Kovind may bag over 62 per cent votes but fall short of the 69 per cent votes polled by incumbent Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
The Congress wants the 28 seats it won in 2012 plus 20 seats where the party was runner-up plus 57 seats where it was ahead of the SP in 2012.
SP has gained a majority in the 100-member Uttar Pradesh legislative council. The party had earlier faced difficulty pushing through its legislative in the upper house due to lack of numbers.
It is likely that small parties would be given very few seats to contest, but these parties believe that they would be able to swing the result in favour of bigger alliance partners by transferring their vote bank.
Mulayam said his son had promised to leave the post of party president after staying at the helm for three months, but he did not do so.
Five Congress ministers lose. Only Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi win.
Convicted former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala's place is in jail and he cannot enjoy hospitality of the hospital, the Supreme Court on Wednesday said, rejecting his plea for extension of interim bail granted on medical grounds in the teachers' recruitment scam.
Assembly elections in Bihar, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is set for a battle against a united Janata Parivar, are likely to be held sometime in September-October when extensive central forces and a reworked expenditure monitoring system will be deployed to curb money and muscle power.
'In Kairana, the grand coalition was able to transfer its votes to a Muslim candidate in supposedly an era of anti-Muslim ambience.' 'Given this perspective, the Kairana result seems more significant than that of Gorakhpur and Phulpur a few months ago,' says Mohammad Sajjad.
The party also nominated six others, including former Union minister Beni Prasad Verma, an influential Kushwaha leader who recently quit Congress and returned to the Samajwadi Party, and realtor Sanjay Seth for the biennial polls scheduled next month.
From Bollywood strong men to cricketing greats, celebrities upped the glam quotient this poll season. Some we will see as future MPs, the others just have to get back to business. Rediff.com takes a look at some popular faces, who fought Election 2019 and here's the verdict on them.
Azad was taken into custody by police on Tuesday for violating the model code of conduct.
Parliament's monsoon session began amid sloganeering and protests from opposition of different issues.
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
When the results for the Rae Bareli assembly seat came in on March 11, Aditi Singh (Congress) had won 128,319 votes, Mohammad Shabaz Khan of the BSP had won 39,156 votes and the BJP's Anit Srivastava had won 28,821 votes. It was a stunning victory for the US-educated rookie Congress candidate.
According to some accounts, internal Congress surveys indicated a tough battle for the chief minister in Chamundeshwari.
Gleaning lessons from Amit Shah's compendium of Chanakya-isms, the Samajwadi Party is keeping its operations low-key and working on an inclusive strategy.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, who is Leader of the House, moved a resolution in the assembly saying that his state is facing "crisis of water" and does not have even one drop to share with others.
The BJP, which has been taking potshots at the Akhilesh Yadav government over lawlessness in the state finds itself in no position to take a high moral ground.
Home to several Yadav family bastions, Phase III of the Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections is especially crucial for the Samajwadi Party.
Haasan said that interference in the functioning of an elected government is 'unacceptable in a democracy'.
The SP candidates in these seats include Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in-law Aparna Yadav and three ministers, one of whom was recently sacked.
It also provides that no preliminary enquiry will be required for registering a criminal case and an arrest under this law would not be subject to any approval.
While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly, holds key to the fate its ninth nominee.
'You have to work for the development of the people; stay connected with them; be available for your voters so they can come to you for redressal of their problems and don't rely on the brand equity of the central government.'
Voicing concern over the Muzaffarnagar violence, Rashtriya Lok Dal leader and Union Minister Ajit Singh on Tuesday said it may spread to other states and become unmanageable" if not controlled by "strict action".
The Baharatiya Janata Party has propelled to power in Haryana by a dramatic surge in vote share that saw its tally zooming from 4 to 47 in the 90-member House in the backdrop of a Modi wave.
Opposition parties think they have until New Year's Eve to build nationwide narrative against demonetisation.
It may be 2017, but the 'uska baap kaun hai, maloom hai kya' still dominates India.
The opposition parties snatched the high-profile Kairana LS seat in from BJP with a united force.
Members of various organisations on Friday held protests at Ambala in Haryana and Delhi against the proposed screening of controversial film Messenger of God featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the lead role.
The issue of division of Uttar Pradesh had been lying dormant till now with major political parties including the BSP preferring silence so far.
The demand was raised during a debate on the Constitution (123rd Amendment) Bill 2017 in the Upper House, which was passed by the Lok Sabha on August 2 superseding the amendments earlier carried out by the Rajya Sabha.
The 61-year-old former top cop from Mumbai changed professions after listening to his 'inner voice'.
'How can Netaji forget Amar Singh called him names? He has come back to Netaji because he failed to gain entry in any political party.'
It is curtains down for Maharashtra and Haryana assembly polls. Here's a look at political biggies, who made it and who didn't.
'Rahul is misguided by a handful of family retainers who don't want him to show unrestrained initiative in forming allies.' says Sudhir Bisht.
Ahead of the Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday talked to allies, informing them about the intent to withdraw the controversial Ordinance on convicted lawmakers.
Giving a message of larger opposition unity, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister Manmohan Singh will march with leaders of at least ten parties from Parliament House to President House on Tuesday and submit a memorandum against the new land bill.
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