THE Election Commission on Saturday barred the Chirag Paswan and the Pashupati Kumar Paras factions from using the name of Lok Janshakti Party or its symbol ‘bungalow’ till the dispute between the rival groups is settled by the poll panel. The commission also said that the two factions can use free symbols available to field their candidates for the by-polls to two Assembly seats in Bihar in the coming days. “Both the groups shall be known by such names by as they may choose for their respective groups, ..

AMID speculation of him joining the BJP, former Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh met Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday evening. The meeting lasted for around an hour at Shah’s official residence here. On Wednesday, Singh tweeted after the meeting with Shah: “Met Union Home Minister @AmitShah in Delhi. Discussed the prolonged farmers’ agitation against #FarmLaws & urged him to resolve the crisis urgently with repeal of the laws & guarantee MSP, besides supporting Punjab in crop diversificat..

SENIOR BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis on Saturday said ups and downs are part of democracy and hoped the BJP would get another opportunity to form its Government in Maharashtra again. Addressing a gathering of Mathadi workers in Navi Mumbai to commemorate the 88th birth anniversary of labour leader late Annasaheb Patil, the former Chief Minister called for a speedy resolution of issues concerning head-loaders. “We will again get an opportunity to come to power. Ups and downs are part of democracy, “ ..

CONGRESS President Sonia Gandhi will take a final call on inducting election strategist Prashant Kishor in the party as Congress leaders are divided over the issue. According to party sources, Sonia has already started the consultation process. Kishor has more recently worked with the Trinamool Congress and has been credited as the man behind the thumping victory of the party in the West Bengal Assembly elections. As Kishor wants a full-fledged role and decision making authority on election related ..

CONGRESS Interim President Sonia Gandhi on Friday urged Opposition party leaders to work together and plan systematically for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, saying, the goal is to give the country a Government that believes in the principles of the Constitution. Addressing a virtual meeting of various Opposition parties, she said that this is a challenge but expressed hope that “together we can” do it. “Despite our political compulsions, the time has come when interests of our nation demand that we rise ..

BASAVARAJ Somappa Bommai was on Tuesday chosen as the new Chief Minister of Karnataka, succeeding B S Yediyurappa. A strong Lingayat leader from north Karnataka, he was elected to the post at the legislature party meeting held at a private hotel, and chaired by Central observers, Union Ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and G. Kishan Reddy. Yediyurappa proposed Bommai’s name and it was agreed upon by the BJP legislators. Bommai will be sworn in as the 30th Chief Minister at the Raj Bhawan at 11 am on ..

SOUNDING the bugle for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee during her virtual Martyrs Day speech on Wednesday not only went for an all-out attack against the BJP party, but also indicated that the Trinamool is ready to play an important role in national politics as she urged all the political parties to forget their narrow self-interests and unite on a single platform...

TWELVE BJP MLAs were suspended from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly for one year after the State Government accused them of “misbehaving” with presiding officer Bhaskar Jadhav in the Speaker’s chamber on Monday. Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis termed the allegation as false and said Jadhav’s account of the incident was “one-sided”. However, Jadhav sought a probe into the allegation that some Shiv Sena members and he himself made uncharitable remarks, and said he was ready to face any punishment ..

IN YET another jolt to the BJP, the party’s Alipurduar district president, Ganga Prasad Sharma, joined the TMC on Monday, as senior leader of the state’s ruling party Mukul Roy, who also switched sides two weeks ago, claimed that this was the “beginning of the saffron party’s end” in the State. Seven other BJP leaders from the region, too, followed in Sharma’s footsteps and joined the Mamata Banerjee camp. Roy, addressing a press meet here, said the BJP’s rise in the state began with the 2019 Lok ..

