'The BJP is doing politics 24x365, but the Congress revs up only during elections.'
Following the party's sweep of assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states against the odds, the BJP's brain trust is now busy game-planning as to how it can improve on its 2019 Lok Sabha election tally of 303 seats.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hailed the party's performance in the Karnataka assembly polls as the victory of politics that unites the country.
Even as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party was defeated in the Karnataka assembly elections, the party retained its traditional stronghold in the coastal region by securing victories in 11 of the 13 constituencies in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi.
For the BJP, Telangana is a sunrise state in the South, while Karnataka is a southern success despite the ups and downs.
The ruling BJP-led coalition ended Samajwadi Party leader Azam Khan's over four-decade dominance in Rampur with its ally Apna Dal-Sonelal winning the Suar assembly by-election by a margin of 8,724 votes.
Polling is being held for 224 seats in what is being seen mainly as a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal-Secular.
'These frequent visits show the BJP fears that the Congress will retain power.'
Opposition leaders on Saturday lauded the Congress for its victory in Karnataka and thanked the people of the state, saying that this win has showed that 'Modi is not invincible'.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the verdict is a victory of democracy.
The top court also postponed the August 28 elections of the AIFF by one week to allow a changed electoral college and the start of the nomination process.
Several pollsters have predicted that the Congress may have an edge in Karnataka, which is BJP's southern citadel, in a hung assembly with a couple of them even projecting that the grand old party may get a majority on its own.
'Muslims may turn to the BJP or may not come out to vote in great numbers like they have in the past.' 'Anything can happen.' 'They can feel an increased sense of alienation, but that depends on the BJP -- on how it includes them.'
August 15, 2023 became for me, an extraordinary Independence Day. I will remember it as the day the country's largest political party -- one that struts around like a colossus and tutors us in apt behaviour -- suddenly looked bankrupt in terms of ideas and had to take out a personal guarantee from the prime minister to underscore its capacity to deliver our future, observes Shyam G Menon.
Sixty-six such parties claimed IT exemption in FY20 without complying with statutory requirements under the Representation of the People Act and 2,174 have not submitted contribution reports, the EC said.
Priyanka Gandhi led the party's charge in Himachal Pradesh with several rallies and was also closely involved in strategy planning for the polls.
Corporate India tempered its victory celebrations for the supposedly business-friendly Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance's landslide electoral victory by highlighting the need for immediate steps to create jobs through inclusive economic growth.
Netanyahu, who has won the backing of 64 Members of the Knesset (Israeli Parliament), has been assigned the task to form the next government, a statement from the Presidency said.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Markets hope the Budget will steer spending towards infrastructure.
The voting will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm after the electioneering came to an end on Saturday, 48 hours before the electorate begin casting their votes.
'By design or default, the BJP's election strategy militated against the very essence of Karnataka politics and the idea of Karnataka.'
It will be the first major electoral contest in the state after Shinde's rebellion brought down the previous Maharashtra government led by Uddhav Thackeray in June this year.
... And it's not just fear of job losses, says Ajit Balakrishnan.
Major American media outlets started calling Biden the winner after it became clear that he has taken a major lead against Republican incumbent Donald Trump in the battleground State of Pennsylvania, which has 20 electoral college votes, making him cross the benchmark of the 270 electoral college votes.
The top guns of all the major political parties were on a campaign blitz across the state in the past few days, even as the ruling BJP has been striving to break the 38-year-old pattern of alternating governments and retain its southern citadel.
A total of 69.96 per cent of 28.13 lakh voters exercised their franchise in the Tripura assembly elections till 3 pm on Thursday, amid sporadic incidents of violence, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao said.
The Delhi high court on Friday refused to interfere with the arrest and subsequent police remand of NewsClick founder Prabir Purkayastha and portal's human resources department head Amit Chakravarty in a case lodged under anti-terror law Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Over 83 per cent of the more than 13 lakh electorate cast their vote on Monday in the single-day Nagaland state election which passed off by and large peacefully, Chief Electoral Officer V Shashank Shekhar said.
A renewed energy seems to have been infused into the 75-year old Congress leader Siddaramaiah's gait as he walked to address a packed press conference in Mysore on Saturday.
'I have filed my nomination for AIFF president's post and I feel I am the right person for the job'
'Had it not been for the complicity of the state and Biren Singh's leadership, these riots would not have spread this far and for so long.'
Top state leaders--Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, Congress' Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar and Janata Dal-Secular leader HD Kumaraswamy are contesting from different seats.
'The coronation of Yogi Adityanath as the surprise chief minister should set at rest all speculation over the nature of the UP mandate,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
No one at this point no one in the state is talking about a clean sweep with high victory margins that the AIADMK front won in the 2011 assembly elections. The 'Modi factor', as against a 'Modi wave', has ensured as much, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Netanyahu's right-wing Likud party has claimed a stunning victory in the election.
Tamil Nadu is the celebrated home of the 'social justice' movement in the country, yet caste differences and violence has only been increasing in numbers and becoming more brutal in recent years, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Donations received in form of electoral bonds were not included in the filing.
What is most troubling is that not a single party that is part of INDIA has talked about any kind of reform and economic sense, argues R Jagannathan.
The Congress, by and large, focused on local issues in this election and its campaign also was run by state leaders initially.
