Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
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.
'Congress leaders are ready to lose the election and not form the government, but are never ready to share seats with others.'
The Enforcement Directorate conducted searches at premises linked to Punjab industries minister Sanjeev Arora as part of a FEMA probe into alleged foreign exchange violations, insider trading, and round-tripping of funds.
With the fourth and fifth lists, the party has declared candidates on 88 of the 90 seats.
Indian National Lok Dal president and five-time Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala died in Gurugram on Friday at the age of 89.
After hectic parleys and much back and forth with the INDIA bloc allies, the Congress also ended up going into the polls with its original plan of largely going solo.
The BJP registered emphatic victories in seven municipal corporations in Haryana, while its nominees were leading in two other civic bodies in the recently held elections. The Congress, which was hoping to improve its electoral fortunes after a defeat in the 2024 Assembly polls, suffered another setback. The BJP candidates won with large margins in Faridabad, Gurugram, Hisar, Karnal, Rohtak, Sonipat, and Ambala. The BJP was also leading in Yamunanagar and Panipat. In Manesar, an Independent candidate, Inderjeet Yadav, won the mayoral election. The results are seen as a major setback for the Congress, which has been facing internal turmoil and factionalism.
Amritpal Singh, chief of 'Waris Punjab De', will be formally arrested again by Punjab Police after his detention under the National Security Act (NSA) ends. He will remain in Dibrugarh Central Jail, where he has been lodged for three years, and face trial via video-conferencing in the Ajnala police station attack case.
Besides Hooda, Bhan and Phogat, the Congress has fielded Mewa Singh from Ladwa to take on Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini.
The voter turnout recorded in the 2019 assembly polls was around 68 per cent.
Opposition leaders have criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi's address to the nation, calling it politically motivated and a misuse of official platforms during ongoing elections.
The results of the assembly elections will be announced on October 8.
Gandhi said the Congress was looking into the results of Haryana assembly polls.
Haryana has recorded a voter turnout of 67.90 per cent with Ellenabad assembly seat in Sirsa district witnessing the highest polling percentage at over 80 per cent, according to the updated figures of the Election Commission on Sunday.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday clinched a stunning hat-trick win in Haryana overcoming anti-incumbency and dashing Congress' hopes of a comeback while the National Conference-Congress combine pulled off a spectacular victory in maiden elections in Jammu and Kashmir after abrogation of Article 370 in 2019.
Since it was formed 58 years ago, Haryana has had Jat chief ministers for 33 of those.
The BJP received 39.94 percent votes, while the Congress managed 39.09 percent in the assembly polls.
In videos circulating on social media, the model -- identified as Lariss Nery -- claimed that the picture shown in Gandhi's presentation was taken when she was "about 20 years old."
Rahul Gandhi alleges that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls is an attempt to cover up "vote theft" and institutionalize it, claiming similar incidents occurred in other states.
Sources said the leaders during the meeting discussed the possible reasons for the "unexpected" results in Haryana and decided to set up the team to ascertain the reasons behind such results and also look into complaints of "discrepancies" in EVMs, as alleged by party candidates.
The Congress on Tuesday said it cannot accept the Haryana assembly polls verdict as there were 'serious issues' about the integrity of the counting process and functioning of the EVMs in some districts, and asserted that it would take up the matter with the Election Commission.
BIf you know this BJP, it will now go forward to Jharkhand and Maharashtra as if June 2024 never happened, notes Shekhar Gupta.
The party has fielded sitting MLA Rajendra Singh Joon from the Bahadurgarh seat.
BJP state chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar dismisses Rahul Gandhi's charge of a BJP-CPI(M) understanding in Kerala as baseless, asserting the NDA is competitive and criticising Congress's performance.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
A day after Congress' defeat in the Haryana polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday said the Congress is an irresponsible party and a factory to 'spread hatred' which wants to divide Hindus and pit one community against another.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana by bucking anti-incumbency, managed to make significant inroads into the Dalit seats and Jat strongholds.
The Election Commission will announce the schedule for assembly elections on Friday afternoon.
Wrestlers Bajrang Punia and Vinesh Phogat met former Congress president Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Wednesday amid speculation that the two star grapplers could be fielded in the Haryana assembly polls by the party.
Haryana is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party facing anti-incumbency and a resurgent Congress.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Wednesday slammed ally Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray's MP Sanjay Raut for his remarks on Haryana poll outcome, stressing that accusations against Congress won't be tolerated.
The Indian National Lok Dal will contest all 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana, senior party leader Abhay Singh Chautala said on Thursday.
'Whenever the hike in voting percentage is more, the NDA gains more, and when the hike is negligible, the NDA falls.' 'I have established this in UP, Haryana and Jharkhand.'
The BJP has dismissed Rahul Gandhi's claims of vote theft in the Haryana Assembly polls as false and baseless, accusing him of defaming India's democracy and questioning the Election Commission to hide his failures.
Olympic medalist Yogeshwar Dutt has criticised Vinesh Phogat's handling of her disqualification at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Yogeshwar, a bronze medalist at the 2012 London Olympics, believes that Vinesh should have taken responsibility for her actions rather than blaming external factors.
While Joon was a Congress rebel, Kadyan fought as an Independent after the BJP denied him ticket.
Congress does unto AAP what Kejriwal's party had done to it in Haryana.
'Arithmetic could decide the Haryana election given the presence of multi-cornered contests.'
