As the Congress government in Karnataka completed the halfway mark of its five-year tenure on November 20, the power tussle within the party has intensified over a possible change of guard in the state, with a section claiming an alleged "power-sharing" agreement between Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar in 2023.
The Election Commission has issued a notification banning the conduct, publication or publicising of exit polls between 7.00 am to 6.30 pm on February 5 (Wednesday) when votes will be cast for the Delhi assembly and two bypolls in Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.
TMC leader Abhishek Banerjee challenges Amit Shah to a debate on governance, accusing the BJP of political manipulation and misrepresenting West Bengal's financial situation. He also criticised the BJP's record on women's safety and alleged the Centre was withholding funds from West Bengal.
BJP MP Nishikant Dubey has initiated a 'substantive motion' against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has criticised the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, alleging a decline in law and order and accusing them of using financial schemes to sway voters ahead of elections.
BJP leaders say Nitin Nabin's low-profile image has made him a favourite of Amit Shah, who was in search of such a leader to appoint to the top party position -- someone who follows the Modi-Shah line as BJP president without "ifs and buts".
'The people of Bangladesh have voted for a party that represents political interest.'
'It is a pro-Liberation party and it believes in the spirit of 1971, as opposed to the Jamaat-e-Islami, which was opposed to the Liberation struggle of Bangladesh in 1971.'
Both Mr Modi and Amit Shah like Nabin because they know he will never answer back, points out Aditi Phadnis.
This election is a thank you note to Nitish Babu from a grateful Bihari people, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Turning her guns on the Election Commission, Banerjee alleged that the BJP had "stolen" the mandate in Maharashtra with the poll panel's help and was now attempting to replicate it in Bengal through the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise by deleting genuine voters' names.
Congress candidates lost their security deposits on all but three seats in the Delhi assembly polls as nearly 80 per cent of all contenders, including those contesting independently, forfeited their deposits.
After a long absence from the public stage, after being routed in the Delhi assembly election in February, Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal launched the Ghar Rozgar Bachao Andolan (Save homes, jobs movement) at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on Sunday with a protest against the ongoing demolition drives in slum clusters in the city.
The Delhi assembly was on Wednesday dissolved, paving the way for fresh elections that will end the political hibernation since the Aam Aadmi Party government fell in February.
The Special Investigation Team (SIT) which is probing the alleged 'vote chori' (theft)' in the Aland Assembly segment in 2023 Assembly elections in Karnataka, has filed a charge sheet naming seven persons, including a former Bharatiya Janata Party MLA, his son and his close aide.
'The Congress has no positive vision for the country. The truth is that today the Congress has become the Muslimleegi Maowadi Congress -- MMC. The Congress' entire agenda revolves around this, so now a new faction is emerging within Congress itself, which is uncomfortable with this negative politics.'
Will Nitish Kumar file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha on Thursday morning?
The wife of Kerala Transport Minister K B Ganesh Kumar has dropped her complaint against him after he apologised, providing relief to the ruling LDF ahead of upcoming elections. However, the Congress party is demanding the minister's resignation, arguing the issue is not easily settled.
As votes for the Delhi assembly polls were counted on Saturday, latest data of the Election Commission showed that NOTA option got 0.57 per cent vote share as compared to 0.55 pet cent of the Bahujan Samaj Party and 0.01 per cent of Communist Party of India-Marxist.
Former Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Delhi Assembly, Vijender Gupta, has been chosen as the new Speaker of the Vidhan Sabha. Gupta, a BJP MLA from Rohini, vowed to immediately table 14 CAG reports allegedly withheld by the previous Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government upon taking charge. His election is a foregone conclusion due to the BJP's majority in the Assembly.
'We will give Rs 25,000 to parents having a second child or more at the time of delivery itself.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday declared a list of 62 candidates out of a total of 70 for the February 7 Delhi assembly elections, with its chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi contesting from Krishna Nagar and former Union Minister Krishna Tirath from Patel Nagar seat.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has approached the Calcutta High Court, seeking a CBI investigation into the role of West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, senior police officials and others for allegedly obstructing its raids in Kolkata against political consultancy firm I-PAC and its director in connection with an alleged coal scam.