WEST Bengal BJP president Dilip Ghosh on Tuesday claimed that 37 party workers were killed in the State after the recent Assembly election results. He said this at an interaction held virtually with Uttar Pradesh BJP to review the situation in West Bengal post the Vidhan Sabha election results. The meeting alleged that the Trinamool Congress was sponsoring violence in the State. According to a release issued by the UP BJP, a discussion with West Bengal unit president Dilip Ghosh was organised in ..

BJP on Monday chose Suvendu Adhikari as Leader of Opposition in the new West Bengal Assembly. Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced Adhikari’s name as leader of the BJP legislature party in the assembly after a meeting of the legislators at the party’s Hastings office. Adhikari had won election from Nandigram Assembly seat, defeating his former mentor-turned-political adversary Mamata Banerjee by a narrow margin of over 1900 votes...

BUILDING a strong narrative over the years against the AIADMK and BJP-led Governments in Tamil Nadu and the Centre, DMK President M K Stalin reaped huge success in Assembly polls, recreating the 2019 magic when he won the Lok Sabha polls hands down for his party and allies. The DMK has won 133 seats, and Congress bagged 18 seats, according to final tally...

The statistical details may vary from exit poll to exit poll that streamed into public domain at the lapse of 7 p.m. embargo of the Election Commission, all pollsters appear unanimous that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) achieved a quantum jump in West Bengal and retained its hold in Assam. If Puducherry showed a BJP tilt, the outcomes for Tamil Nadu and Kerala proved to be almost on the dotted line. No matter the details that would get confirmed only on May 2, the single most critical factor in ..

A DAY after a purported audio tape -in which she is heard proposing a rally with the bodies of Cooch Behar firing victims- surfaced, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday alleged that her phone is being tapped and said she will order a CID probe into it. Addressing an election rally here, she accused the BJP of being involved in the conspiracy as the party “cannot match” the ruling Trinamool Congress’ campaigning on development programmes. “They (BJP leaders) are even eavesdropping ..

AFTER the resignation of Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Union Minister of Law and Justice and senior BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday said that Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had forfeited the moral authority to govern. Addressing a press conference at the BJP headquarters here, Prasad said: “Deshmukh resigned citing moral grounds. Chief Minister Thackeray, where is your morality? Will we hear something on your morality? I think Uddhav Thackeray has forfeited the moral authority ..

CURTAINS came down at 5 pm on Thursday on the high decibel campaign in first phases of Legislative elections in West Bengal and Assam, leaving the contesing parties to resort to door-to-door voter-contact drives, even as opinion polls predicted return of Mamata Banerjee’s Trinamool Congress (TMC) in West Bengal and the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) in Assam. Both the States would go to polls in the first phase on March 27. The 30 seats in West Bengal are spread across ..

BENGAL has brought together the nation through ‘Vande Mataram,’ and on this land, CM Mamata Banerjee was terming people “bohiragoto,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday, announcing that if voted to power, a son of the soil will be made the BJP Chief Minister of the State. Addressing an election rally in Kanthi in the Purba Medinipur district, Modi said that Bengal was the land of icons like Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Rabindranath Tagore and Subhas Chandra Bose and on this land, no Indian ..

VETERAN TMC MP Sisir Adhikari - father of BJP heavyweight Suvendu Adhikari - joined the BJP here on Sunday in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and other senior leaders of the party. The patriarch of the Adhikari family -- which wields considerable influence in Bengal’s Purba Medinipur district -- said that he had to work really hard to rise through the ranks in the TMC, but the treatment meted out to him and his sons, of late, forced him to switch camp...

THE CBI on Monday questioned relatives of Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee in connection with its investigation into the multi-crore coal pilferage case. The central agency had on Friday issued a notice to Ankush Arora, husband of Menaka Gambhir who is the sister-in-law of Banerjee, for questioning in the illegal coal mining case. The agency also asked Gambhir’s father-in-law Pawan Arora to join the investigation...

