The counting of votes in all these states and the UT will take place on May 2.
The Election Commission on Monday allotted 'flaming torch' (mashaal) election symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, rejecting their claim to the 'Trishul' citing religious connotation.
After repeated gaffe by Rahul Gandhi on no dedicated ministry to deal with the issues of fishermen, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said the Congress leader was on vacation when the National Democratic Alliance formed the Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry and Dairying in 2019.
A plea challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct assembly elections over eight phases in West Bengal was filed in the Supreme Court on Monday.
The BJP leader said his party was committed to fighting against corruption and it would reflect in its proposed statewide yatra titled En Mann En Makkal (my soil, my people), ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.
Everyone on election duty for the upcoming polls for five assemblies will be vaccinated against COVID-19 before polling day, the Election Commission said on Friday.
However, Karunanidhi said he was not bothered even about his life and that democracy was important for him.
Among the long queues of voters, there were some famous faces too who exercised their franchise.
A total of 553 crorepatis are in the fray in the Tamil Nadu elections to be held this month, while 283 have declared criminal cases against themselves, a report said on Tuesday.
'Every time they denied me a post, the Congress said that the high command doesn't approve of me.'
A high voter turnout was recorded in West Bengal, Assam Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry assembly elections on Tuesday. The massive polling exercise following COVID-19 health protocol and involving lakhs of personnel began at 7 am and the last hour from 6 pm to 7 pm was set aside for COVID-19 patients and those under isolation. The counting of votes in the states will be held on May 2.
The EVMs, officials explained, are not designed to register this system of voting.
According to sources, the filters were applied on Saturday night soon after the poll schedule was announced.
The decision has been taken to check the spread of coronavirus, the sources said.
There are two such seats in Tamil Nadu and one each in West Bengal, Assam, Maharashtra, Puducherry and Madhya Pradesh.
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed to hear next week the EC's plea after senior advocate Vikas Singh submitted a large number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines (VVPATs) are still being preserved and need to be released.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party pulling out all the stops to oust Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee from government in West Bengal and to retain power in Assam, these two states have been the focus of Modi's campaign.
The interesting bit about the Azamgarh poll finding on India TV was the whopping percentage of Muslims backing the SP-BSP alliance, which sort of negates Mayawati's appeal to the community to not split their vote with the Congress, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Nineteen political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, received over Rs 1,100 crore during assembly polls in five states and Union territories in 2021 and spent over Rs 500 crore, a big chunk of which went towards advertisements and travel expenses for star campaigners, a study said on Friday.
Elections will also be held in 35 assembly constituencies in Odisha.
One of the high-profile contests in the high-stakes Bengal polls is likely to be a direct fight between Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her former confidant and now BJP leader Suvendu Adhikari in Nandigram seat.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Stalin said one cannot and should not decide the mood of the entire country based on the results of one state elections.
The Congress Working Committee will meet on Sunday to discuss the outcome of the assembly elections in five states where the party received a drubbing, sources said.
Today, with the Lok Sabha polls only months away, any inter-state dispute over the Cauvery water dispute has the potential to take more political turns than otherwise, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
Dominic Xavier hopes there won't be a COVID-19 surge in the states going to the polls since few of those attending election rallies wear masks or observe social distancing.
BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala said the Congress has insulted Murmu.
Given the politics behind it all, one possibility is for binding the governor to act according to the decisions of the state government and clarifying his position vis a vis bills and resolutions passed by the state assembly -- or, re-enacted if returned, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
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 opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
At least 12 companies of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) reached West Bengal on Saturday morning as the state prepares to go to elections, officials said.
Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge, general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, senior leaders K C Venugopal, P Chidambaram and Salman Khurshid were among the party's top brass taking part in the satyagraha at Rajghat.
Throwing his party's weight behind the Congress to ensure an Opposition win in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Wednesday said arguments by some favouring a front without the grand old party should be rejected.
The notification for the President poll will be issued on June 15, the CEC said, and June 29 will be the last date for the filing of nominations.
The DMK leadership may now have to deal with a demand for more seats from its Congress ally in the Lok Sabha polls, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
Though it's been just five years at the helm, Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress is fighting severe internal dissidence and would crumble like a pack of cards if it loses, says Devanik Saha.
A roundup of the Vijay Hazare Trophy one-day matches played on Wednesday
Launching the Ayushman Bharat scheme via a video-conference to extend health insurance benefits to all residents of Jammu and Kashmir, he said the three-tier panchayat system has fully taken shape in the UT, describing it as a realisation of Mahatma Gandhi's dream of 'gram swaraj' (village self-rule).
The Election Commission is considering advancing the polls by a month to avoid the May heat, reports R Rajagopalan.
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