'Marathi-speaking people of Mumbai have now emerged as a consolidated vote bank standing firmly behind the Thackerays.'
Popular folk singer Maithili Thakur has indicated her willingness to make her political debut from her hometown Benipatti in Madhubani district ahead of the Bihar assembly elections.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar clarified that Rahul Gandhi has only asked the state government to continue the good work, dismissing media reports of a specific message. Speculation arose after a brief conversation between Gandhi, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, and Shivakumar.
On the eve of counting of votes for the Delhi Assembly elections, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal accused the Election Commission (EC) of refusing to upload Form 17C, which contains details of votes polled per booth in each Assembly segment. In response, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has launched a website where it has uploaded Form 17C data for all the Assembly seats. Kejriwal stated that ensuring such transparency should have been the responsibility of the apex poll body. The office of the chief electoral officer responded by saying that the rule requiring presiding officers to furnish Form 17C to polling agents was complied with on the day of polling.
The Union cabinet on Tuesday recommended dissolution of the Delhi assembly, paving the way for fresh polls ending eight months of political hibernation after the fall of the Aam Aadmi Party government in February.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah directed BJP leaders to intensify grassroots outreach in West Bengal, setting performance benchmarks for the upcoming state elections. He emphasized party unity and the importance of booth-level workers.
The NC has won every assembly election in Budgam whenever it has fielded a candidate from the Shia-dominated segment. The only time the seat was not represented by the NC was in 1972 when the party had boycotted the polls across J-K.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has released the first part of its manifesto for the upcoming Delhi assembly elections, promising Rs 2,500 monthly aid for women, LPG cylinders at Rs 500, and Rs 2,500 pension for senior citizens. BJP president JP Nadda also assured that all existing public welfare schemes in Delhi will continue if the party is voted to power. The manifesto also includes a promise to implement the 'Ayushman Bharat' scheme in Delhi, providing additional health cover of Rs 5 lakh.
Modi asserted that his party will leave no stone unturned for the city's all-round development and making the lives of its residents better.
"The truth is that the election system in India is already dead. Please remember one thing that the prime minister of India enjoys a very slim majority. If 10-15 seats were rigged, and we suspect the actual figures to be closer to 70-80 to 100, he would not have been the prime minister of the country," the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha claimed.
He also told Shah that avoidable disruptions could potentially hinder the Mahayuti alliance's winning momentum and give undue advantage to the Opposition, they said.
The West Bengal government has filed FIRs against five state government employees for alleged lapses in electoral roll revisions, following an Election Commission ultimatum. The action comes after the EC directed the state to initiate criminal cases against the accused for adding fictitious names to voter lists.
AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal will meet Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann, state ministers, and party MLAs in Delhi on Tuesday amid growing speculation about internal dissent in the party's Punjab unit following AAP's rout in the Delhi Assembly elections. The meeting is expected to focus on analyzing the Delhi election results and strategizing for the Punjab polls scheduled in 2027. The AAP's Punjab unit has faced questions about internal cohesion, with some suggesting that the party's leadership in Delhi continues to exert significant influence over Punjab's governance. There are also speculations that Kejriwal could consider a more direct role in Punjab politics now, with some political observers suggesting that he could contest from the vacant Ludhiana assembly seat.
The National Democratic Alliance is busy with government formation in Bihar after its historic victory, and plans to distribute ministerial portfolios using the same formula as ticket allocation. Nitish Kumar will stay on as chief minister, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Lok Janshakti Party (Ram Vilas) are likely to get one deputy chief minister each.
'Are elections still fair in India, or are we all witness to a macabre style of 'selection' of lawmakers? The jury will be out on this for a long time because there is no definitive evidence on either contention, at least as yet,' notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author, Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
The Congress party has alleged that approximately 23 lakh women's names have been removed from the voter list in Bihar, particularly in constituencies with close contests in the 2020 elections. They claim this is a deliberate act of 'vote theft' orchestrated by the ruling party through the Election Commission.
During this Ramzan, another religious practice was turned into an offence: Breaking the fast, or iftar.
'Every party want to contest more seats, nothing wrong in it. We have to compromise to take all together as the NDA.'