TRUE to her street fighter image, Mamata Banerjee was back on the roads of Kolkata on Sunday, four days after being injured at the hustings in Nandigram, leading a TMC march on a wheelchair and declaring an injured tiger is far more dangerous. Accompanied by senior TMC leaders, Banerjee was seen greeting the crowd with folded hands, with security personnel pushing her wheelchair. Banerjee joined the five km road show from Mayo Road to Hazra More as part of observation of Nandigram Diwas to commemorate ..

TERMING Congress as “most corrupt”, Union Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani on Saturday said the Opposition party only showed dreams of development in Assam and indulged in “politics of divide”. Addressing three back-to-back rallies in her maiden election campaign in Assam, the senior BJP leader appealed to the people of Assam to vote for the BJP to continue to avail benefits of various central and state schemes. Kickstarting her day-long programme at Mariani, she said Prime Minister Modi and Chief ..

BHARATIYA Janata Party’s surprise choice for the top job in Uttarakhand Tirath Singh Rawat was sworn-in as the State’s new Chief Minister on Wednesday, replacing Trivendra Singh Rawat ahead of next year’s Assembly polls. The oath of office was administered on Rawat by Uttarakhand Governor Baby Rani Maurya at a simple function held at the Raj Bhawan here in the evening in the presence of a host of dignitaries. Rawat alone was sworn-in on Wednesday, which means the members of his Cabinet will be finalised ..

A DAY after an all-women grand show in Siliguri, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Monday hit the road with a massive rally in the heart of Kolkata to observe International Women’s Day. The mega rally started from central Kolkata’s College Street crossing and culminated at the Dorian crossing in Esplanade. Armed with placards and posters, thousands of women activists from the state’s ruling Trinamool Congress took part in the rally, raising ‘Mahilara Didikei Chae’ (women want Didi) slogans. ..

AFTER tough negotiations that stretched for days, the DMK on Sunday allotted 25 Assembly seats and the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha constituency to its key ally, the Congress. A formal pact for the April 6 Assembly election was signed by DMK President M K Stalin and Tamil Nadu Congress Committee chief K S Alagiri at the Dravidian party’s headquartes ‘Anna Arivalayam’ here...

THE ruling AIADMK has allotted 20 Assembly constituencies and the Kanyakumari Lok Sabha seat to its ally BJP for the April 6 Assembly elections, after several rounds of negotiations. Following up with the release of its first list of six candidates for the polls on Friday, the AIADMK firmed up the electoral agreement with BJP late Friday night. An AIADMK release pledged its full support to the candidates of the BJP in the polls and the pact was signed by O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami from the ..

THE BJP on Saturday said it would not give up its demand for the ouster of Maharashtra Forest Minister Sanjay Rathod over the death of a woman in Pune, and slammed the State Government for filing a case of corruption against the husband of its leader Chitra Wagh. Chitra Wagh, Vice President of State BJP, was vocal on the issue of Rathod’s alleged link to the woman’s death, and therefore her husband was targeted, the party claimed. The Opposition party had earlier warned that it would not allow the ..

THE Congress tried to smoothen things out after the group of dissenters chose to attack the party leadership over ignoring them and not consulting the party leaders in decision making or not building a consensus on any decision. Senior spokesperson of the party Abhishek Manu Singhvi said at a press conference that the leaders are highly “respected” in the party but they should have done more to “strengthen” the party in the poll-bound States. Singhvi played down the issue and said, “Each of the perso..

BHARATIYA Janata Party (BJP) President J P Nadda on Saturday launched the party’s ‘Parivartan Yatra’ from Nabadwip in West Bengal’s Nadia district, and asserted that the people have decided to bid farewell to the Mamata Banerjee Government in the Assembly elections. He also accused the TMC Government of politicising the administration and criminalising the police. Claiming that the TMC’s slogan of “Maa, Mati, Manush” (mother, land and people) has been reduced to “dictatorship, tolabaji (extortion) ..

