KOLKATA: CPI(M), the leader of the Left Front in West Bengal, is keen on having a seat-sharing agreement with the Congress for the crucial Assembly elections in the state next year, but wants the grand old party to initiate dialogue.

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) informed on Wednesday that it has arrested an absconding accused in a rape case related to post-poll violence after the 2021 West Bengal Assembly Elections.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C said that conduct of elections involves diverse activities carried out by an election machinery consisting of officials and staff requisitioned from various departments of the Central Government, State Governments, PSUs, Local Authorities etc. During the election period, the entire machinery, deployed on the ground, performs arduous and sensitive duties, which extend for long hours and even continue for many months, so as to ensure a conducive environment wherein electors are able to exercise their franchise and elect a government of their choice.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress in Kerala has urged the State Election Commission to extend the deadline for adding names to the voter list ahead of the upcoming local body elections.

HYDERABAD: Hinting that former Indian cricket captain Mohammed Azharuddin will be the Congress candidate for the by-election to Telangana Assembly from the Jubilee Hills constituency, Telangana Minister Ponnam Prabhakar said on Tuesday that the party will not field any outsider.

NEW DELHI: Regular exposure to air pollution, including that coming from car exhaust emissions, can increased your risk of dementia, according to an analysis of studies published on Friday.

PATNA: Leader of Opposition in the Bihar Assembly Tejashwi Yadav has once again warned of a possible Mahagathbandhan boycott of the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, citing alleged irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the voter list.

DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Thursday arrived in Khatima to cast his vote as the first phase of the three-tier panchayat elections commenced across the state.

BHOPAL: Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Kamal Nath on Tuesday found a measure of vindication as Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleged that the 2023 Madhya Pradesh Assembly election results were “manipulated”.

CHABBAL (TARN TARAN): In a major boost to the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), the entire Azad group joined the SAD in the presence of party president Sukhbir Singh Badal who nominated it’s leader Principal Sukhwinder Kaur Randhawa as the party candidate for the forthcoming bye-election from this constituency.

DHAKA: As the general elections in Bangladesh approach, major political parties are engaged in a heated exchange regarding the need for reforms prior to the polls.

NEW DELHI: RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav has sparked a political storm with his controversial remark comparing “sources”, a common practice in journalistic parlance, to “mutra” (urine) while responding to a query about the alleged presence of illegal migrants in Bihar's electoral rolls.

NEW DELHI: Following the shocking murder of Surendra Kewat in Bihar’s Patna district, former Congress MP Kunwar Danish Ali has launched a scathing attack on the Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) and BJP alliance, claiming that the state is witnessing a complete collapse of law and order.

NEW DELHI: As Bihar gears up for the upcoming Assembly elections, a crucial meeting of the Mahagathbandhan (Grand Alliance) has been convened on Saturday, July 12, at the residence of RJD leader and Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Polo Road in Patna.

NEW DELHI: Union Home and Cooperation Minister Amit Shah is set to embark on a packed one-day visit to Kerala on Saturday, where he will inaugurate the new BJP state headquarters located on K.G. Marar Road in Thiruvananthapuram at 10:30 A.M. and also review poll preparedness for the fast approaching Assembly polls.

LUCKNOW: Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav has criticised the Uttar Pradesh government over the deteriorating condition of rivers, closure of water treatment plants, and issues of displacement linked to development projects.

MUMBAI: Actress and environmental advocate Dia Mirza, on Monday, shared an inspiring reflection on a recent World Environment Day event held at the United Nations House in India.

PATNA: Bihar Congress President Rajesh Kumar has launched a sharp attack on the functioning of the Election Commission of India (ECI), alleging it is working against democratic processes in the state.

KOLKATA: After the names of one MLA and two councillors appeared as accused in the latest supplementary charge sheet filed by the CBI in the 2021 West Bengal post-poll violence case, the Trinamool Congress is said to be working on a two-way strategy, legal and political, to counter the development.

WASHINGTON: A day before the US Independence Day, President Donald Trump, on Thursday, secured a massive political victory as Congress narrowly cleared his flagship tax and spending bill, advancing his second-term agenda with enhanced funding for his anti-immigration policies.

NEW DELHI: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal’s announcement of contesting the upcoming Bihar Assembly elections alone has invited a slew of reactions from political parties. Various parties, its ally or adversary, reacted on expected lines; however, the harshest one came from the Congress party, its erstwhile alliance partner in the INDIA bloc.

KOLKATA: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has said that the trial process and conviction in one of the 2021 post-poll violence in West Bengal concerning the rape of a minor girl were concluded at a special POSCO court in Kolkata, resulting in the first conviction in such cases investigated by the central investigating agency in the state.

PATNA: Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has raised sharp questions on the Election Commission’s move to revise the voter list ahead of the Bihar Assembly elections, alleging it is creating confusion among voters.

NEW DELHI: The Congress party has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to provide machine-readable digital copies of the voter lists for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and subsequent Vidhan Sabha elections, particularly in Maharashtra and Haryana. It has also sought polling day video footage for both states.

NEW DELHI: AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday congratulated the newly elected legislators in the Gujarat and Punjab bypolls and thanked the people of the two states for giving a thumping mandate to party nominees.

LUDHIANA, June 23: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) faced a severe blow in the Ludhiana West by-election, as its candidate Advocate Parupkar Singh Ghuman managed to secure only 8203 votes, finishing a distant fourth and losing his security deposit—a symbolic and strategic defeat that is likely to intensify infighting within the party and cast doubts on SAD's future electoral prospects under the leadership of Sukhbir Singh Badal.

JUNAGADH: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Gopal Italia secured a victory in the Visavadar Assembly by-election in Gujarat, defeating Bharatiya Janata Party’s Kirit Patel by a margin of over 17,000 votes.

KOLKATA: As the counting for West Bengal's Kaliganj Assembly constituency bypoll was going on in full swing on Monday, a fire broke out at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) at Strand Road in Central Kolkata.

NAINITAL: In a setback to the Uttarakhand government, the Nainital High Court on Monday stayed the two-phase gram panchayats elections next month, directing implementation of a new reservation rotation formula.

CHANDIGARH: State ruling AAP candidate Sanjeev Arora was leading with a margin of 2,500 votes in a close contest, as per initial counting trends, against his nearest rival and Congress nominee Bharat Bhushan Ashu from the Ludhiana West Assembly seat in Punjab on Monday.

CHANDIGARH: Nearly thirty-three per cent of voters exercised their franchise on Thursday till 1 p.m. to elect the legislator for the Ludhiana (West) constituency that fell vacant after the death of AAP MLA Gurpreet Bassi Gogi in January.

CHANDIGARH: With the state ruling Aam Aadmi Party eyeing to retain the seat, and the main Opposition Congress aiming to win back the Ludhiana (West) that it had represented six times, voting for the bypoll to Punjab’s lone Assembly seat began and will last till 6 p.m. on Thursday.

NEW DELHI: As the first electoral contest post Pahalgam terror attack and Operation Sindoor, voting for the by-elections to five Assembly seats across Punjab, West Bengal, Gujarat, and Kerala began amid tight security arrangements on Thursday.

KATHMANDU: Air pollution has emerged as the leading health hazard for death and disability in Nepal, with the Kathmandu Valley and the Terai region emerging as air pollution hotspots of the country, according to a new World Bank Report.

NILAMBUR: With just a day left for public campaigning in the Nilambur assembly by-election to end, the contest has reached a feverish pitch. All four candidates, along with their parties' star campaigners, are making a final push to woo voters ahead of polling on June 19.

WASHINGTON: A new poll has revealed that an average of 41.3 per cent of US adults approve of the job Joe Biden was doing as President, during his fifth quarter in office.

CANBERRA: Climate change, cost of living and the economy are the most important issues to Australians in the general election to be held on May 21, a newpoll revealed on Friday.

NEW DELHI: The Delhi BJP on Friday appointed the Assembly in-charge for upcoming bypolls in Rajinder Nagar constituency.

LONDON: Exposure to certain traffic-related air pollutants is associated with a greater likelihood of testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 virus, claims an observational study of young adults.

PATNA: The Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) on Saturday won the Bochahan Assembly bypolls after defeating the BJP candidate with a big margin of over 36,000 votes.

KOLKATA: Trinamool Congress candidates won the bypolls in both Asansol Lok Sabha and Ballygunge Assembly constituencies on Saturday.

CHAMBA: In the election year, Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Friday announced sops comprising 50 per cent discount to women for travelling in state-run buses, no water bill in rural areas and up to 125 electricity units free for 11.5 lakh consumers.

HYDERABAD: Actor Vijay, who is called 'Thalapathy' in Tamil Nadu, finally appeared in front of a TV channel for an interview, ahead of the release of his film'Beast'.

PATNA: Braving the scorching Sun, a large number of voters were queuing up at polling booths in Bihar's Muzaffarpur district as voting for the by-election to Bochahan Assembly constituency got underway on Tuesday morning.

LUCKNOW: The Bharatiya Janata Party is leading in the initial rounds of counting of votes for 27 seats of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Council.

PARIS: The first round of the 2022 French presidential elections will be held on Sunday and if none of the 12 eligible candidates receive an absolute majority, a run-off will take place on April 24 between the top two candidates from the first round.

BHOPAL: The Madhya Pradesh Congress has constituted a 20-member committee of party leaders to prepare strategies to take on the ruling BJP in the state.

BHOPAL: With just little over one-and-half-year time left for the Assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress have taken a plunge into election mode and are gearing up with their respective strategies to woo the voters.

TUNIS: Tunisian President Kais Saied has urged the Independent High Authority for Elections (ISIE) to be ready to organise the legislative elections slated for December 17, according to a statement released by the presidency.

GENEVA: Almost the entire global population, or 99 per cent, breathes air that exceeds air quality limits set by the World Health Organization (WHO), the UN health agency said in a statement.

BALGRADE: Voters cast ballots in polling stations in Serbia for presidential, parliamentary and local elections, which could give current President Aleksandar Vucic a second term.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday held a meeting with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MPs from Gujarat to discuss the party's strategy for the year-end assembly polls.

CHANDIGARH: Defeating Nalin Acharya of Him Prabha by a margin of 38 votes, independent journalist Saurabh Duggal on Sunday became the new president of the Chandigarh Press Club at the annual elections held here. The remaining eight positions were won by members of the Duggal-Nagarkoti-Sharma panel.

CHANDIGARH: Nalin Acharya panel has announced 3 more candidates for the Chandigarh press club election to be held on March 27. Panel today announced Rakesh Gupta from ANB News channel, Rajendra Dhawan from Tribune group and Archana Sethi from Punjab Kesari group as candidates.

NEW DELHI: Amid a call for leadership change in the party, Congress General Secretary in-charge of Uttar Pradesh Priyanka Gandhi Vadra has called a meeting of party leaders on Tuesday to find out the reasons for the defeat.

LUCKNOW: Despite the pre-election narrative about upper castes being upset with the BJP, an analysis of the election data shows that within the upper castes, the highest number of MLAs are from the BJP alliance.

CHANDIGARH: Holding the Gandhis solely responsible for the complete rout of the Congress in all the recent Assembly polls, PLC chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday hit out at the Congress Working Committee (CWC) for trying to put the blame of their party’s dismal defeat in Punjab on him instead of gracefully admitting to their own blunders.

KOLKATA: In a major development, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday announced that two former Union Ministers -- Shatrughan Sinha and Babul Supriyo -- will contest the upcoming West Bengal bypolls for the Trinamool Congress.

NEW DELHI: "Holi has come early this time", Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in his victory speech at the BJP headquarters. The election slogan -- "Ayenge toh Yogi hi" became a reality as the BJP scored a resounding victory in Uttar Pradesh (UP). The party also decimated the Opposition in Uttarakhand, Manipur and after a neck and neck fight with Congress, retained Goa for the third consecutive time. Also for the time in Uttarakhand, an incumbent government managed to return with a renewed mandate. On the other side, it was an Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) wave that wiped out the ruling Congress in Punjab.

