Considering the anticipatory bail plea moved by George, the high court granted him interim relief with conditions.
While Muraleedharan said his party would actively work for UDF's victory, Chennitala said he was happy that all Congressmen were reuniting under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi.
As voters queued up in Kerala to cast their ballot in the assembly polls on Wednesday, Union defence minister and senior Congress leader AK Antony reiterated that the United Democratic Front will come to power in the state with a thumping majority.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Haripad, the rural assembly segment in Kerala's rice bowl Kuttanad, has gained greater political significance with the entry of KPCC president Ramesh Chennithala as the United Democratic Front candidate.
Asked how many seats INDIA bloc will get, Gandhi said, "Have you heard Sidhu Moose Wala's song '295'? So 295 (seats)."
Another meeting convened by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at his residence in New Delhi on Wednesday with the floor leaders of the INDIA constituents in Parliament will, however, go ahead according to its schedule to formulate the opposition strategy for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Modi hit out at the Congress for its president Mallikarjun Kharge's attempt to play down his party's poor show in the polls by describing it as "small state elections".
The LDF would meet on Sunday to discuss matters related to ministry formation, Vijayan said when asked about the nature of the new ministry.
It may be for the first time that any leader in any political party in Kerala had taken such a step to register their protest against the party leadership for denying poll ticket.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
If Kerala wants to sustain its room for independent thinking and talk back to Delhi when needed, it should put its finances in order. Or - if one takes the North East example - Kerala's political posturing may end up commensurate with its financial dependence on others, suggests Shyam G Menon.
Raut also said the "ongoing Mahabharat" in West Bengal is more fierce than the real Mahabharat.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's two-day 'Chintan Baithak' began at Cherai on Wednesday to discuss the party's strategy for the local bodies elections in September and the assembly polls due next year.
A court in Wayanad on Wednesday directed the police to register a case against Bharatiya Janata Party Kerala chief K Surendran on charges of bribing tribal leader and Janathipathya Rashtreeya Party (JRP) president C K Janu to contest as an NDA candidate in the Mananathavady Assembly constituency in the April 6 elections.
Seeking to reach out to the fishing community in poll-bound Kerala, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday interacted with the fishermen at Thangassery beach in the district.
The central election committee of the Bharatiya Janata Party will meet on Thursday to finalise its first list of candidates for five assembly polls, with top party leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, expected to attend the meeting.
The recently held presidential election and the historic victory of Droupadi Murmu are likely to create political ripples in Kerala as the NDA candidate received an unexpected vote from the southern state.
RS member Derek O'Brien said due to the polls, MPs of his party would not be able to attend the Parliament session.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
Chacko, who quit the Congress over his differences with the party leaders in Kerala, said NCP is a partner of the CPIM-led Left Democratic Front in the southern state and he would work for the victory of the Left candidates in the April 6 Assembly polls.
The party was trounced in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh and is now left with only Himachal Pradesh in the north. It is ruling in only three states on its own and is in power in Bihar and Jharkhand as a junior partner in alliance with regional parties.
Balakrishnan, who filed his nomination from Thalassery assembly constituency in Kannur district, declared that he has Rs 36.20 lakh worth assets and his wife Rs 40.45 lakh.
The Congress fared poorly, drawing a blank in West Bengal and failing to win back power in Kerala and Assam, besides losing Puducherry. The party only came to power with the help of its ally Dravida Munnetra Kazagham in Tamil Nadu.
Flaying both the Congress-led United Democratic Front and Bharatiya Janata Party-National Democratic Alliance and a section of the "right wing" media for trying to tarnish the image of the government and its development and welfare programmes, he said the people have rejected their 'vicious propaganda' by giving the Left a decisive mandate.
The Aam Aadmi Party has decided to launch a massive membership drive in the southern states to build on the momentum of its stupendous victory in the Punjab assembly polls.
Vijayan, who filed his nomination on Monday, submitted he has immovable assets worth Rs 51.95 lakh, including two plots with a house. He has movable assets valued at Rs 2.04 lakh including Rs 78,048.51 in his bank account in the SBI, Thalassery Branch, 1000 shares worth Rs 10,000 in Malayalam Communication Ltd and shares worth Rs one lakh at KIAL. According to the affidavit, his total income is shown as Rs 2,87,860 for 2020-21.
Addressing an election rally at Pattambi, Kumar deplored the statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi comparing Kerala with Somalia.
The priority in ticket distribution will be given to youth, women, and those with a clean image, he said.
It will be a 'tough fight' between the Left Front and the Trinamool Congress in this month's assembly polls in West Bengal while in Kerala the Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front had an 'edge' over the Congress-led United Democratic Front, Communist Party of India General Secretary A B Bardhan said on Friday.
Like, Share, Subscribe, Vote: The 2024 polls may be dubbed 'YouTube election'.
While the opposition alliance is putting up a united front in Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand's Dumri, Dhanpur and Boxanagar in Tripura and Uttarakhand's Bageshwar, its constituents are contesting against each other in Dhupguri in West Bengal and Puthuppally in Kerala.
With elections elsewhere in India showing that multi-pronged contests usually work to the BJP's favour, the party can gain if it hangs on stubbornly. In the meantime, any additional support helps. That is why the archbishop's comment attracted political traction in Kerala, observes Shyam G Menon.
The Bharatiya Janata Party lined up several promises, including a legislation to protect traditions of the Ayyappa temple at Sabarimala and a law against "love jihad", while assuring employment for at least one person from each family and free laptops to high school students, in its manifesto for the assembly polls unveiled in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Sunday alleged that the Congress-led United Democratic Front Opposition was hatching a conspiracy to create violence during the coming assembly polls and the death of five Indian Union Muslim League activists engaged in making bombs was an indication of that.
'As we enter 2025, it must be acknowledged that there is a convergence of capital, influential people (from business and politics) and technology deciding the destiny of others in the name of pride, patriotism, nationalism, nation building, all of it thinly veiled disguises for personal profit and glory,' asserts Shyam G Menon.
'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
Close to half of the total 543 Lok Sabha seats are bracing for multi-cornered fight this time, making the contest way more interesting and intense than it was in the 2019 elections.
Leaders from 26 opposition parties, in power individually or in alliance in Delhi and 10 states, are meeting in Bengaluru to discuss strategy to take on the Narendra Modi-led NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
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