CONGRESS’ MLA Pradeep Chaudhary from Kalka stands disqualified following his conviction by a Himachal Pradesh court in a nearly a-decade-old case, Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta said on Saturday. Chaudhary was sentenced to three years in jail by a Nalagarh court in Solan district of Himachal Pradesh following his conviction earlier on January 14 in a ca..

AAP MLA and former Delhi Minister Somnath Bharti was on Saturday sentenced to two years in jail by a court here in a 2016 case of assaulting the security staff at AIIMS and causing damage to hospital property. Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ravindra Kum..

A MAHARASHTRA teacher, who did not allow coronavirus-induced lockdown to come in the way of continuing his classes for his students in rural areas, has won recognition for his efforts that involved use of conference calls and storytelling. Balaji Baburao Jadhav (35), who hails from Sangavi village under Renapur tehsil of Latur district in central Maharashtra, has been selected for the Honey Bee Network Creativity Inclusive Innovation Award 2020. He is a Zilla Parishad teacher at Vijayanagar in Maan ..

MAKING a U-turn on his political plunge, superstar Rajinikanth on Tuesday announced that he will not join politics and start a party as announced earlier, citing his frail health. He had first announced in 2017, after years of speculation, that he would indeed enter politics ahead of the 2021 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu and field candidates from all 234 seats in the State. The veteran announced earlier this month that he will launch his political party in January and disclose the specifics ..

RCP Singh, a close confidant of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, was on Sunday chosen as the new president of Janata Dal (United). Kumar had proposed the name of Singh for the top post, which was then approved by other members during the party’s national executive meeting, a senior leader told PTI on Sunday...

THE People’s Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls by winning 110 seats, while the BJP emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats after securing the largest vote share in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday. The results of two constituencies - one each in Bandipora and Kupwara districts of north Kashmir - are still awaited as counting of votes has been deferred there till further orders...

POLITICS makes strange bedfellows. It can also wreck a marriage. Sujata Mondol Khan, the wife of BJP MP from West Bengal’s Bishnupur Saumitra Khan, Monday found her marriage on the rocks when her husband of 10 years threatened to divorce her after she joined the ruling TMC. Claiming that “misfit and corrupt leaders” were getting more importance in the BJP than those loyal to the party, Mondal Khan shifted allegiance..

SUPERSTAR Rajinikanth on Thursday asserted that he would launch his political party in January 2021, ending years of suspense and in a big morale booster to his supporters and fans. The top star, promising his brand of spiritual politics, dramatically asserted that he was even ready to risk his life for the sake of people’s welfare by making a foray into politics. The 70-year old actor categorically said that his party would fight Assembly elections in 2021 and “emerge victorious.” Assembly elections ..

THE newly-elected MLAs of the Bihar Assembly took oath on Monday as the first day of the five-day Bihar Assembly session began amid strict COVID-19 protocols.The session will end on November 27. Pro-tem Speaker of the State Assembly, Jitan Ram Manjhi, administered the oath to the newly-elected MLAs. Manjhi said the swearing-in of the newly-elected MLAs would continue till November 24. The two Deputy Chief Ministers Tarkishore Prasad and Renu Devi were the first to t..

AFTER clinching the Bihar Assembly polls, West Bengal will be the “prime focus” for BJP where it has set a target of winning more than 200 seats in the State elections due in April-May 2021, party national general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya said on Wednesday. The NDA has won 125 seats in the 243-member Bihar Assembly, results of which were declared on Tuesday...

THE BJP on Tuesday was set to sweep the Assembly by-elections held last week with leads and wins in 40 of 59 seats across 11 States, including Madhya Pradesh where it cemented its rule by winning 16 seats and was poised to add three more. India’s ruling party wrested all the eight seats from the Congress in Gujarat and retained its six constituencies in Uttar Pradesh that went to the polls in the first pan-India electoral exercise in the pandemic, acc..

