Firing a fresh salvo at the Bharatiya Janata Party which had accused the Shiv Sena of paying only lip service to the cause of Hindutva, the latter's member of Parliament Sanjay Raut on Tuesday claimed that the Sena was the first party in the country to contest an election on the Hindutva plank.
'The idea of aligning with different political parties -- parties that are relevant at a particular period -- is opportunistic and unacceptable.'
When the exit poll results came in at 11.30 pm IST, there was relief all around that Macron had won the race easily, getting 58.8% of the vote, a 7.2% drop from the 66% vote he won in 2017.
'Since the party is at a stage when things are very bad, this is the best time to experiment.'
Ireland's parliament was forced to adjourn the debate on a bill that would legalise abortion for the first time in the predominantly Catholic country after an all-night debate on the issue moved into a second day on Thursday.
From the point of view of qualification, Murmu is probably educationally the least qualified among India's recent Presidents. But then, with the BJP in command, she will be required to do little but sign on the dotted line.
Bharatiya Janata Party MP Kirodi Lal Meena moved for leave to introduce the bill to provide for the constitution of the national inspection and investigation committee for preparation of a Uniform Civil Code and its implementation throughout India and for matters connected therewith during the private member's business.
The launch of a new party by former Karnataka minister and mining baron G Janardhana Reddy has spiced up the poll scene in parts of state.
70 per cent voting was recorded across 18 constituencies of Bastar and Rajnandgaon till 3 pm in the first phase of assembly election in Chhattisgarh, where violence by Naxals who have called for a poll boycott left a Central Reserve Police Force jawan dead.
'Both the BJP and SP have workers and cadres across the state, and now it will boil down to which party manages booths smartly and gets its voters to come out.'
Interestingly, the Muslim representation in West Bengal assembly has dropped this time when compared to what it was in 2016, even as members of the community voted en masse for the Mamata Banerjee camp.
The ruling Eknath Shinde camp in Maharashtra told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that the rival side led by Uddhav Thackeray wanted the speaker of the state assembly to "usurp" the powers of the Election Commission when the ultimate test of majority in a democracy -- the floor test -- was ordered by the governor during the 2022 political crisis.
Bengal, where the electoral discourse has mostly steered clear of divisive agenda, has been drawn into the vortex with the TMC and the BJP accusing each other of fanning communal sentiments ahead of elections.
He also rejected allegations of being a vote cutter and cleared the air about his fallout with the Akhilesh Yadav-led party.
The apex court directed that the proceedings of the floor test should be video-graphed. The President's rule, imposed on the state on March 27, was suspended for the proceedings of floor test.
The GMC poll was being seen as a litmus test for the BJP in the backdrop of its sudden and surprising decision to change the state's chief minister and the entire cabinet recently, ahead of the state Assembly polls due next year.
The finance ministry will kick-start the exercise to prepare the annual Budget for 2023-24 from October 10, in the backdrop of revival of the Indian economy and fears of recession in developed countries. The budget for the next year will have to address critical issues of high inflation, job creation, boosting demand, and putting the economy on a sustained 8 per cent-plus growth path. On Wednesday, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman said inflation is no longer "red-lettered" and the priority for the government now is job creation and boosting growth.
'It is undemocratic and shows fascist tendencies.'
Biju Janata Dal members had staged a walk-out while NDA ally Shiv Sena did not participate in the voting.
India will need to watch carefully and understand the new round of instability and uncertainty in Pakistan, while charting the course of its future diplomatic initiatives, points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency.
After the 18-member 'Assam Advisory Committee' suggested the two organisations to form a political party, a source close to the development said the new outfit will be launched within the next 10 days.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) president Sharif, 70, and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) vice-chairman and former foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Sunday filed their nomination papers for the post.
The case of the two Shiv Sena factions for legitimacy and the party symbol, 'Bow and Arrow', is now before the Election Commission. Whichever way the EC findings go, the other can be expected to move the Supreme Court. They would need a final verdict before the parliamentary polls, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
This election will decide in what shape and form the Akali Dal will survive.
Pakistan's Election Commission on Friday disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan for five years in the Toshakhana case for hiding proceeds from the sale of gifts he received from foreign leaders.
'It was Maulana Azad's foresight which created the IITs, UGC, science academies across the country.'
The Congress on Saturday issued a show-cause notice to its leader Vijai Bhike after his statement blaming the ally Goa Forward Party for the poor performance in the last month's Goa assembly elections drew a sharp response from the latter.
The SP's bid to dent the BJP's formidable social equation is playing out in a big way in the Poorvanchal or eastern region of Uttar Pradesh as the ruling party is working overtime to keep its caste equation unharmed.
If Rahul's yatra makes a political statement from the other side of the aisle and Shah Rukh's success underlines a more relaxed popular mood, Mr Modi and Mr Bhagwat's cues to their followers are coming from another place, observes Shekhar Gupta.
The khichdi was prepared with 400 kg rice, 100 kg lentils, 350 kg vegetables, 100 kg desi ghee, 100 litres of oil, 2,500 litres of water and 250 kg spices, one of the cooks said.
'People are questioning these highways and expressways in UP because ultimately, they want to get bread and butter first.'
"It is shameful that Rahul Gandhi, instead of coming to Parliament and apologising for his undemocratic rant against India, today seeks to be absent from Parliament," she asserted.
Setting aside a popular political dictum that Bastar holds the key to power in the state, the 24 assembly constituencies in Bilaspur division would now decide who will form the next government in Chhattisgarh. So far the BJP's Amit Shah has held two public meetings and Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed one in the division in the last one month, reports R Krishna Das.
The Goa bench of the Bombay high court on Thursday upheld the Goa assembly speaker's order dismissing two petitions seeking the disqualification of 12 MLAs who left their respective parties and joined the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
Congress's Assam president Ripun Bora resigned on Sunday after the party's defeat in the state elections.
Peoples Democratic Party chief Mehbooba Mufti and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah engaged in a war of words on Twitter after the passage of the triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha, with the latter stating that PDP leaders abstaining from voting "helped the government with the numbers needed to pass the bill."
The speaker said she was ready to start the debate right away if the House agreed. The debate has been listed in Monday's list of business under Rule 193.
As trends show a resounding victory for Mamata Banerjee and her party the Trinamool Congress in the state of West Bengal, opposition leaders have begun congratulating 'Didi' for her strong show in the polls.
"Mr Modi has utterly failed. It is clear by now that we (NDA) cannot deliver more than this (since 2014)," he said.
'In order to stop the BJP actually, you need a party that changes the discourse rather than positing another pole for polarising it further. The answer to this kind of politics lies in refocusing the agenda on development'
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