Mahendrasinh, Raghavji Patel, Bhola Gohil, Dharmendra Jadeja, P K Raulji, Amit Chaudhary, Karan Patel.
BJP claimed close to 116 lawmakers from rival parties appeared to have voted for Kovind.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances