Bypolls will be held on Wednesday in 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand. The bypolls, however, will not have any direct impact on the respective legislative assemblies. The results will be declared on November 23. In Uttar Pradesh, polling will be held in Katehari, Karhal, Meerapur, Ghaziabad, Majhawan, Sisamau, Khair, Phulpur and Kundarki. Ninety candidates are in the fray in these seats with the maximum of 14 in Ghaziabad. This will be the first electoral test of the INDIA bloc as well as the NDA in the politically-crucial state after the Lok Sabha elections. In Punjab, bypolls will be held in four assembly seats - Gidderbaha, Dera Baba Nanak, Chabbewal (SC) and Barnala. The bypolls were necessitated after MLAs representing them were elected to the Lok Sabha. Polling will also be held for the Palakkad seat in Kerala and Kedarnath in Uttarakhand.
'Vote banks will change affiliations and the BJP will come out with good success in Kerala.'
Just eight months after its good showing in the Lok Sabha polls, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) seems to be running out of steam with internal bickering and conflicting ambitions resulting in diminishing electoral returns that have once again put the Bharatiya Janata Party in the driver's seat in national politics.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced the formation of a panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to study the relationship between the Union and state governments and ensure state autonomy. The panel, which will submit its interim report in January 2026 and its final report in two years, will examine the transfer of subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List, citing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as an example of a subject outside state purview.
Prime ministers turning up with such frequency to launch trains is an indication of the political mileage resident in public transport. Will our railways step out of the government's shadow? After all, they are the ones manufacturing trains and running them, notes Shyam G Menon.
Inaugurating the solidarity rally, Venugopal, a Rajya Sabha MP, strongly condemned the war unleashed by Israel in Gaza and their attacks against hospitals and refugee camps there.
"Everyone knows the situation in Kerala. Amit Shah should tell what is wrong here...minorities in Karnataka face widespread attacks whereas religious minorities are safe in Kerala," the chief minister said, adding that Kerala is the only place where the 'communal propaganda of Sangh Parivar' is not working.
The film falsely claims Hindu women converted, got radicalised and were deployed in terror missions in India and the world, according to the ruling CPI-M and opposition Congress in Kerala.
Sharing a poster of the movie, Tharoor had tweeted on Sunday, "It may be 'your' Kerala story. It is not 'our' Kerala story."
The CM said that the film exposes the conspiracies of 'love jihad', religious conversion and terrorism and its "hideous" face.
A police complaint has been lodged at Barakhamba police station in Delhi, against 26 Opposition parties "for improper use of the name of INDIA and use of the said name for the undue influence and personation at elections."
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
Union Minister and Kerala Congress leader, Vayalar Ravi has reacted with shock at the death of former Kerala Chief Minister K Karunkaran. Ravi told rediff.com on phone from New Delhi that this is a great loss not only for Kerala but for the Congress as a whole.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
'While some women allow themselves to be exploited so that they can climb up the ladder, there are many voiceless and silent people who get exploited by men in powerful positions.'
However, there were conflicting reports about the number of blasts as state ministers VN Vasavan and Antony Raju said there were two blasts, while Congress MP from Ernakulam, Hibi Eden, said there were multiple blasts according to one of his friends who attended the convention.
On Thursday, the opening day of the movie itself, the Sangh Parivar came out with vehement criticism against the film on social media, while the Congress and a section of the Left platforms celebrated the film for portraying the right-wing politics as "villainous".
Directed by Sudipto Sen, The Kerala Story depicts how women from Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and recruited by the terror group Islamic State.
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
The Z+ security cover of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel has been extended to Khan and Raj Bhavan, his office said in a post on 'X'.
The Congress continued its losing spree on Saturday posting its worst-ever show in Maharashtra and ending up a distant junior partner to the ruling Jharkhand Mukti Morcha in Jharkhand, further diminishing its role in the opposition bloc as other allies perform better.
The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
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.
Governor R L Bhatia administered the oath of office and secrecy to Chandy at Raj Bhavan in Thiruvanthapuram.
A Students Federation of India (SFI) activist was stabbed to death at the Idukki Engineering College here on Monday, allegedly by Youth Congress activists, police said.
Antony, who headed the digital media cell of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee, slammed the Congress leadership for working for a "single family" instead of working for the country.
Shabana Azmi said no one but the Central Board of Film Certification has the right to decide whether or not a film should release.
The police search comes just a couple of days after a group of SFI activists allegedly trespassed into the Kochi office of the news channel and intimidated the staff.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
Vijayan said that the trailer of the Hindi film, at first glance, appears to be "deliberately produced" with the alleged aim of creating communal polarisation and spreading hate propaganda against the state.
At a time when none in Kerala's Left politics questioned the chief minister's authority, MLA P V Anvar hurled a series of accusations against Pinarayi Vijayan's government, notes Shyam G Menon.
While the term of the Maharashtra assembly ends on November 26, that of Jharkhand ends on January 5 next year.
State higher education minister R Bindhu has directed a three-member team, comprising the principal secretary of higher education, and Cochin University's vice-chancellor and registrar, to inquire into the stampede incident, an official release said.
Oommen Chandy said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has requested Gandhi to contest from Wayanad but he has not commented on the proposal.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi on Saturday cruised to her maiden electoral victory, from the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat in Kerala, with a margin of over 4.1 lakh votes against Communist Party of India-Marxist-led Left Democratic Front's Sathyan Mokeri, according to figures released by the Election Commission.
The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.
After marathon discussions lasting for days, the opposition United Democratic Front in Kerala has finalised its sharing exercise among Front constituents for the April 13 assembly elections. As per the agreement reached Tuesday night, Congress, the lead partner in the front would contest in 81 seats, leaving 59 seats to other partners, a UDF sources.
The film, which was released on May 5, has kicked up a political storm.
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.
On speculations of Priyanka Gandhi contesting in the 2024 election, Rai said that Priyanka Gandhi will contest from wherever she wants to.
