'If a poor voter sees Modi's picture on ration bags, it is natural he will vote for Modi and the BJP.'
The Delhi high court on Friday refused to entertain a PIL seeking direction to the Centre and the Election Commission to make voting compulsory in parliamentary and assembly polls, saying it cannot force a person to vote.
In violence-hit Manipur, the general buzz associated with elections and the related paraphernalia of posters, banners and rallies are missing but it is the presence of these brown boxes with pictures of guns that is symbolic of the strife-ridden society struggling to return to normalcy.
Embattled Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal walked out of the Tihar Jail on Friday evening, hours after the Supreme Court granted him interim bail in a money laundering case to enable him to campaign in the Lok Sabha elections, in a huge relief to his party struggling to gain momentum in the absence of its foremost leader.
With polls to elect the 18th Lok Sabha approaching, district poll panels are fixing the rates for expenses as part of the election expenditure monitoring process.
The apex court bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, will assemble at 10.30 am to hear the two petitions.
'Chavan's political clout began declining since his Lok Sabha defeat in 2019.'
In Phase 6, indications are that the BJP, which is defending 40 seats, will lose in double digits and gain in single digits. Not good, if you are the ruling party scrambling to earn a working majority, with just one phase left to go, argues Prem Panicker.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will also hear a separate plea which has sought initiation of contempt action against the SBI alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of the contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.
In a state where thin margins and minor swings decide electoral outcomes, nothing can be left to chance, even for those relishing the cocooned life, observes Shyam G Memon.
Shailaja Teacher, arguably the most famous Covid warrior in India, versus former student leader Shafi Parambil who defeated 'Metro Man' E Sreedharan in the last assembly election. Shyam G Menon reports from the Vadakara Lok Sabha constituency, which some feel is the most politically important contest in Kerala this election.
Cricket climate change to medical practice, dropped candidates have their non-political life sorted.
In a jolt to the Centre, the Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the notification setting up a fact-checking unit under the Press Information Bureau (PIB) to identify fake news about the Union government.
'If you post on social media on an issue like power cuts in Tral, the police will come to your home and tell you to remove your social media post.' 'If you don't, then the local police threaten you that they will book you under PSA.' 'This is happening all the time in Kashmir.'
Entertainers can be good politicians if they treat the citizens as the audience, and treat their job like a live show, and work hard to make sure the audience likes them, asserts Sandeep Goyal.
Asif Ali Zardari was overwhelmingly elected as the 14th President of Pakistan on Saturday, becoming the only civilian President of the coup-prone country for a second time.
The BJP game-plan: Take the top slot, or a close second, either for the 'Lotus' or the larger NDA, if it can and push the AIADMK to the third place, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Observing that the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar cannot be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister on a plea of the veteran Maratha leader alleging misuse of his popularity by the rival camp.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
Former United States president Donald Trump was projected to win the crucial South Carolina primary, beating his Indian-American rival and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, major American media outlets said minutes after the closing of the polls Saturday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi made a pitch for electing a strong and stable government in an uncertain world beset by geopolitical tensions as the Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday released its manifesto, prioritising development and welfare while shunning populist measures and contentious issues like the National Register of Citizens (NRC).
The bypoll assumes significance as Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is seeking her election to the assembly from the constituency.
Its workers are on their toes to win over the voters once again, with idea of 'Amrit Kaal'.
Years before the Supreme Court struck down as 'unconstitutional' an opaque political funding tool that allowed individuals and companies to donate money to political parties anonymously and without any limits, the then finance minister Arun Jaitley -- the prime mover of electoral bonds -- had termed them legitimate and transparent.
Women voters have been outnumbering male voters in Mizoram for the past few years, but paradoxically there are no women representatives in the state legislature for years together.
'This is the biggest crisis Kejriwal is facing in his life.' 'If he is able to come out of this, then he will have a great future.'
In the five years in politics Priyanka Gandhi has undeniably emerged as a thorn in the BJP flesh, notes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay. It is time that this thorn is twisted a wee bit more when the elections have become far more uncertain than what it was when the Election Commission announced the poll schedule.
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
The BJP is focusing determinedly on the seats it lost in 2019, with the hope of winning these either independently or with the aid of its allies.
The 67-year-old gave the example of two neighbouring states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, to buttress his point on why seat-sharing pattern of the INDIA bloc will vary from state to state.
Uttar Pradesh Deputy Chief Ministers Keshav Prasad Maurya and Brajesh Pathak said on Tuesday night that all the eight candidates of the Bharatiya Janata Party have won in the Rajya Sabha elections from the state.
As the curtain falls on the campaign for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha seat on Wednesday, April 24, a ringside view of the closing ceremonies.
It's great to win election after election on the strength of Modi's charisma and voter appeal, but the larger the Modi myth grows, the more the BJP diminishes, notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'Free this and free that, and the voters were with them.'
Sinha, while congratulating the EC for ensuring peaceful voting, alleged that the sense of fear and terror did prevail at some places.
'He should not come to Kerala and fight against the CPI which is an integral part of the INDIA alliance'
Indian-American Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday after being defeated in 15 states across the United States on Super Tuesday, paving the way for a rematch between her rival Donald Trump and incumbent Joe Biden in the November elections.
The Congress leadership on Friday held separate meetings to review its performances in the assembly polls in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh, and said its defeat in the two states at the hands of the BJP was unexpected.
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