The Bharatiya Janata Party replaced at least 25 sitting MPs with new faces as the party released its second list of 72 candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls on Wednesday.
In its exit poll released after the voting on May 10, India Today-Axis My India predicted a clear majority for the Congress with 122-140 seats and gave the BJP 62-80 seats. It gave 20-25 seats to the JD-S.
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
The Bharatiya Janata Party had won 30 of the total 50 seats in the region in the 2018 assembly polls, followed by Congress 17, Janata Dal-Secular 2, and others (KPJP-Shankar) 1.
It said two of the key accused were Islamic State of Iraq and Syria radicals, who used fraudulently obtained "Indian SIM cards and Indian bank accounts" besides "various Indian and Bangladeshi Identity documents downloaded from the dark web (which is accessible only through specialised browsers) in carrying out their nefarious activities.
The Congress on Wednesday released a list of 40 leaders who would be the party's star campaigners for the May 10 assembly elections.
Gandhi said the 5 'guarantees' promised by the party will be implemented within a few hours after the first Cabinet meeting.
While the party's vote share jumped by more than four per cent, the Janata Dal-Secular saw a sharp fall of more than five per cent, according to Election Commission data on the assembly elections.
With the Bihar government releasing the findings of its caste survey, pressure seems to be mounting on the Karnataka government, especially within the ruling Congress, to make the state's Socio-economic and Educational Census, popularly known as the 'caste census', public.
The Bharatiya Janata Party suffered stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states, partial poll results showed Tuesday, forcing the party to rely on allies to form the government after a bitter and divisive election that was projected as a referendum on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has said he is "more than happy" to take responsibility for everything wrong the party did in its history, including the 1984 Sikh riots. He acknowledged that the party made "a lot of mistakes" when he was not there, but said he has publicly stated that what happened in the 80s was "wrong." The remarks were made during an interaction at Brown University in the US. The video of the interaction was uploaded on the YouTube channel of the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs on Saturday. The BJP has criticized Gandhi for his remarks, accusing him of "ridiculing" the beliefs of Hindus and Sikhs.
Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said his government has decided to hand over the Hubballi student murder case to the Crime Investigation Department and that a special court will be set up for its speedy disposal.
He also announced unemployment allowance for the youth, as the party's fourth poll guarantee, on coming to power.
The party fielded Maneka Gandhi from Sultanpur, while Uttar Pradesh minister Jitin Prasada has replaced Varun Gandhi in Pilibhit.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
The stakes are significant for the BJP in this round as the party had in 2019 won an overwhelming majority of these seats, including all in Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, that will go to polls on May 7.
More than Rs 8 crore unaccounted cash has been seized in subsequent raids at various locations by Lokayukta. The arrested officer's father is Madal Virupakshappa, the MLA representing Channagiri constituency in Davangere district of the state.
Rediff Labs has developed a Sentiment Meter for the 2023 battle of Karnataka.
Denials poured in on change in the leadership in Karnataka, amid buzz over such a move by the Bharatiya Janata Party high command ahead of the assembly polls next year, as Union Minister Amit Shah was on a day-long visit to take part in various events in Bengaluru on Tuesday.
However, the architects of the Congress's success, if the leads turn into the winning seats -- local Karnataka Congress leaders Siddaramaiah and DK Shivakumar or Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge -- were missing from the video.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
The party bagged 11 of the 25 seats, from 20 Local Authorities' constituencies in the state, for which the biennial election was held on December 10, and counting was taken up today, poll officials said.
The Old Mysuru region, the community's stronghold, comprises Ramanagara, Mandya, Mysuru, Chamarajanagar, Kodagu, Kolar, Tumakuru and Hassan districts.
This will be the fourth stint for Yeddyurappa as the chief minister -- the last one was after the May 2018 assembly polls.
Two-time chief minister and five-time MLA Janata Dal-Secular leader H D Kumaraswamy has once again demonstrated his political acumen by bagging a seat in the union council of ministers, despite his party joining the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance just last year.
Voting came to an end for the Karnataka assembly elections on Wednesday at 6 pm with data showing a voter turnout of 65.69 per cent an hour ago.
'In Western UP, last time a lot of Dalits voted for the BJP.' 'This time, there is a rethink among Dalits about the extent of their support for the BJP.'
Conveying good wishes to people of the state and all political parties for the New Year, he however wished that the Congress comes to power.
The Karnataka election is being seen as the semi-final to the 2019 general elections and appears to be heading towards a close fight
Both the BJP and the Congress have their share of challenges, with finding winning horses on top of this list.
Some explicit video clips allegedly involving Prajwal had started making the rounds in Hassan in recent days.
"You are made to read lies, so please don't read it," BJP members said.
Some of them also carried pictures of Lord Hanuman as party workers and leaders assembled at Indira Bhawan, the state Congress office, and distributed sweets, threw gulal powder and burst firecrackers.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, and Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar supremo Sharad Pawar were among the famous faces who queued up at the polling booths on Tuesday to caste their votes in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
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.
However, it fell nine seats short of a majority.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
Chandrappa's appointment follows the demise of KPCC working president and former MP R Dhruvanarayana.
