Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U) expelled 16 leaders, including a sitting MLA and two former ministers, for anti-party activities ahead of the assembly elections. The expelled leaders were charged with violating the party's ideology and working against official NDA candidates.
The AAP and BJP have engaged in a war of words over Delhi Chief Minister Rekha Gupta's Karwa Chauth celebration, with the AAP mocking the event and the BJP accusing them of being "enemies of Sanatan Dharma."
The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) constituents have decided to house all its newly-elected MLAs together in Mumbai after the Maharashtra election results, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said on Friday, a move aimed at preventing poaching ahead of government formation. Raut said MVA leaders met on Thursday and carried out an assessment of every seat. The counting of votes for the November 20 Maharashtra assembly polls will take place on Saturday. Raut expressed confidence that the MVA would win 160 seats in the elections. The term of the Maharashtra legislative assembly ends on November 26. The opposition fears that President's rule could be imposed in the state if a new government is not formed till then.
For the first time since the ethnic violence broke out in Manipur last year, a number of MLAs of Meitei, Kuki and Naga communities are set to hold a joint meeting in New Delhi on Tuesday under the supervision of the home ministry, officials said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has opted not to grant tickets to eight MLAs, followed by Congress which replaced five MLAs.
Kavitha, daughter of party founder and former Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao (KCR), also announced quitting as Member of the Legislative Council and indicated there was 'pressure' on her father to act against her.
A stampede-like situation was witnessed on Monday outside 10, Circular Road, the bungalow allotted to the RJD supremo's wife Rabri Devi, a former CM, when the couple returned from Delhi, where they had appeared before a court.
Electoral fortunes of 1,302 candidates, including over half a dozen ministers in the Nitish Kumar government, will be sealed on Tuesday with 3.70 crore voters eligible to exercise their franchise across 122 assembly segments in the second and final phase of the Bihar polls.
An ECI statement issued from New Delhi put the voter turnout at 68.76 per cent. The female turnout (74.03 per cent) was significantly higher, compared with males (64.1 per cent).
Bihar recorded its highest-ever voter turnout of 67.14 per cent in the second and final phase of the assembly elections. The election is seen as a referendum on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. Kishanganj recorded the highest polling percentage at 76.26.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee accused the BJP-led Union government of compromising India's prestige before foreign powers, alleging a 'dictatorial mindset' and attempts to turn West Bengal into a 'colony'.
Eighteen Jharkhand Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs were suspended from the assembly till 2 pm of August 2 and were removed by marshals after they refused to leave the House on Thursday.
'Three Congress leaders have sold party tickets for crores of rupees.'
Several Congress leaders, including the state president, received tickets for the Bihar assembly polls amidst internal disputes and efforts to reconcile with allies. The distribution process was marred by protests and accusations of corruption.
Ashok Gehlot convinced the RJD leadership that the Congress had no issue about declaring Tejashwi as the Mahagathbandan's chief minister face.
He said that ruling party MLAs Manda Mhatre (BJP) and Sanjay Gaikwad (Shiv Sena) have also spoken about the duplication of voters and irregularities in the electoral rolls.
Punjab Police and Chandigarh Police got into a minor scuffle on Tuesday over the custody of a Rajasthan native who is accused of filing his Rajya Sabha polls nomination with forged signatures.
'The question for the TMC is not whether it can hold its bastions, but whether it can expand effectively into regions where the BJP already possesses a good ecosystem.'
As suspense over who will become the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra continues, Nationalist Congress Party leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Sunday backed his party's chief, Ajit Pawar, for the top post.
Around 20 MLAs belonging to the warring Meitei and Kuki communities of Manipur met in New Delhi on Tuesday for the first time since ethnic violence broke out in the northeastern state 17 months ago, in a bid to hammer out a peaceful solution to the ongoing conflict.
A ruling Shiv Sena leader has predicted a "major political earthquake" in Maharashtra on January 23, the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray, claiming that 10 to 15 MLAs from the opposition Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT) will switch sides and join the party led by Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The prediction comes amidst reports of discontent within the ruling coalition in the state.
Protesters in Imphal, Manipur stormed the residences of two ministers and three MLAs, demanding justice for the murder of three people in Jiribam district. The mob attacks prompted authorities to impose curfew in Imphal West district. The protests followed the discovery of three bodies, suspected to be of six missing people from Jiribam district, near the Manipur-Assam border.
Statement by Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah's son about his father's political future and potential successors sparks speculation about leadership change within the ruling Congress party.
An analysis of the affidavits of all the 90 winning candidates by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Haryana Election Watch show a slight rise in the number of crorepati MLAs, from 93 percent in 2019 to 96 percent this time.
'If the RJD loses it would be out of power for nearly 25 years. Meanwhile, the JD-U will have survival issues if it gets less number of seats.'
AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami has ruled out the possibility of re-inducting expelled leaders like O Panneerselvam, stating that those who "betrayed" the party have no place in it. He also praised the BJP-led Centre for protecting the AIADMK government in 2017.
A seasoned politician and two-term Member of Parliament, Dr Shakeel Ahmad, who has served as a Union minister and senior Congress leader, resigned from the Congress party, marking the end of his decades-long association with an organisation that his family has been part of for three generations. In an interview with Syed Firdaus Ashraf/Rediff he speaks why he quit the party.
According to political observers, the AIMIM sees a catchment area in Bihar, where Muslims are more than 17 per cent of the total population but have never got a proportionate representation in the state legislature.
'We have 38 Dalits who are MLAs and ministers. But that does not mean the Dalits of Bihar are prospering.'
Himachal is first state in the country to pass such a bill under which "A person shall not be entitled for pension under the Act, if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution".
Priti Kinnar, a transgender social worker, is set to contest the Bihar assembly elections from Bhorey seat on a Jan Suraaj ticket, challenging the incumbent Education Minister. Her entry into politics has sparked mixed reactions, with some seeing it as a potential boost for the transgender community and others questioning its impact on the election outcome.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday sprang surprises with its first list of 71 candidates for the Bihar assembly polls, denying a ticket to Speaker Nand Kishore Yadav, a seven-term MLA, while fielding Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary in a direct election after over a decade.
Having struck a seat-sharing deal, leaders of the Janata Dal-United and the Bharatiya Janata Party sat across the table in Patna on Monday to thrash out, among other things, constituencies they planned to swap or give up in favour of smaller allies in Bihar.
'The government is distributing land in Ladakh as if they are selling cinema hall tickets.'
Aam Aadmi Party MLA Harmeet Singh Pathanmajra on Tuesday allegedly escaped the police out to arrest him in a rape case
The opposition INDIA bloc has declared RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial candidate for the upcoming Bihar assembly elections.
'It is high time to recognise that this is the greatest issue India is confronting.' 'Even the BJP should be raising concerns because polluted air suffocates everybody's child.'
'Rahul Gandhi has promised me to give a Congress ticket to contest the polls.'
'The name will be declared at the right time.'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Ajit Pawar on Friday said the party was still part of the Mahayuti alliance because of mutual respect among allies and its commitment to the state's progress.