Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
Odisha government, grappling with the hostage crisis, on Tuesday said some demands made by Maoists like halt to combing operations, have been conceded as prospects of the release of the lone Italian national seemed to have brightened.
Brajendra Singh Yadav of the Congress defeated his BJP rival Baisahab Yadav by a margin of 2,124 votes to win the Mungaoli seat while in Kolaras, Congress candidate Mahendra Singh Yadav prevailed over Devendra Jain of the BJP by 8,083 votes.
The Congress on Tuesday suffered a major upset in Himachal Pradesh at the hands of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the Rajya Sabha elections which were marred by cross-voting in all the three states though it won three seats in Karnataka while the saffron party pocketed an extra seat in Uttar Pradesh.
With the fate of kidnapped Jhina Hikaka still unknown after almost three weeks the Odisha government is exploring back-channel negotiations with the Maoist group, which has imposed tough conditions for the release of the ruling Biju Janata Dal tribal member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka.
Two Italian tourists were abducted in the tribal-dominated Ganjam district of Odisha by Maoists, who demanded an immediate end to anti-Naxal operations and release of some of their jailed colleagues.
Though two days have passed since the Maoists abducted ruling Biju Janata Dal member of Legislative Jhina Hikaka, the Odisha government is yet to receive any information on the whereabouts of the young tribal legislator.
The PM alleged that a 'PC' (percentage commission) culture has become the state government's identity.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik said on Tuesday that Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka, who had been asked to quit by Thursday by Maoists, should not do so. Hikaka had been held captive by Maoists for nearly a month. "Any elected people's representative, including Jhina Hikaka, should not resign under pressure from illegal and unconstitutional forces," Patnaik told reporters.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
At least 115 child rape cases have been registered in 59 days, in January and February this year, in Odisha, the state assembly was informed on Thursday.
With the Maoists firm on their demands and determined to keep Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka hostage till April 25, the Odisha government on Saturday said it would welcome anyone volunteering to negotiate with them. The statement came after the Maoist Andhra Odisha Border Special Zonal Committee said in a message that the fate of the MLA would be decided at a praja court by April 25.
'We can save 70 patients out of 100, if they reach a hospital well within time.' 'The most crucial aspect is time.'
It will be in Modi's interest to reinvent his party, read the writing on the wall that voters wrote, and move ahead. He has little choice now. The country is watching, asserts Ramesh Menon.
The Congress on Thursday renamed the Rahul Gandhi-led Manipur-Mumbai yatra starting on January 14 as the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra, which will travel through 100 Lok Sabha segments in 15 states including Arunachal Pradesh, and asserted it will prove to be as 'transformative' as his earlier cross-country march.
Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi, BJP chief J P Nadda and new party entrant Ashok Chavan and Union ministers Ashwini Vaishnaw and L Murugan were among the 41 candidates elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha on Tuesday while Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh will witness polling on February 27.
In UP and Bengal, it is willing to sacrifice its interests to stop the BJP and would work towards ensuring the BJP did not win incremental seats in Odisha and Telangana.
The Centre on Saturday said the Odisha government was rightly talking to the Maoists for the safe release of an abducted Italian and a member of Legislative Assembly and any decision on using force to rescue them has to be taken by the state.
Suspended Biju Janata Dal MLA Prabhat Biswal's vote in presidential election was rejected for allegedly showing the ballot paper after voting as polling in the 147-member Odisha assembly was under way today.
Rampur Sadar and Khatauli in Uttar Pradesh, Padampur in Odisha, Sardarshahar in Rajasthan, Kurhani in Bihar and Bhanupratappur in Chhattisgarh are the assembly seats where the bypolls are being held.
Experts recommend awaiting the findings of the 2021 Census, which is yet to be conducted, before introducing population control policies.
Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Sunday effected a major reshuffle in his three-year-old ministry inducting 12 fresh faces into his new team of 21 ministers.
The announcement of Murmu's candidature by BJP president J P Nadda came a day after she celebrated her 64th birthday.
According to media reports, abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka will be released on Thursday in Koraput district of Odisha at 10 am. Reports say that the decision was taken at a Maoist 'people's court'. The Naxals have also asked Hikaka to 'resign'.
The Odisha government on Saturday said it will release five of the six rebels the Maoists have demanded for release of the Italian hostage, while another Naxal group holding MLA Jhina Hikaka extended the deadline to April 10 and demanded that five more persons be freed.
Bowing to Maoists' demands, for securing the release of a Biju Janata Dal MLA and an Italian from the captivity of ultra-Left activists' captivity, Odisha government on Wednesday said it would facilitate the release of 27 persons, including 8 Naxals, from jails.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
A 6 per cent swing in favour of Biju Janata Dal appeared to have catapulted the regional party to a landslide victory in simultaneous Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha where it stormed back to power for the fourth consecutive term.
Is it inconsistency in policy, or the lack of robust support?
For the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big move to push through his 'one-nation-one-election' concept promises to be the big ticket idea which can disrupt conventional calculations and allow it to frame the upcoming Lok Sabha polls along helpful lines as the party believes the issue has the potential to catch popular imagination.
The ruling BJP in UP, however, lost Khatauli to Samajwadi Party ally Rashtriya Lok Dal.
With the recovery of six more bodies, the toll in the boat mishap in Hirakud reservoir in Sambalpur district, Odisha, on Monday rose to 17.
Never before has the BJP faced such a crisis over the nomination of the Chief Minister as it is facing now, discovers Prakash Bhandari, veteran observer of Rajasthan politics.
Thousands of tribals from Jharkhand, West Bengal and Odisha reached the hills earlier in the day, carrying traditional weapons and beating drums.
'Are we so ready to believe that in this country whose virtues we constantly shout from the rooftops, there is no single person -- other than Modi -- in a minimum of 272 elected MPs with the talent and ability to lead this country?' asks Prem Panicker.
Several legislators in states on Monday said they have cross-voted in favour of National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu by not following their respective party lines in the presidential election.
Neither the BJP, nor the Congress before it, made any manifesto commitments on defence spending, even though allocations have plummeted from 4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the late 1980s to less than 2 per cent today, points out Ajai Shukla.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
Forest land measuring 1838.79 hectares in Odisha has been diverted for 15 industrial projects in the state between 2004 and 2013.
Three days after the Odisha government invited it for talks for the release of abducted Biju Janata Dal Member of Legislative Assembly Jhina Hikaka, Maoist-backed Chasi Mulia Adivasi Sangh on Monday said it was willing to do so if certain conditions were fulfilled.
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