Small parties have the capacity to play both ends against the middle. Puducherry could be heading that way, points out Aditi Phadnis.
Kerala is set to hold its Assembly election, with the ruling LDF aiming for a historic third term, the UDF seeking a comeback, and the NDA striving to gain a foothold in the state's political landscape.
The Election Commission has issued a notice to LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan following a complaint by the UDF regarding a recorded announcement from an LDF campaign vehicle, which allegedly made communal remarks against the IUML. The UDF claims the LDF is running a communal campaign, similar to a previous controversy during the 2024 general elections.
'The reason why they rushed through the bill was they wanted to avoid using the 2026 Census because the 2026 Census by their own decision will be a caste census.' 'The BJP knows that a significant share of the OBCs who will get captured in the census, for the first time after the 1931 Census, are against the BJP. Only a segment of the OBCs are in their favour.' 'So they wanted to avoid the OBC reservation among women, which is a demand of a lot of Opposition parties.'
Prateek Bordoloi's withdrawal after his father's BJP switch underscores Congress' mounting challenges ahead of the Assam elections.
The four rebels are -- Prasanna Patsani, Prabhat Samantray, Kumudini Patnaik, wife of former state Finance Minister Ramakrushna Patnaik, and Jagannath Mallick.
Barring Maharashtra, the poll percentage in rest of the states was in excess of 60 per cent while in Puducherry it was 80.47 per cent.
Nara Lokesh, once heavily criticised, has risen to become the National Working President of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), marking a significant generational transition within the party.
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.
'I could have accepted the humiliation if I wanted to remain as an MP. But I decided to leave.'
Rediff.com take a look at the crorepatis contesting the Lok Sabha elections
The BJP and JD(U) will each contest on 101 seats in the Bihar assembly elections, while the LJP will field candidates on 29 seats. Other NDA partners will contest on fewer seats.
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.
Rajaji, an ardent follower of Gandhi, was a freedom fighter, scholar, jurist, statesman and the first recipient of the Bharat Ratna along with S Radhakrishnan and C V Raman.
The BJP has accused TMC MP Kirti Azad of vaping in the Lok Sabha, leading to a political spat. TMC demands the release of full video footage before commenting.
In a blistering attack against the BJP over the violence in Manipur, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday alleged that its politics had "murdered Bharat Mata" in the northeastern state and termed members of the ruling party "traitors".
Kickstarting her party's Lok Sabha campaign from a mammoth rally in Kolkata, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Thursday said her party would go it alone in the polls and renewed her call for a federal front.
Bypolls to 10 assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh will be a litmus test for the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA)'s unity after the group's success in the recent Lok Sabha polls when they won more than 40 seats, significantly contributing to the Bharatiya Janata Party's failure to win a simple majority in parliament.
The Election Commission has issued a notice to LDF convener T P Ramakrishnan, contesting from Perambra, following a complaint about a recorded announcement from a campaign vehicle alleging communal campaigning by the IUML.
Polling will be held in all 13 seats in Punjab and an equal number of seats in Uttar Pradesh, nine in West Bengal, eight seats each in Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, four in Himachal Pradesh, three in Jharkhand and the lone seat Chandigarh.
The Congress on Thursday accused Bharatiya Janata Party MPs of subjecting Sonia Gandhi to "brutal heckling, verbal assault and physical intimidation", and demanded an apology from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Humayun Kabir, recently suspended from the TMC, has launched a new political party, Janata Unnayan Party, and announced candidates for the 2026 assembly elections.
Gandhi was unusually more proactive and practically led the Opposition protest against the rise in the prices of petrol, diesel and LPG cylinders during the Question Hour.
'...If the power situation does not improve in Tamil Nadu. The Congress will not allow the plant to start.' As the Supreme Court clears the decks for commissioning the controversial Koodankulam nuclear plant, A Ganesh Nadar checks the mood in the villages, the epi-centre of the protests.
Congress and its allies, the poll said, are expected to gain 35-45 seats from the 140 bagged in the last general election.
Discussion on the two bills could not take place as Opposition members continued to stage protests demanding a discussion on the Pegasus snooping allegations and the farmers' demand of repealing the three new agri laws.
Birla, 57, has been MLA from Rajasthan thrice and MP twice.
The PMK leader said that he came into the NDA fold to defeat the "anti-people" ruling DMK.
Congress leader V D Satheesan has accused Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan of targeting Rahul Gandhi to curry favour with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, alleging blackmail and compromised investigations.
Reservation Bill introduced in Lok Sabha
'When Narendra Modi was here, he spoke only about development and what the BJP wanted to do in Kerala. That kind of sober rhetoric or argument is acceptable to the people here.'
The MPs passed the bill through a voice vote.
The sweeping victory of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance in the Bihar Assembly elections has caused ripples across the country, but perhaps more pronounced in politically crucial Uttar Pradesh, where Assembly elections are due in 2027.
The last rites of veteran Congress leader and former Union minister Shivraj Patil were performed with full state honours in his home district, Latur, in Maharashtra on Saturday, with many top leaders in attendance.
While Rahul loyalists were keen that he be given the post, a leader known to be close to him said, "If he does not become the leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, then he should quit politics."
TRS members refused to co-operate and disrupted proceedings.
Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct a re-election in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency, citing reports of widespread voters' list manipulation. The allegations follow BJP's victory in the constituency, with Suresh Gopi winning by a significant margin.
EC officials said the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will begin at 8 am on Thursday and results are expected only by late evening.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has strongly refuted Rahul Gandhi's claims of collusion between the LDF and BJP in the upcoming Kerala Assembly elections, accusing the Congress leader and his party of being the BJP's 'B-team'. The Congress has retaliated, alleging that Vijayan is trying to appease Prime Minister Modi and Home Minister Shah.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances