While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
Six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who voted against party nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections, along with three Independent lawmakers, have shifted to a hotel in Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled Uttarakhand amid an ongoing rebellion against Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu.
In his absence, the party stares at uncertainty as many of its other senior leaders are either in jail or in political obscurity.
Jindal, 75, had been elected to the state assembly for the third time from the Hissar assembly constituency.
For now, Modi's government appears singularly focussed on demonstrating that it is not in any way inhibited by the BJP's loss of a majority, and will continue along its patented path of bulldozing all opposition and doing just as it likes, asserts Prem Panicker.
Voting will be held on Thursday in bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states -- a contest symbolic of the fierce turf war between the Bharatiya Janata Party and regional parties.
'They will not get more than two seats in Haryana if elections are held now.'
Chautala told reporters that his party believed the alliance was necessary for stability in Haryana.
Earlier, only Azad was scheduled to meet Sonia Gandhi.
Nath's resignation was accepted by party president Sonia Gandhi keeping in view the party's 'one person-one post' policy.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Polling began on Wednesday morning for by-elections to Adampur and Ratia assembly constituencies in Haryana, Bellary (rural) in Karnataka and for the Lok Sabha seat of Kolkata Dakshin in West Bengal.
Dushyant has now emerged as a leader of some reckoning in the Jat community, as well among Haryana's youth.
Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday termed the lathicharge on farmers in Haryana's Karnal a "government-sponsored attack" and said such a "vicious assault" was not only unacceptable but outright condemnable.
Despite the upbeat statement, the party is expected to reflect on what caused the sharp fall in its numbers. It is expected to win about 240 seats against the 303 it had won in 2019.
Amit Shah said simultaneous polls would curb expenditure.
For renomination to the Rajya Sabha, Nadda will have to look for a seat outside his home state of Himachal Pradesh as the Congress is in power there.
There is little doubt that the prime minister's own charisma exceeds that of his party, but 2024 is proof that no party can ultimately depend on one person to deliver victory all the time, points out R Jagannathan.
After his party lost power in Haryana in the 2014 polls, the 72-year-old satrap had nothing going in his favour.
In Maharashtra, Modi said that a chief minister has completed full term for the first time in 50 years and added that political stability is a must for an economically important state like it.
Instead of the special session earlier, the cabinet meeting, chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, decided to recommend to the Governor to convene the 21st session of the 14th Kerala Legislative Assembly on December 31 to discuss the farmers' issue.
The AIMIM chief claimed top leadership of the Congress has "ignored" important elections in Maharashtra and Haryana.
Voting will be held in a single phase in all these states.
Maharashtra and Haryana voted in assembly elections on Monday. Several prominent personalities also exercised their franchise.
'By naming Tejashwi as the next CM candidate, he has put us in a dilemma.' 'Who will lead us in 2025?' 'What will happen to the party after 2025?'
After their victory in the assembly polls in Haryana and Maharashtra, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday moved forward towards government formation in both states with party chief Amit Shah holding parleys with Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for charting out further strategy.
"Mock polls" are part of the first level check (FLC) process.
He said he had so far not spoken to either the BJP or the Congress on the matter.
Some of Independents claimed that the Congress and the BJP have been in touch with them.
The Congress may stand a better chance in the assembly polls if it followed the 'Himachal model', suggests N Sathiya Moorthy.
Shergill said the primary reason was that "the ideology and the vision of the current decision makers of the Congress is no longer in sync with the aspirations of the youth and modern India".
The case was registered against him by the Punjab Police on April 12.
The 31-year-old will have to do the balancing act between his anti-BJP support base and work with the Khattar-led dispensation for smooth governance.
"Special circumstances" exist in Punjab, Wasnik said and added that in view of these, the AAP and the Congress have decided to fight the Lok Sabha polls separately in the state.
The party is counting on women voters and caste calculus, among others, to swing the crucial polls in its favour
The BJP has played the social engineering card in Rajasthan with an eye on the Lok Sabha election where the party will try and retain all the 25 seats that it had won in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The SKM also gave a call for observing a nationwide 'Day of Betrayal' on January 31 against what it called the government's reneging on its assurances to the farmers on their demands, including legal guarantee of minimum support price (MSP) of crops.
"Have you heard him singing Rinkiya ke papa," Kejriwal talked about Delhi BJP chief Manoj Tiwari.
Indian National Lok Dal leader Om Prakash Chautala today said his party is the "only alternative" to the Congress in Haryana and claimed that success of a recent rally is an indication of wave in favour of INLD.
