By annoying potential allies ahead of the polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate is playing a dangerous game but if he wins, he gets it all, says Aditi Phadnis
Going by precedence, the 15th presidential election scheduled to be held on July 17 this year will see a contest, notwithstanding the frenetic political confabulations for a consensus candidate.
With the announcement of list of candidates for the December 1 assembly elections, rebellion is out in the open among Bharatiya Janata Party rank and file in Rajasthan's Hadoti region, once a stronghold of the opposition party.
At least five policemen were killed and a huge cache of arms and ammunition were looted by militants belonging to the outlawed Garo National Liberation Army in an ambush in Garo hills of Meghalaya on Tuesday.
Congress had a reason to smile as it was able to emerge as the single largest party in Meghalaya, but failed to secure a majority.
No one else filed papers till Sunday, according to Mullapally Ramachandran, the chairman of the party's Central Election Authority.
The Bihar CM may be in the Opposition but his endorsement of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA's presidential candidate, is among the many recent decisions that puts him apart from the others.
Seeking steps to stop discrimination against people from northeast, Members of Parliament from the region on Thursday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who asked the legislators to place their views before the committee constituted to address their grievances.
Jaitley insisted the new central notification will not interfere with state laws on slaughtering animals.
'The control of the Church over Christian people regarding politics has become weak...' 'People have started to think independently and it is not for sure that they will obey whatever the Church asks them to do.'
Shiv Sena on Sunday made it clear that it won't make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month's polls, and said this was "the final attempt" to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
'The BJP capitalised on the Left Front's failure and inaction and the Congress' deliberate retreat in Tripura.'
'Whether she will remain CPP chairperson or not, that she will decide.'
Apart from Kerala, the northeast perhaps is the only region where Congress can expect a decent win in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. K G Suresh looks at what the elections hold for the northeast.
Former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal was re-nominated by Congress from Chandigarh on Thursday brushing aside the "taint" argument as it released the second list of 71 candidates who include film star Nagma in Meerut and Youth Congress chief Rajeevv Satav from Hingoli.
The dates of the forthcoming assembly polls in Rajasthan are yet to be announced by the Election Commission, but on the ground, the battle has already begun between the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party.
With the United Progressive Alliance government likely to announce a separate Telangana state on Tuesday, the call for carving out Vidarbha state out of Maharashtra has started gaining heat.
As the dust finally settles on the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections 2019 and Bharatiya Janata Party along with its NDA allies emerges as the clear winner, here is a list of who won in each of the 7 phases of elections.
Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's floor test, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary on Thursday granted the status of principal opposition party to the Janata Dal-United in place of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which slammed the move as "arbitrary".
'I am sure the BJP can find a highly educated, respected, non-controversial party man from the North East to be elected India's vice-president,' says Sudhir Bisht.
While main political parties especially Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party are engaging in high-voltage campaign in Assam, young voters, especially the first timers, sound at a loss about which party or the candidate to choose, as they are hardly convinced about the poll promises and have not been swayed by histrionics of poll candidates.
The 'ethical voting' campaign launched by the Election Commission of India has pulled big crowds in rural as well as urban centres of Garo hills areas under Tura parliamentary constituency in Meghalaya in the run up to the polling that is being held on Wednesday.
'Yeh dil maange more' seems to be mantra for over two dozen former chief ministers of various states who are contesting upcoming Lok Sabha elections on different party tickets.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley appealed to parties to rise above partisan considerations to support it.
From hobnobbing with the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and Mick Jagger, the reclusive author-turned-politician has come a long way, says Anita Katiyal
There is indeed a Bengal Model but it is one which negates generational aspiration, generates animus, thrives on bloodletting and political vendetta, reiterates outdated ideas of vote bank politics, is shorn of any vision or roadmap for reconstruction and is fast depleting the levels of a legitimate tolerance, says Dr Anirban Ganguly.
Modi's NDA is good enough to give a psychological boost to the once 'untouchable' BJP and Modi but if the NDA doesn't get a majority on its own, then walking the last mile will be the greatest challenge of this election for Modi, says Sheela Bhatt/Rediff.com
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