The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won the mayoral elections in 10 of the 17 municipal corporations in Uttar Pradesh, results for which were announced on Saturday, virtually adding a third engine to its "double-engine" government.
The BJP and its Mahayuti allies have won 68 seats unopposed in the Maharashtra civic polls scheduled for January 15, even as the Opposition parties alleged the ruling combine used threats and money to force candidates to withdraw from the fray.
Parties like the Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party, Mahaan Dal, and Janvadi Party-Socialist had distanced themselves from the SP after its defeat in the 2022 state assembly elections.
The Shiv Sena-UBT-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena panel has lost all 21 seats in the election to the BEST Employees Cooperative Credit Society Ltd, a platform where the two parties came together, sparking buzz about a pan-Maharashtra alliance.
He said that ruling party MLAs Manda Mhatre (BJP) and Sanjay Gaikwad (Shiv Sena) have also spoken about the duplication of voters and irregularities in the electoral rolls.
Votes will be counted on January 16 and the outcome will be keenly watched as the BJP-led Mahayuti will seek to stamp its supremacy in urban landscape, especially in Mumbai, while the Opposition parties will try to redeem themselves after last year's rout in assembly polls.
Top leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi, including Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar head Sharad Pawar along with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, will lead the Opposition's November 1 protest march in Mumbai against alleged irregularities in voters' lists.
"Grassroots democracy must get precedence than any other considerations, including security," the functionary said.
Elections for municipal councils and nagar panchayats in Maharashtra are scheduled for December 2, according to the State Election Commissioner. The schedule for other local bodies will be announced later.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah criticizes Kerala's ruling Left government over the Sabarimala gold loss case, demanding a neutral investigation and accusing the government of protecting the real culprits. He also signals the start of the BJP's campaign for the upcoming Assembly elections.
Counting of votes has begun in the Maharashtra municipal corporation elections, with a focus on the Mumbai battle between the BJP-led alliance and the Thackeray factions.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis orchestrated a significant victory for the BJP in the recent civic polls, solidifying his position as a key strategist and influential leader within the party.
Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini released over 2,115 crore directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries under various welfare schemes, benefiting over 58 lakh eligible individuals.
Breaking the nearly three-decade-old dominance of the undivided Shiv Sena, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday emerged victorious in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, and also vanquished the alliance of Nationalist Congress Party factions led by Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar in the Pune civic body.
The Tamil Nadu unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday announced that it would contest alone in the urban civic polls slated to be held on February 19, even while asserting that its alliance with the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the state remained intact.
The ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam is leading in a string of urban local bodies across Tamil Nadu as counting of votes began on Tuesday for the just concluded civic polls.
The ruling BJP is confident of bettering its 2017 performance, especially with the new UP party chief, Bhupendra Chaudhary, at the helm of affairs, reports Virendra Singh Rawat.
The manifesto promises better drinking water facilities, better street lights, free community toilets, provision of pink toilets for women, grant of Rs 20,000 for construction of personal toilets, provision of adarsh nagar panchayat, e-tendering and provision of kanji house for stray animals.
'This is a major rupture in Tamil Nadu's political order.' 'For the Dravidian parties, the message is clear: The old DMK-AIADMK binary is no longer guaranteed a future.'
Uddhav and Raj Thackeray, along with their families, reunited at a Diwali event in Mumbai, fueling speculation about a potential political alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS ahead of local body polls.
Political parties earlier used to seek vote on the basis of caste and religion, said Kejriwal.
Will the AIADMK acknowledge the role of CAA and the anti-CAA protests, both inside the state and outside, as among the causes for the current electoral reversal, as many in the party now want? It is unlikely to be so, but then the pressure will increase on the leadership to reassess the BJP alliance at one level and the 'blind support' for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's controversial policies on the other, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
'This will split the Marathi and Shiv Sena vote.' 'The BJP has conducted 3 surveys indicating they shall secure 109 seats in the BMC.' 'They do not wish for the Shinde Sena to demonstrate excessive strength in the BMC.' 'If the Thackerays secure 60-70 seats, that will affect Shinde's seats.'
Opposition parties demanded that all elections in the future be held through ballot papers.
The Assam assembly on Thursday passed a bill to ban polygamy, making it an offence which may lead to a maximum of 10 years of imprisonment, barring some exceptions.
After playing spoilsport to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in the recently concluded polls to Urban Local Bodies in Karnataka, Karnataka Janatha Party President B S Yeddyurappa on Tuesday set his eyes on storming the assembly in upcoming elections.
Political sources say Modi is 'keen' on getting the NCP (SP) over to the Mahayuti to counter Eknath Shinde's 'demands' and to act as a cushion against his present allies, Nitish Kumar and N Chandrababu Naidu, 'in case their relationship became untenable'.
With the Congress coming third overall and having done much better than Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP, its allies in Maha Vikas Aghadi, political analysts said it will force a rethink as far as coordination, seat-sharing and leadership are concerned ahead of the 2029 assembly polls.
The first of the two-phase urban local body polls in Uttar Pradesh will take place on Thursday, a major poll battle in the politically crucial state ahead of the 2024 parliamentary elections.
The apex court observed that it respects the local sentiments but asserted authorities cannot let the law of the land not prevail especially when there is nothing affecting the personal rights or personal laws.
The state government last week announced the schedule for holding elections to local bodies and panchayats in the state.
While the BJP emerged as the single largest party in 12 municipal bodies, it has majority in five of these bodies.
Multi-cornered contests, deep divisions within the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, reflected in the Congress and Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray fighting separately and lack of a robust plan among its rivals helped the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai polls as it looks poised to rule India's richest civic body for the first time.
Addressing an election meeting on what once was the home turf of slain gangster-politician Atiq Ahmed, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Tuesday appeared to invoke nature as a great leveller -- a force that delivers justice.
A total of 3,372 nominations have been filed for 1,145 wards. The next phases take place on 10th, 13th and 16th October.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress in Madhya Pradesh, where assembly polls are due by 2023-end, are not attaching much importance to the presence of the AAP and the AIMIM citing the largely bipolar politics of the state.
Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen MP Asaduddin Owaisi has been arrested by the Bidar police for violating the election code of conduct. His party has fielded candidates for the urban local body polls in Bidar and Basavakalyan in Karnataka.
A total of 3.32 crore voters will be eligible to cast their ballots at 36,269 polling booths and 11,389 polling stations.
Local Congress leader Rajkumar Singh Rajju was taken into custody by the police on Wednesday after he allegedly placed the tricolour on the grave of gangster-politician Atiq Ahmad, calling him a 'martyr'.
Maharashtra heads to the polls for 29 municipal corporations, with Mumbai's BMC election taking center stage as the BJP-led Mahayuti faces off against the Thackeray front. Key issues include promises for women, pollution control, and the city's financial health.
