Over 2.5 million voters will decide the fate of 239 candidates in the fray for 26 Jammu and Kashmir assembly seats in the second phase of the election to be held in the Union territory on Wednesday.
The change in Anantnag's demographic after delimitation has added layers of political complexities to the constituency with Pahari-Gujjar, Jammu versus Kashmir dimensions.
Making India a developed nation by 2047 is an ambition of every Indian, and states can play an active role in achieving this aim as they are directly connected with the people, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday. Modi is chairing the 9th Governing Council meeting of NITI Aayog.
Here are glimpses of famous faces who got their fingers inked.
The former chief minister said if there was any danger of his losing from Budgam, then his party colleagues would not have allowed him to contest from Budgam.
The Congress on Tuesday said it cannot accept the Haryana assembly polls verdict as there were 'serious issues' about the integrity of the counting process and functioning of the EVMs in some districts, and asserted that it would take up the matter with the Election Commission.
Hitting back at the Election Commission after it dismissed allegations about slowing down the updating of Haryana election results, the Congress on Tuesday said the poll watchdog's reply degrades the conversational level to an 'unacceptable low' and 'misrepresents crucial facts' in a vein similar to that done by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
National Conference leader Omar Abdullah was sworn in as the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir on Wednesday, the first elected government in the Union Territory since 2019 when Article 370 was abrogated.
Among the national parties, the Congress, Aam Aadmi Party, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Communist Party of India-Marxist opposed the proposal, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National People's Party supported it.
Incidentally, 164 of the total 356 candidates in the fray from the 43 assembly seats of Jammu region got less votes than none of the above, which gives an option to voters to reject all candidates in a constituency.
The Haryana victory will be a morale booster for the Bharatiya Janata Party and increase its bargaining power in the Mahayuti's seat-sharing talks for the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections, according to political analysts.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said the decision to transform Jammu and Kashmir into a Union Territory is 'temporary' and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government will restore the statehood to the region.
A large number of voters cast their votes in Baramulla, north Kashmir, on Monday, May 20, 2024. The National Conference's Omar Abdullah, Peoples Conference's Sajad Lone and Independent candidate Sheikh Abdul Rashid alias Engineer Rashid are in the contest.
Bharatiya Janata Party national general secretary Ram Madhav on Wednesday accused the National Conference and the People's Democratic Party of taking support from ex-militants for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir, and said the two parties want to take the Union territory back to its 'trouble-filled days'.
Netflix India's content head Monika Shergill on Tuesday met Information and Broadcasting Secretary Sanjay Jaju in New Delhi, amid a row over the web series IC-814: The Kandahar Hijack.
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
With two phases of voting already completed, political parties are busy with filing nominations, addressing roadshows and undertaking hectic campaigns for the constituencies that will vote this month.
Although the Supreme Court has mandated the Centre to conduct the polls by the end of September, a spate of terrorist attacks in J&K could cause delays.
After the Congress' shock defeat in Haryana, the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) parties flexed their muscles on Wednesday, accusing the grand old party of ignoring them.
The political parties have been given time slots for the meeting with the Election Commission.
The BJP's Central Election Committee had met on Sunday evening to finalise the party's candidates for the polls.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's unexpected announcement on Sunday that he will resign after two days drew mixed reactions from parties, with some saying it was a compulsion due to bail restrictions on his functioning and others hailing it as a right call to go back to the people.
As controversy raged over Yati Narsinghanand's objectionable remarks against Prophet Muhammad, his supporters on Sunday alleged that the Dasna temple head priest is being illegally kept in detention by police, which denied the claim.
'I want to ask the Congress only one question: What is more important than election management in politics?'
National Conference on Saturday said it was not an opportune time for the elections in Jammu and Kashmir as the state was reeling under the aftermaths of the devastating floods and decided to hold deliberations to work on the future course of action for the party.
Both candidates have shifted from their traditional constituencies - Sadhotra from Marh and Sharma from Akhnoor - after these two segments were reserved for Scheduled Castes.
'Pakistan will also have to play its role in this so that the relations between the two countries improve.'
A court in New Delhi on Tuesday granted two-hour custody parole to Kashmiri leader Sheikh Abdul Rashid to take oath as a Lok Sabha MP on July 5.
'We put the seed of BJP's ideology in Jammu, watered it, nurtured it for four decades and when it was time to reap the fruits of those efforts, the fruits are being sold out to the very same people who worked hard to uproot this tree.' 'Shockingly, our own people are letting this happen and nobody from Delhi bothers to even listen to us.'
It's just not a date. It's just not about selecting a candidate. It's not about helping some candidate win. It's about expressing emotion, after ten years, that could reach out in India and beyond it, notes Sheela Bhatt.
Two more Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, including a district president, submitted their resignations from the primary membership of the party on Saturday, citing their resentment against the choice of candidates in their constituencies for the assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
So far 14 Kashmiri Pandits have filed nominations to contest from the valley for the upcoming Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections, aiming to ensure the return and rehabilitation of their fellow community members, whose number run up to 3 lakh.
'The whole Kashmiri population is seemed to be a suspect community. This status is not good.'
National Conference President Dr Farooq Abdullah, his only son Omar Abdullah and Omar's sons Zamir Abdullah and Zahir Abdullah (both first time voters) cast their votes in Srinagar on Monday, May 13, 2024.
The Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency in Jammu and Kashmir will vote on Monday, May 20.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
Jammu and Kashmir BJP chief Ravinder Raina, seeking re-election from Nowshera assembly constituency of Rajouri district in Jammu and Kashmir, is facing a major challenge from his former party colleague Surinder Choudhary.
Modi began his nearly 45-minute speech by welcoming the people who attended the rally in the Kashmiri language. "This time, the (assembly) election will decide the future of Jammu and Kashmir, which has remained the target of foreign powers since Independence," he told the gathering.
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
'The lack of opportunities here remains the biggest worry.' 'We have seen investment summits, but if you look around, much of it is only on paper and not on the ground.'
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances