Adequate security and Covid safety measures have been put in place for the electoral exercise.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announced that the TMC will support the women's quota bill but opposes the delimitation bill introduced by the Modi government in the Lok Sabha. She also criticised the central government over central agency raids on TMC candidates.
The Trinamool Congress has moved the Calcutta High Court to challenge the West Bengal Assembly Speaker's decision to recognise Ritabrata Banerjee as the Leader of Opposition, citing that 58 of its 80 MLAs supported him over the party's official nominee. The court has scheduled an urgent hearing for June 11, ahead of the 18th Assembly session starting June 18.
Oommen Chandy said the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee has requested Gandhi to contest from Wayanad but he has not commented on the proposal.
The channel was mired in controversy ever since it went on air.
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.
Eight-term member Sumitra Mahajan was on Friday unanimously elected Speaker of the 16th Lok Sabha, becoming the second woman presiding officer of the Lower House after her predecessor Meira Kumar.
Bahujan Samaj Party president Mayawati today said the Lok Sabha elections could be preponed as the country is heading towards "political instability" due to corruption, inflation and unemployment.
Asserting that the upcoming polls will be fought on the issue of full statehood, Kejriwal criticised Modi for not fulfilling this promise as mentioned in BJP's 2014 manifesto.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
Among other things, the code bars the government from announcing policy decisions.
Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, Bajaj Auto, Reliance Industries, Tata Motors, SBI, HUL, NTPC, ONGC, ITC and Asian Paints rose up to 2.19 per cent.
It was a changed scenario in the new Lok Sabha with the churning brought out by the elections throwing in contrasts.
State Bharatiya Janata Party presidents from across the country are likely to be summoned to Delhi after January 15 for the election of the party's national president.
Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla will represent India at the swearing-in ceremony of Bangladesh's next prime minister, Tarique Rahman. Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri and Secretary-General of Lok Sabha Utpal Kumar Singh are also likely to accompany Birla.
The dramatic postponement came while members were voting on the committee's five principal recommendations, making it an unprecedented moment in the functioning of a parliamentary committee.
The Lok Sabha approved the Union Budget for 2003-04 with some minor changes on Wednesday.\n\n\n\n
Opposition parties have submitted a fresh notice in the Rajya Sabha seeking a motion for the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, citing concerns over the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.
Even if the BJP gets 60, 70, or even 100 per cent of the votes in the seats where it scored more than 50 per cent in the 2019 Lok Sabha election, these will still add up to only 224 seats, argues Shekhar Gupta.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray criticised the BJP, accusing it of betraying Hindus by allegedly embezzling donations for the Ram temple in Ayodhya. He vowed to lead protests for "BJP-mukt Ram" and questioned the BJP's Hindutva, calling it a "Pakistan Janata Party" for its alleged party-splitting tactics and questioning citizenship. Thackeray also targeted rebel MPs, including Sanjay Deshmukh, for their defection.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Ananth Kumar on Friday said that his party will contest the 2014 Lok Sabha elections along with its alliance partner the Janata Dal-United in Bihar.
Amid cross-voting, National Democratic Alliance-supported Independent candidate Parimal Nathwani on Thursday won one of the two Rajya Sabha seats in Jharkhand, defeating the Congress's Pranav Jha, an official said.
That would be three more seats than what the BJP won in 2014.
The resignation of rebel Congress Member of Parliament from Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh Y S Jaganmohan Reddy has been accepted, Speaker Meira Kumar announced in the Lok Sabha on Friday. Kumar said Reddy's resignation has been accepted with effect from November 29. "I have to inform the House that I have received a letter dated November 29 from Y S Jaganmohan Reddy, an elected member from Kadapa parliamentary constituency of Andhra Pradesh.
Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former MP Vinay Katiyar on Friday said he has spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Ram temple donations' theft issue and he "expressed concern".
'For the rest of his tenure, people will start with the assumption that even Modi can be forced to bow down'
In its list of 26 candidates for Thursday's assembly elections, 13 are from the Bengali-speaking Muslim community -- a demographic that was at the centre of the original Assam agitation.
The outgoing Lok Sabha had 23 Muslim MPs, the most being from Congress and TMC. The highest number of Muslim MPs were in 1980 when as many as 49 MPs from the community which constitute nearly fifth of Indian population present in the Lok Sabha.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing him of spreading falsehoods and offering no relief to the poor through his speeches. She made these remarks at a rally in Bhangar, South 24 Parganas district, ahead of Modi's address to the nation.
The Congress president during his year at the helm of the party has repaired the citadel for far more challenging years ahead, and played a crucial role in shaping the Opposition alliance.
From Arun Govil and Shobana to Vivek Oberoi and Kajal Aggarwal, meet the sprawling supporting cast bringing Nitesh Tiwari's Ramayana to life.
Senior Trinamool Congress leader Chandrima Bhattacharya has resigned as the party's West Bengal president and from all other posts, citing a loss of trust after an admonishment from Mamata Banerjee. She has since been seen meeting with the Ritabrata Banerjee-led rebel faction, further deepening the organisational crisis within the TMC following its recent Assembly election defeat.
Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar was on Thursday appointed as the next chief election commissioner.
Sonia Gandhi criticises the government's proposed delimitation, claiming it's a politically motivated move to delay the caste census and gain an unfair advantage, rather than genuinely promoting women's reservation.
Despite tall promises made by political parties, presence of women in the Lok Sabha has remained a dismal 3.5 per cent to 9.02 per cent of its total strength since it came into being.
Akhilesh Yadav had won the Karhal assembly seat in the recently-held assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh.
The Left Democratic Front's defeat in Kerala marks a historic moment as Left parties are without power in any state for the first time in decades, highlighting their diminishing political influence across India.
The deputy prime minister said National Democratic Front convener George Fernandes is consulting partners on the issue.
With 8,931 days in office as head of government covering his tenure as Gujarat Chief Minister and as Prime Minister, PM Modi has overtaken Chamling's record of 8,930 days.
The Vanniyar vote can tip the balance in 70 to 75 assembly constituencies of the 234 in the state, mainly in the Ranipet, Vellore, Thiruppathur, Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruvannamalai, Arani, Villupuram and Kallakurichi districts.
