Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Monday accused the opposition RJD-Congress combine of failing to curb communal clashes in the state while they were in power. He alleged that they "sought votes of Muslims" but did nothing to stop the violence. Kumar, who has been in power since 2005, highlighted the Bhagalpur riots of 1989, which he said were a result of "bad law and order" during the previous government's tenure. He praised the BJP-led central government for its support to Bihar and the recent budget, which he said had many announcements for the state.
"How many gods are there for Hindus? Three crores? There is Hanuman for those who are not married. There is another god for those who marry twice," Reddy said.
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.
'This election was won because of Nitish Kumar's face and his policies.'
'Now there is no fight between us (Thackerays); now the fight is with them.'
Zohran Mamdani, of Indian origin, was sworn in as the 112th Mayor of New York City, promising an agenda of affordability and inclusivity. He is the first South Asian and Muslim to hold the position.
The Congress's performance in the Lok Sabha elections showed that it may be down but not out, and Modi is determined to ensure that in the next round in 2029, it is consigned to irrelevance, points out Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Ghazala Hashmi, an India-born American politician, has been elected as Virginia's Lieutenant Governor, marking a historic moment as the first Muslim and South Asian American to hold the position.
The Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy, making it an offence which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions.
'...the electoral playing field is tilted significantly in its favour.'
If he cannot do it this term by using his bureaucracy and experts from different fields, it will be a tragedy, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The Congress on Monday accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of attempting to 'rewrite history' and giving a 'political colour' to the Vande Mataram debate, and asserted that no matter how much the Bharatiya Janata Party tries, it will not be able to put a single blot on the contribution of Jawaharlal Nehru.
Khaleda Zia, Bangladesh's former first female prime minister and chairperson of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party, has died at the age of 80 after a prolonged illness.
The Election Commission on Wednesday issued a notice to Aam Aadmi Party convener Arvind Kejriwal for the alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct for making an appeal on grounds of religion to Muslim voters to support his party in the upcoming Delhi assembly polls.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
'The irony of this country is that the party in Opposition and the party in power both depend on Muslims.'
The Delhi assembly results have underscored that a section of Arvind Kejriwal's committed supporters abandoned him because they were let down by his refusal to take a stand on crucial issues that impinge on the security and Constitutionally enshrined rights of the people, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Several opposition MPs have submitted a notice to the Lok Sabha Speaker to move a motion for the removal of Madras High Court Judge G R Swaminathan over his order regarding a temple lamp.
The BJP's MoSha leadership are past masters in encouraging defections from their allies if it helped their party capture the chief minister's chair. In Bihar, they are not sure if JD-U MPs and MLAs would be willing to cross over to the BJP if the Nitish leadership came on top -- and the NDA crossed the halfway mark together, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Former poll strategist Prashant Kishor's Jan Suraaj expressed disappointment over its poll debacle in the Bihar assembly elections, attributing the NDA's victory to cash transfers to women.
Tejashwi Yadav, the INDIA bloc's CM candidate, promised to scrap the Waqf (Amendment) Act if voted to power in Bihar, criticizing the current CM and the BJP.
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.
Developing relations with the Taliban is needed, but plunging headlong into Afghanistan without due thought will be akin to the rooster entering a KFC outlet, warns Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (Retd).
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis addressed concerns about discriminatory fund allocation and reports of a rift with Deputy CM Eknath Shinde, dismissing both as unfounded.
'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.'
Nitish said that law and order have "remarkably improved" in the state after his government came to power in November 2005.
'He knew the world's eyes were on him, and he had to speak directly to the fears that immigrants in New York feel right now.'
If women voters are mobilised in big numbers to the voting booths on November 6 and 11 by the Nitish Kumar-led NDA, then it will be quite difficult for the Tejashwi Yadav-led Mahagathbandhan to defeat the incumbent government, points out Sheela Bhatt.
A section of BLOs in West Bengal protested excessive workload during the SIR process, leading to clashes with BJP supporters outside the CEO's office. The protest highlights concerns over the enumeration exercise and accusations of political interference.
The community constitutes about 16.5 percent of the total electorate. Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, aware of the figure, has been vocal in his opposition to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi campaigning in the state... For all its backward mien, Bihar has a very high political consciousness and a reason for the paradox is politics is the sole arbiter of fate in this state. And Muslims are no exception.
'When maximum voter participation occurs, they do not vote to re-elect the incumbent government. They vote to change it.' 'How can anyone credibly suggest that crores of young voters -- particularly the unemployed youth -- would vote to re-elect an existing government that has demonstrably failed them?'
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.
'The possibility of Nitish Babu continuing at least for some time is very much there, but don't rule out the artistic possibility of a leadership change executed very elegantly.'
While addressing a Veerashaiva-Lingayat meeting in Shivamogga, Eshwarappa said, "We do not want even a single Muslim vote here. Nationalist Muslims will, however, vote for the BJP."
'Nobody is speaking up for Muslims today.' 'Secular parties too have calmed down because they feel this will hurt the Hindu vote (bank).' 'In this scenario, where does a Muslim go?'
His victory means that his party will have to learn from him, because after the rise of Donald Trump, the Democrats have been in disarray. They have had no real answer to the Trump phenomenon and Zohran, with his emphatic and clear policies aimed at working class Americans offers them a national path for a return, asserts Aakar Patel.
After big win in Bihar, the BJP is likely to push harder in Tamil Nadu, where the DMK government and the uneasy BJP-AIADMK alliance are preparing for a tense election filled with seat-sharing fights, changing alliances, and the unpredictable entry of Vijay's TVK party, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Several Indian-American and South Asian candidates are running for key positions in the US elections, including mayoral and gubernatorial races.
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