Tensions are rising within the ruling Mahayuti coalition in Maharashtra amid internal conflicts and open threats over unresolved issues like cabinet expansion and Rajya Sabha nominations.
The Election Commission of India has initiated the process to hold the vice presidential election following Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation. The electoral college is being constituted, and the election schedule will be announced soon.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
In a strategic move for the upcoming West Bengal elections, the BJP has announced its first candidate list, highlighted by Suvendu Adhikari challenging Mamata Banerjee in both Nandigram and Bhabanipur.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
Nitin Nabin, a five-time Bihar MLA, has been elected unopposed as the BJP national president, becoming the youngest person to hold the position. His appointment signals a generational shift in the party's leadership as it prepares for key state elections.
The war of words between two erstwhile National Democratic Alliance allies on Sunday escalated with the Bharatiya Janata Party slamming Nitish Kumar for seeking Rashtriya Janata Dal support for his candidates in the Rajya Sabha bypoll for two seats, and Janata Dal-United accusing the saffron party of 'tacitly backing' two Independents.
With the BJP denying a renomination to Naqvi to the Upper House, and no Rajya Sabha renomination either for Sayyed Zafar Islam or MJ Akbar -- both of whom are also completing their tenures soon -- the party now has no Muslim member of Parliament from either House.
Thakor, who launched a vitriolic attack on the Congress after resigning from the assembly membership, said he voted for 'honest national leadership'.
Despite this setback, Pandey emphasised that discussions regarding ticket distribution are ongoing and solutions will be found through timely communication.
The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) distanced itself from the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) on Friday, saying it is not part of the opposition alliance anymore and questioning the Congress party's role in leading it.
If Priyanka wins the Lok Sabha bypolls, it would be for the first time that three members of the Gandhi family will be in Parliament. Her mother Sonia Gandhi is a Rajya Sabha member from Rajasthan.
Assisted by his personal staff and gunmen, Gowda, with a cannula on his right hand, attended multiple election meetings on Tuesday and addressed people sitting in his chair as he cited knee pain.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
However, the SC granted liberty to the Gujarat Congress to file 'election petition' after conclusion of polls.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah expresses dwindling hope for the restoration of statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, citing delays and governance challenges in the Union Territory setup.
While the BJP has the numbers to send its eight candidates to the Upper House, its ally, Suheldev Bhartiya Samaj Party, which has four MLAs in the 403-member UP assembly, holds key to the fate its ninth nominee.
Polling was by and large peaceful in the bypolls for three Lok Sabha and seven assembly seats spread across five states and Delhi on Thursday barring an incident of stabbing of a policeman in Tripura, where polling was the highest at 76.62 per cent.
BJP sources said the formal process to elect current party President J P Nadda's successor will begin in mid-January, following Makar Sankranti, with Nitin Nabin expected to be the frontrunner to file his nomination.
The Act deals with automatic disqualification of MPs and state legislators upon being convicted and sentenced for two years or more in a criminal case.
Himachal is first state in the country to pass such a bill under which "A person shall not be entitled for pension under the Act, if he has been disqualified at any point of time under the tenth schedule of the Constitution".
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
The bench said, "It is not an issue which can be taken up through an election petition and therefore, requires to be heard."
The Election Commission of India has announced that elections for 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Goa, Gujarat, and West Bengal will be held on July 24.
The principal opposition party though appeared content securing 99 of the 543 seats in the 2024 national elections as against its all-time low of 44 in 2014 and then 52 in 2019.
Jitesh Antapurkar, who won a bypoll in 2021 on a Congress ticket and is considered close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, has been nominated from Deglur.
Counting of votes for the bypolls in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Tripura, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand will be taken up on Sunday.
The Election Commission had on July 16 said that bypoll to the Rajya Sabha seat from West Bengal vacated by Dinesh Trivedi earlier this year will be held on August 9.
Tiruvarur is one of the worst-hit districts in the Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu due to severe cyclonic storm Gaja in November, 2018.
The warming up of ties became apparent after the Centre announced the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna to his grandfather and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
Parliament was adjourned on Monday morning after condoling the death of 3 sitting members, including former Union minister Murli Deora.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee are among the star campaigners of the party for the October 30 bypolls to four Assembly seats in the state, but interestingly, the names of actor-turned-MP Nusrat Jahan and former BJP leader Babul Supriyo, who recently joined the TMC camp do not feature in the list.
A controversy has erupted after Union minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan's son, Kartikey, said during a public meeting in bypoll-bound Budhni that 'not even a brick will be laid in any village' in case a Congress candidate wins the by-election.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named its candidates for assembly bypolls in several states, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh assembly in the state days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.
The Congress won this seat after the 2009 Lok Sabha poll when Congress candidate Partap Singh Bajwa had won.
Raut said that the country is in such a state of mind that it can accept the Congress or Deve Gowda, but does not want the Modi- Shah duo
Elections to 10 Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Trinamool Congress leader Derek O'Brien, will be held on July 24, the Election Commission (EC) said on Tuesday.
Sule filed her nomination on Tuesday for the Rajya Sabha bypoll.
Though Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his government, the BJP is looking to bring down his dispensation with bypoll wins amid a view that it may draw more legislators of the ruling party into its fold.
