Voting has commenced for the assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, with over 3.60 crore electors eligible to vote in 152 constituencies in Bengal and 5.73 crore voters in Tamil Nadu. Security measures are heightened to ensure free and fair polling.
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.
An agriculturist and social worker, the low-profile leader has been active in politics from his student days and served as state unit president of the Bhartiya Yuva Morcha in 1991 and as vice-president at the national level.
'The AIADMK front comes second, and then the TVK.'
Trinamool Congress leader Abhishek Banerjee accuses the BJP of instigating violence during Ram Navami rallies in West Bengal, alleging the party uses the festival to create unrest and division.
'If the Opposition associates itself too much with the minorities, then it becomes easy for the BJP to get Hindu consolidation votes.'
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has accused the BJP-led central government of playing 'dangerous games' with Punjab, alleging the misuse of agencies like the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI for political purposes.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's son, Nishant Kumar, is set to enter politics, with a formal announcement expected from the JD(U). Party leaders express enthusiasm and anticipate a significant role for Nishant within the party.
'The most enduring part of Satheesan's personality is he is good at heart. That is the reason why everybody, from the old to small children, get attracted to him.'
Eradication of corruption, free healthcare, basic amenities, education for every student including computers literacy, formed the 12-point election manifesto of the Lok Satta Party for the general and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections.
Mamata Banerjee appeared before the Calcutta High Court alleging police inaction during post-poll violence in West Bengal and sought judicial intervention to protect citizens.
The constituency had recorded an abysmal 7.13 per cent voter turnout, the lowest ever in its history.
Gandhi is the outgoing Union Minister for Women and Child Development.
The polling began amidst tight security in the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 18 Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh on Thursday. While the by-elections to four Lok Sabha and 16 Assembly seats were caused by the en-masse resignation of Telangana Rashtra Samiti members on the issue of statehood for Telangana region, two other Assembly seats fell vacant following the death of sitting Khairatabad Congress Legislator P Janardhan Reddy in the city.
'Narendra Modi -- a man with deep and vital experience of Indian politics -- has seen the BJP lose many elections between 1975 and 2015, and with every defeat, he learned lessons that made sure he would never allow his party to be defeated so easily again.'
Dimple Yadav, wife of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, will contest the Kannauj Lok Sabha by-election as a Samajwadi Party candidate. "As per the wish of the party workers, the central parliamentary board of the party has decided that Dimple Yadav will contest the by-election for Kannauj seat," SP national general secretary Ram Gopal Yadav told reporters. Akhilesh Yadav had contested from the Firozabad and Kannauj seat in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls.
Senior Congress leader M K Raghavan has criticised the party's decision to bar MPs from contesting in the recent Kerala Assembly elections, attributing it to the stubbornness of some party leaders rather than a high command directive.
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Trinamool Congress and Biju Janata Dal appear to be unwilling to have seats in Lok Sabha along with Congress which has the largest number of seats in the non-governmental side.
A look at the profiles of the ministers in the new Tamil Nadu government led by Joseph C Vijay of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK).
In a setback for the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal, the exit polls on Saturday predicted that the Bharatiya Janata Party will move ahead of Mamata Banerjee's party in the Lok Sabha elections in the state.
Jailed Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad and Janata Dal-United leader Jagdish Sharma have been disqualified as Lok Sabha members following their conviction in the fodder scam.
"This is a big scam. The country is being looted. Please allow us to speak," Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury said.
Attempting to form a "secular and democratic alternative" to dethrone the Congress from power at the Centre, the All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam and the Communist Party of India on Sunday announced their decision to enter into an alliance ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls.
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 state known for high political literacy and ideological mobilisation, the Congress' inability to quickly settle on a leader after securing a massive mandate has fed a narrative that the party remains excessively dependent on Delhi, deeply faction-ridden and vulnerable to internal sabotage
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.
'He worked over time to become the natural claimant,' a senior UDF leader observed. 'Others had organisational stature, but Satheesan had momentum.' For the Congress, it may signal the beginning of a new leadership template -- one where performance, communication and grassroots credibility increasingly outweigh inherited power structures in deciding who leads the party into its next phase.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has accused opposition parties of obstructing the passage of the women's reservation bill in Parliament, alleging they have crushed the dreams of women and prioritised selfish politics over national progress.
In a move aimed at avoiding pressure from regional allies seeking seats in several states, the Congress on Thursday ruled out a national alliance in the coming Lok Sabha elections, limiting adjustments to the states. "We do not have an alliance at the national level. We have alliance partners and seat adjustments at the state level..." All India Congress Committee general secretary Janardan Dwivedi told reporters after a meeting of the Congress Working Committee in New Delhi.
Humayun Kabir, recently suspended from the TMC, has launched a new political party, Janata Unnayan Party, and announced candidates for the 2026 assembly elections.
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday asserted that Trinamool Congress' 34-seat tally in the state was a massive triumph and said her party would play a big role in the 16th Lok Sabha in the interest of the people.
The EC notification said the state administration apprehends that "violent attempts" can be made by miscreants to thwart the poll process.
The BJP and opposition parties are engaged in a political battle over the implementation of the Women's Reservation Act, with the BJP defending it as historic and the opposition accusing the government of delaying its notification and using it to push an unconstitutional delimitation exercise.
The incident occurred when Banerjee, who was part of his party MPs' team which was raising slogans in the Well on the FDI issue, was returning to his seat after the House adjourned for the day shortly after noon.
'If the BJP becomes our political identity, our political face, if we are represented by the BJP, then what happens to our identity as Bengalis?'
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.
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.
Prateek Bordoloi's withdrawal after his father's BJP switch underscores Congress' mounting challenges ahead of the Assam elections.
