Banerjee, who lost from the Nandigram constituency in the assembly elections earlier this year, has to win this by-poll to retain the chief minister's post.
'If they don't make Ajit Pawar chief minister, what can he do?'
Interestingly, the Muslim representation in West Bengal assembly has dropped this time when compared to what it was in 2016, even as members of the community voted en masse for the Mamata Banerjee camp.
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.
'The burden of the BJP's song is not development and delivery.' 'It is communalism,' argues Aakar Patel.
'Our party cadre does not want her in the party.'
The clash broke out on Saturday night in the sensitive Old City area of Akola over a religious post which went viral on a social media platform, a senior police official earlier said.
Shiv Sena has named Eknath Shinde as its candidate for leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly, signalling a complete breakdown of talks with the BJP. Rediff.com's Prasanna D Zore reports
Building of Ram temple was not the only aim to ensure that the Bharatiya Janata Party comes to power, Vishwa Hindu Parishad leader Ashok Singhal said on Thursday.
70-plus years after Independence, 'Hindu India, metamorphosised as 'Hindutva India', is proving the British right -- and for all the wrong reasons. Mohan Bhagwat should have answers for the why of it, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Bommai is everybody's man and nobody's man'
'Rather than 'consolidate' the Hindu majority votes, as the BJP-RSS combine has been known and wont to try, this time round PM Modi has himself taken the party to the next step, by seeking to create a new divide within the majority community, a la V P Singh in his time.'
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Minister and former state BJP president Keshav Prasad Maurya had also dropped a hint in a recent tweet, saying Yaduvanshi (Yadavs), Ravidasiyo (Jatavs) and Pasmanda Muslims will be brought closer to the BJP so that the lotus 'blossoms' in every booth in UP.
It remains to be seen whether the ban of its parent organisation will weaken the SDPI or will it be able to further consolidate its voter base.
Twenty years after the burning of a train in Godhra killed 59 'karsevaks' and triggered one of India's worst post-Partition riots, the poll-scape reflects the yawning gulf between the two communities.
'In 2019, in Modi we have a leader who has not shied away from showcasing a robust and aggressive response to the Pulwama and Uri attacks,' says Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
"India not supporting it in UN shows you are homophobic and a biphobic. I demand the prime minister to break his silence to speak about an inclusive society. Any kind of fundamentalism and criminalism is unacceptable."
India on Thursday warned Canada against giving space to separatists and extremists elements, saying it was not good for the bilateral ties, days after a video of a float, depicting the assassination of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, at a parade in Brampton went viral on social media.
Congress insists on sending legislation to select committee, says will support it in winter session.
'The central government can stop further destruction... if they have the political will to do so.'
As the Bharatiya Janata Party seeks the trust vote on the floor of the Maharashtra assembly on Wednesday, the Shiv Sena has announced that it will not vote in favour of the BJP's minority government.
We will do whatever we can for the justice of the Marathi-speaking population in Karnataka, said Fadnavis.
Cross-voting by Left and Congress MLAs on Friday helped Trinamool Congress gain an extra seat in West Bengal while a similar action by Congress MLAs in Andhra Pradesh saw the Telangana Rashtra Samithi making its debut in Rajya Sabha as high drama marked the polls to the upper House in the two states.
Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi claimed that "20-25 per cent" voters from the minority community had voted for him in the assembly polls and asked the party cadre to reach out to all sections, including Muslims, ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
There is indeed a Bengal Model but it is one which negates generational aspiration, generates animus, thrives on bloodletting and political vendetta, reiterates outdated ideas of vote bank politics, is shorn of any vision or roadmap for reconstruction and is fast depleting the levels of a legitimate tolerance, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
'All sorts of tactics are used on political adversaries.'
Political analysts say the Congress appears on the backfoot this time after one of its senior tribal leaders from the region joined the BJP, which has a stronghold in urban areas where civic bodies, leaders and the network required to win the election are firmly with the saffron party.
Bennett and Lapid, in a joint statement, said that they had "exhausted options to stabilise" their coalition which has recently come under severe strain over unruly members threatening to dump it.
The EPS camp believes that the BJP was already arm-twisting the AIADMK into conceding more seats in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections 'than they deserve' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'It's a natural alliance and this alliance has been has been formed without compromising the core ideology of the AIADMK.'
Swaraj India president and former AAP leader Yogendra Yadav on Thursday termed the Arvind Kejriwal-led party's performance in Punjab as "spectacular and extraordinary", but said it's more "an indictment" of the "entire political establishment" rather than the success of a party in the electoral battle.
The Congress victory in Karnataka, its first big state since 2018, puts the party back in the game for general elections as it re-establishes primacy in the opposition space that is currently vastly fragmented despite efforts to cobble up a united front against the BJP.
It sent shock waves in the party -- a political greenhorn had taken on Modi in his home turf of Gujarat. Smriti had clearly tried to choose sides, in this case Vajpayee's camp. Many felt that this would end Irani's career. A revealing excerpt from Nidhi Sharma's new book She, The Leader: Women in Indian Politics.
Fan tokens are a type of cryptocurrency that allow holders to vote on mostly minor decisions related to their clubs and like bitcoin and other digital currencies, fan tokens can be traded on exchanges
Yadav also promised caste census in the state after the formation of the SP government and equal representation and honour to all castes.
Iran's Attorney General Mohammad Javad Montazeri said that the morality police 'was abolished by the same authorities who installed it', The New York Times reported.
South Africa is heading for polls on May 7. Shubha Singh examines how the Indian vote can make a difference in Durban
The Sri Lankan police have arrested two rights activists under an anti-terrorism law to prevent them from spreading "communal disharmony" in the country's war-torn northern region, ahead of voting on a resolution against the country at the United Nations Human Rights Council.
