'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
The poll panel also referred to the instances of "inappropriate vocabulary and language" used during the ongoing campaign by persons, "in particular, by those invested with the statutory status of star campaigner".
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought a reply from the Lok Sabha secretary general on Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra's plea challenging her expulsion from the Lower House.
A Taiwanese Olympic gold medallist has lost his appeal against a ruling which barred him from taking part in an election for the International Olympic Committee (IOC) athletes' commission last year.
The CBI has alleged that Singh had transferred funds through hawala channels to Chariot Media that was handling the AAP's publicity campaign during the Goa elections, the officials said.
In an emphatic victory for the Modi government, the Supreme Court on Monday unanimously upheld its decision to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution that bestowed special status upon the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir, ordered restoration of statehood "at the earliest" and set a September 30, 2024, deadline for holding the assembly elections.
With the election campaign in Karnataka witnessing a bitter war of words between the BJP and the Congress, both the parties rushed to the Election Commission, seeking ban on electioneering by top leaders of the other side.
FIFA has rejected a demand from a presidential candidate to use transparent voting booths at next week's election to ensure delegates do not photograph their ballot papers when they choose the head of football's world ruling body.
The Delhi high court on Thursday reserved its order on an appeal by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray challenging a single judge's decision dismissing his plea against an Election Commission interim order freezing the Shiv Sena name and election symbol.
The Election Commission on Thursday said that there were 'multiple factors' leading to the delay in the announcement of the Gujarat assembly polls, adding that the recent Morbi bridge collapse tragedy was one of them.
The Delhi high court on Wednesday directed the Centre to hold elections that are overdue in all sports federations.
Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, the sources said.
Taking cognisance of their alleged controversial remarks against Narendra Modi and Azam Khan respectively in election speeches, the Election Commission on Thursday issued show cause notices to Union minister Beni Prasad Verma and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Vinay Katiyar for prima facie violating the Model Code of Conduct.
He called it the party's attempt at trying to lock up those who worship Hanuman. He claimed that the Congress had earlier locked up Lord Rama and now it wanted to lock up those who chant 'Jai Bajrang Bali' (Hail Hanuman).
The Central Bureau of Investigation has arrested the commercial head and production controller of India Ahead News in connection with a probe into the alleged Delhi excise scam, officials said Monday.
Terming former media adviser Sanjaya Baru's controversial account of his days in the PMO as "nothing but a stab in the back", Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's daughter has accused him of "violating" the PM's trust while branding the book an "unethical", "mischievous" exercise.
In the manifesto for the polls released in Bengaluru by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in the presence of the state unit chief D K Shivakumar and Congress Legislature Party leader Siddaramaiah and others, the party reiterated its five guarantees: Gruha Jyothi, Gruha Lakshmi, Anna Bhagya, Yuva Nidhi and Shakti.
With Beijing remaining intransigent on the withdrawal of additional troops deployed by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) since the deadly border clash in 2020 in eastern Ladakh, India's bilateral ties with China remained frozen in 2023 with no forward movement on the horizon despite several rounds of diplomatic and military talks.
Referring to section 6A of the Citizenship Act applicable exclusively to Assam, a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said governments have to make compromises for the overall well-being of the nation.
Baghel along with some supporters was in Noida for a door-to-door campaign in support of Congress' Pankhuri Pathak when the alleged violations took place.
'The right to vote is the supreme right of democracy which is being executed through EVMs. No nationally or internally recognized institutions or governments have certified the EVMs as a cent per cent accurate. Despite this fact, by conducting polling using the machines in India, which is the biggest democracy in the world, the constitutional right of my vote is being violated. There is no guarantee whether my vote is cast in favour of whom I pressed the button through the EVM machine,' he said.
'Initially, we had 48 teams, now it has been enhanced to 133 teams: that is for every 10 to 12 villages, there is a team that is working round the clock.' '133 x 3, that is, given the 8-hour shifts.' 'They are monitored every hour, they are equipped with GPS -- everything is tracked live, real time, from the control room.'
'In India, legal advocates and faith leaders from across the country's diverse religious communities condemned a case of extreme hate speech against Muslims in the city of Haridwar, calling for the country to uphold its historical traditions of pluralism and tolerance'
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
The opposition alliance that will take on the ruling National Democratic Alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be called Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) and an 11-member committee will be set up for coordination, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge announced after a meeting of the parties in Bengaluru.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Saturday filed a complaint against Bharatiya Janata Party's chief ministerial candidate Kiran Bedi with the Election Commission over an alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct in her constituency, Krishna Nagar.
Xi has already been elected as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party of China at its once-in-five-year congress in October last year.
Forty MLAs from violence-hit Manipur have written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi stating that the state requires complete disarmament to foster an environment of peace and security.
The state Election Commission also issued certain guidelines for not using the coming festive days for political purpose in the seats where polling would take place in next phases.
Given the reality of the disparity and the enormous shift over the last 50 years, this can be done without an open and frank conversation with the people, something that has not begun and, knowing the style of our leader, is not expected to begin, asserts Aakar Patel.
