On the eve of the sixth and penultimate phase of the marathon Uttar Pradesh elections, Rediff.com's Aslam Hunani reports on what's at stake.
The LJP, though, itself looked to have paid a big price in the process, as the Election Commission data showed that it could win just one seat while drawing around 5.7 per cent of votes. Paswan's party has, however, been instrumental in the JD-U's loss in at least 30 seats.
The basket of crude oil that India buys has hit a decade high of $121 per barrel, but retail selling prices of petrol and diesel continue to remain frozen. The Indian basket on June 9 touched $121.28, matching levels seen in February/March 2012, according to data available from the oil ministry's Petroleum Planning and Analysis Cell (PPAC). As per the PPAC, the Indian basket of crude oil averaged $111.86 per barrel between February 25 and March 29 - the immediate period after Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent oil on fire.
Within 24 hours of the announcement of poll dates, traction on poll-based apps has risen drastically, report Karan Choudhury and Neha Alawadhi.
International oil prices have hit a six-month low, helping Indian fuel retailers breakeven on petrol but they continue to lose money on diesel - the most used fuel in the country, officials said. The world's best-known crude benchmark, Brent was trading at $94.91 per barrel on Thursday after concerns of a global recession led to it slipping to a six-month low of $91.51 on the previous day. The current rates are a relief to India, which is 85 per cent dependent on imports for meeting its oil needs.
Gehlot was made the chief minister of Rajasthan after the party formed government in the state.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday asserted that she would win the ongoing state polls despite injury and eventually aim for power in Delhi.
Democracy is the heart of our body politic and elections are its life blood. Because there is some disease that affects it, we cannot apply leeches to drain it off, killing the body in the process, asserts Shreekant Sambrani.
Asaduddin Owaisi's AIMIM, which is going to contest next year's Uttar Pradesh Assembly polls on the promise of creating leadership among Muslims, has created unease in the political parties that so far considered the members of the minority community as their core "vote bank".
Kishor met Pawar at the latter's residence in Mumbai on Friday. The meeting, which lasted around three hours, sparked speculation in political circles.
Reacting sharply to the Global Hunger Report 2021, the Women and Child Development Ministry said it is 'shocking' to find that it has lowered the rank of India on the basis of FAO estimate on proportion of undernourished population which is found to be 'devoid of ground reality and facts, and suffers from serious methodological issues'.
From the 30-share pack, Asian Paints, Reliance Industries Limited, Bajaj Finance, Mahindra & Mahindra, Indusind Bank, Bajaj Finserv, Maruti Suzuki, HDFC Bank and UltraTech Cement were the major gainers, jumping up to 5.56 per cent.
There was no clear winner between former chancellor Rishi Sunak and Foreign Secretary Liz Truss on Tuesday after the UK's prime ministerial candidates went head-to-head in their first television debate as finalists and clashed fiercely on their economic policies and tax plans.
India had a record voter turnout of 66.4 per cent in 2014. This is still lower than the global median of 68.03 per cent.
The ADR report states that 222 out of the total 1295 candidates in the fray in the 7th phase of polls have criminal records. There are also 341 crorepati candidates in the list.
The opposition will seek to target the government on the issue of farmers' plight as well as their demand for a legal backing for minimum support price.
The last voting percentage given by the commission on Saturday night was 61.46 per cent. The voting in the national capital to elect a new government ended at 6 pm on Saturday.
Having emerged as a senior partner of the National Democratic Alliance in Bihar for the first time in nearly two decades, the Bharatiya Janata Party finally seems to have come out of the shadow of its allies in the state but new alliance arithmetic has dragged down their overall vote share since the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
Rediff Labs brings you the election affidavits of all candidates in the fray in the fourth phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections.
The delimitation commission will visit Jammu and Kashmir between July 6-9 and interact with political parties, public representatives and officials of the UT to gather 'first hand' information of the mega exercise to carve out new constituencies, the EC said.
Pick your constituency from the dropdown menu to see the list of candidates, and click on 'Show' button to see the election affidavits of individual candidates.
While P Muralidhar Rao, BJP general secretary, says, 'Digital electioneering is here to stay until the elections in 2021,' the BJP's rallies in Bihar will not be confined to cyberspace. Its strategists have devised other ways of getting around the hygiene protocol that Covid-19 has entailed.
Even as the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation is currently facing a survival crisis due to a rebellion by Sena minister Eknath Shinde, the departments -- mostly controlled by ruling allies Nationalist Congress Party and Congress -- have issued government orders for the release of funds for various development-related works worth thousands of crores in the last four days.
Congress observers for Rajasthan on Tuesday recommended disciplinary action against three key loyalists of Ashok Gehlot but did not seek any action against the chief minister, as the party scampered to resolve the crisis that has cast a shadow on the election of the party president.
Rediff Labs brings you the election affidavits of all candidates contesting from the 91 seats going to polls in the first phase of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
Hitting back at former prime minister Manmohan Singh for his criticism of the Modi government's handling of the economy, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday said he is more remembered for having brought India to "fragile five" and rampant inflation during his term.
Rediff Labs brings you the election affidavits of all candidates in the fray in the sixth phase.
The Election Commission has announced the schedule of 2019 Lok Sabha polls. The elections will be held between April and May in seven phases, starting from April 11. The counting of votes will be on May 23.
Rediff Labs brings you the election affidavits of all candidates in the fray in the seventh and last phase of polling for the Lok Sabha elections.
The Commission said it is issuing the clarification 'in view of the anecdotal reports which are not based on empirical facts'.
A breakdown of candidates in the first five stages of the election by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch offers a fascinating insight into the declarations made by this year's Lok Sabha hopefuls.
The US appears to be on track to see over 160 million votes cast in the 2020 presidential election, a turnout rate of about 67 per cent, which is higher than what the country has witnessed in more than a century, as President Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Joe Biden campaigned through the final day to get more voters to the polling booths.
Strong rooms spread across the city storing the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being heavily guarded, with a 'three-layer security ring'. Tight security arrangements have also been put in place at various centres across the national capital.
A bill to link electoral rolls with the Aadhaar ecosystem to weed out duplication was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
While the Opposition is making a belated effort to form a joint front against the BJP, Mamata's ambiguous stand has created confusion, observes Virendra Kapoor.
From the 30-share pack, Sun Pharma, TCS, Tech Mahindra, NTPC, Wipro, UltraTech Cement, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Infosys were the major gainers, jumping up to 3.99 per cent. In contrast, Tata Steel, Nestle, Titan Company, PowerGrid, Reliance Industries Limited and State Bank of India were among the laggards.
Though the outcome of the general elections will offer a short-term boost to the market, a sustained rally will be determined by the economic data, according to a JP Morgan Asset Management report.
A BJP victory in the high-octane West Bengal election could have turned the fortunes in rival Kailash Vijayvargiya favour, reports Sandeep Kumar.
While TMC leaders ridiculed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath for lifting an image purportedly from West Bengal, the BJP in the Mamata Banerjee-ruled state took potshots at crashing flyovers in the eastern state over the use of an image in a newspaper ad
