As the new year arrives, the Bharatiya Janata Party's finds itself on the cusp of the most consequential cycle of state polls since the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as the results will tell if the road ahead in its bid for a third straight term at the Centre is getting any bumpier or a strong opposition challenge remains elusive.
In a dramatic turn of events, Communist Party of Nepal-Maoist Centre chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal 'Prachanda' was appointed as the new prime minister of Nepal by President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Sunday.
The reset button that the Bharatiya Janata Party has pressed on governance in the wake of the Covid-19 wave, which also saw a major overhaul by Prime Minister Narendra Modi of his own Cabinet, continues as Vijay Rupani on Saturday became the fourth chief minister from the party to go.
As the new year arrives, what is clear is that the BJP's stars continue to shine the brightest while its rivals' search for a way to dim their glow go on.
If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise.
The commission also directed political parties to adhere to the provisions of the model code of conduct and broader guidelines on Covid-19.
Union minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat on Wednesday said the Bharatiya Janata Party is ready for virtual election rallies and the party will follow the Election Commission's guidelines.
Wordsmiths and artists of different parties are working overtime to deliver punches and counter punches in their bid to reach out to voters through different platforms ranging from Facebook to YouTube.
Barring a brief lull in 2008 triggered by her standoff with Congress president Sonia Gandhi over the issue of family entitlement in ticket distribution, the suave and soft-spoken Alva's career has largely been a dream run.
'Her elevation in public life signified the end of parochial extremism and hate on a casteist basis.'
What some of our leaders were up to on Monday, December 12.
The youth leadership taking the reigns of the states was a rare event in the last century as very few broke the glass ceilings.
The EC had cautioned that the video van events should not cause inconvenience to the people and should not be a hindrance to smooth flow of traffic.
A dominant force in the country's politics for decades, the grand old party's free fall continued as it lost Punjab to AAP and finished with just two seats out of 403 in the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh.
Citizens belonging to different religions and denominations follow different property and matrimonial laws which is 'an affront to the nation's unity', the Centre had said last year in its affidavit in the Supreme Court on the Uniform Civil Code matter.
The Election Commission on Monday extended the ban on roadshows, padyatras, vehicle rallies and processions till February 11, but enhanced the number of people allowed in door-to-door campaigning from the present 10 to 20 and permitted a maximum of 1,000 people for physical public meetings.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
The AAP, which is the only party to declare its chief ministerial candidate before the polls, is trying hard to make the contest triangular.
The SC, however, rejected NIA's request for immediate stay to the order.
Modi also lauded party workers in the state, saying each of them is a champion
A private member resolution seeking that the government implement the recommendations of the Sachar Committee report and other reports that have discussed the educational and social backwardness of Muslims and enact a legislation for the prevention of atrocities against minorities was moved in the Rajya Sabha on Friday.
Oli said the territories belong to Nepal 'but India has made it a disputed area by keeping its Army there'. "Nepalis were blocked from going there after India stationed its Army," he said.
Prachanda took the oath of office and secrecy from President Bhandari at an official ceremony at Shital Niwas.
The decision was taken to ensure the betterment of the state and the party in the days to come, senior leader Ratan Lal Nath told reporters shortly after Saha, the state BJP president, took oath as the new chief minister.
Indians are becoming much more spendy and discerning travellers and look for places that can offer them a 'new' kind of experience.
Names of at least half a dozen leaders, including Dhan Singh Rawat, Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank and Satpal Maharaj, are doing the rounds to replace Trivendra Singh Rawat, who resigned as the chief minister of Uttarakhand on Tuesday.
Addressing BJP workers at the party headquarters, Modi also referred to the next Lok Sabha polls, scheduled for 2024, saying he hopes that political pundits will note that his party's win in the four states has also made clear the verdict for the next general election as they had linked its win in 2019 to its sweep of the Uttar Pradesh elections in 2017.
The morcha claimed that the response to the bandh call was 'more widespread than before' and nearly all opposition political parties extended an unconditional support to it.
Kejriwal asked whether the BJP-led central government was waiting for the Lok Sabha elections to make a move in this direction.
At its Jaipur meeting, the BJP will focus on this year's assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh while the Congress's Chintan Shivir in Udaipur will discuss how it can resurrect itself.
Chidambaram also stressed that there were lessons to be learnt by the Congress from the Gujarat loss, saying there is no such thing as a "silent" campaign in a hard-fought election.
Assembly elections to five crucial states will take place in a few months and the results will be decisive for the BJP, which is eyeing a third successive term at the Centre, in the forthcoming the Lok Sabha polls in 2024.
India has already termed as untenable the 'artificial enlargement' of the territorial claims by Nepal after its Parliament unanimously approved the new political map of the country featuring Lipulekh, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura areas which India maintains belongs to it.
If the BJP is set to return to power in UP, Uttarakhand, Manipur and even Goa, it is not because of the party's performance or the quality of governance. No. It is essentially Modi's popularity, observes Virendra Kapoor.
Some leaders of the non-BJP ruled states also alleged that the exclusion was an "insult" by the Centre.
Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury while making these points however, spoke out against any need for change in the top leadership of the party, stating that both Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi have been 'trying wholeheartedly'.
According to the poll panel, election campaign can now be conducted between 6 am and 10 pm instead of earlier 8 am to 8 pm.
'The Hindu electorate is more or less in the BJP defined space now.'
"Let them show whatever they have got. We are winning with a majority," Akhilesh Yadav said, dismissing predictions to the contrary on some TV channels.