SEVERAL exit polls on Saturday gave the RJD-led Opposition alliance in Bihar an edge over the ruling NDA while at least three of them predicted a clear majority for the ‘Mahagathbandhan’ which has projected Tejashwi Yadav as its chief ministerial face. Most of the exit polls also predicted RJD to again emerge as the single largest party in the 243-member Assembly along with a clear dip in the seat tally of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Ku..

ALL eyes are now on the polling for third and final phase of Assembly elections in Bihar scheduled on Saturday in which stakes are quite high for the ruling NDA, trying to avert the anti-incumbency factor, and the Opposition Grand Alliance led by an apparently resurgent RJD..

THE by-elections for 28 Assembly seats in Madhya Pradesh have seen many issues coming to the fore during the campaigning yet the silence of the voter has kept all parties and their candidates on tenterhooks before the last vote is cast on November 3. At the same time all parties are confident of their victory in the by-polls. A total of 355 candidates, including 12 Ministers, are in the fray for by-polls to 28 seats in the State. Around 33,000 security personn..

PRIME MINISTER Narendra Modi on Sunday excoriated the Opposition over the Pulwama attack after Pakistan’s admission of complicity in it, saying it has “taken masks off” the faces of those in India who never cared for the “sons of Bihar” who lost their lives in the assault. Addressing an election rally in Chapra, he also sought to appeal to Bihari sensitivities by speaking about ‘chhath’ puja, saying their “son” will ensure that kitchen fires are kept burning despite the COVI..

FORMER Gujarat Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel died here on Thursday after prolonged illness, family sources said. Patel (92) had recovered from COVID-19 recently and was rushed to a hospital in Ahmedabad Thursday morning following health complications, the sources said. The BJP veteran was the State Chief Minister in 1995 and again during 1998-2001. Narendra Modi had succeeded him as Gujarat Chief Minister. “Though he recently recover..

WHILE addressing a public rally in Phulparas constituency on Sunday, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar lashed out at dynastic politics of the Opposition and said that the whole State is his family. “For others, wife, son, daughter and limited members are the families, but to me, whole Bihar is my family. Serving people is my duty,” he said...

A DAY after claiming that Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar would be put behind bars if his party is voted to power, Chirag Paswan, Lok Janshakti Party (LJP) chief on Monday called Kumar a “corrupt” leader and accused him of being involved in corruption in ‘Saat Nischay’ (Seven Resolves). “I said that if they are guilty, they will be sent to jail after probe. How can it be possible that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar doesn’t know about large-scale sca..

A DAY after joining the ruling ally NCP, senior politician Eknath Khadse was accorded a hero’s welcome at his home town Muktainagar in Jalgaon here on Saturday, and he vowed to give ‘tension’ to the BJP. Hundreds of workers stopped his motorcade at various locations outside the town, cheering him, women performing ‘aarti and tilak’, and others garlanding him or offering bouquets and sweets. Many raised slogans of “Eknath Khadse aage badho, hum tumhare saath hai’, ‘Khadse zindabad’, as the Khadse family, ..

PEOPLE’S Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Friday lashed out at the Centre for abrogating Article 370 and said that she will raise the Indian tricolour when the “flag of Jammu and Kashmir” is brought back. Addressing her first press conference after being released from detention, she said: “My flag is this (points to the flag of J&K kept o..

Maharashtra BJP leader Eknath Khadse will join the NCP on Friday, State Minister Jayant Patil said on Wednesday, ending speculations about the senior BJP leader jumping the ship. Khadse was sulking since he was made to resign as Minister in 2016 in the then Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP Government over corruption allegations...

RAHUL Gandhi, the Congress MP from Wayanad, Kerala, on Tuesday said the Centre has a tendency to use national agencies as political weapons. Gandhi said this while interacting with the media during his first visit to his constituency after the COVID-19 pandemic broke out in March. “It’s not Farooq Abdullah alone, there are many other leaders including me, who have cases registered [against us] by these agencies. The CBI and ED are being used to pressurise an..