OTTAWA: A new poll has revealed that more than half of Canadians, or 54 per cent, said they had a close friend or family member who was infected with Covid-19 in the past two years.

NEW DELHI: There is a simmering tension in the Congress after the poll debacle in the state elections and the leaders are miffed with the functioning style of the leadership. The issue may heat up when the G-23 leaders meet in the days to come.

NEW DELHI:Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that the Assembly poll results are a stamp of approval for the BJP's pro-poor and pro-active governance.

CHANDIGARH: While AAP is now touching 80 seats in the initial leads, Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi is running behind in both the seats of Chamkaur Sahib and Bhadaur. Former Chief Ministers Parkash Singh Badal from Lambi and Capt Amarinder Singh from Patiala city are also trailing behind. Sukhbir Singh Badal is also trailing.

AMRITSAR: " Mr Sukhbir Singh Badal president Shiromani Akali Dal said he does not have faith in the credibility of the exit polls and and opinion polls should be banned.

SEOUL: Voter turnout for South Korea's presidential election reached 61 per cent as of 1 p.m. (South Korean standard time) on Wednesday, according to the country's election authorities.

NEW DELHI: The Republic TV's Poll of the Polls has predicted that the BJP will retain power in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Manipur while Goa is likely to witness a hung Assembly and Punjab is to be swept by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).

NEW DELHI: As exit polls rolled out on Monday at the end of the seventh and final phase of elections in Uttar Pradesh, the NDTV Poll of Polls has predicted BJP to retain power in three states, besides giving the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) a clear majority in Punjab.

CHANDIGARH: Aam Aadmi Party(AAP) is set to form a government in Punjab with landslide victory. AAP may sweep the elections with seats between 80 to 100, according to exit polls shown by various news channels.

NEW DELHI:The Supreme Court on Thursday slammed a petitioner who sought registration of FIRs and also a direction to disqualify candidates fielded by the Congress and Samajwadi Party in Uttar Pradesh and candidates representing Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab in this year's Assembly election, for offering freebies amid the ongoing polls.

IMPHAL: A security personnel was killed and 11 others were injured on Wednesday when their vehicle met with an accident due to mechanical failure in northern Manipur's Tamenglong district, officials said.

LUCKNOW: Bahujan Samaj Party President Mayawati on Monday said that her party is not contesting the ongoing Panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh since they are not being held in a transparent manner.

NEW  DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party top leadership on Saturday discussed party preparations for assembly polls in five states scheduled early next year.
BJP Chief J P Nadda and Union Ministers Amit Shah, Rajnath Singh, Nirmala Sitharaman, Narendra Singh Tomar, Smriti Irani, Piyush Goyal, Dharmendra Pradhan, Hardeep Singh Puri and Kiran Rijiju were present in the meeting held at the party national headquarters here.

BENGALURU: A day after internal bickering within the state Congress came to the fore with at least half a dozen MLAs projecting Leader of the Opposition Siddaramaiah as the ‘next CM, Karnataka Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar on Thursday said Karnataka has even seen leaders who lost elections becoming Chief Minister.

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (TNSEC) to conduct local body polls in nine districts, which were carved out of four existing ones, by September 15.

NEW DELHI: Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh on Tuesday met the three-member Congress panel in Delhi amid escalating tension in the state unit with Navjot Singh Sidhu who has stepped up his attack against the chief minister.

LUCKNOW: The newly appointed BJP state vice-president Arvind Kumar Sharma, has sent a letter to party state president Swatantra Dev Singh, saying that the name and patronage of Prime Minister Narendra Modi were enough for the BJP to win the coming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh.

KOLKATA: Four days after West Bengal governor Jagdeep Dhankhar wrote to chief minister Mamata Banerjee alleging that the state government has been inactive and indifferent about the sufferings of the people due to post-poll violence, the Calcutta High Court on Saturday criticised the Mamata Banerjee government and observed that the state has not taken any concrete steps to address the complaints pertaining to post-poll violence.

NEW DELHI: To send a strong message ahead of next year's Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, the BJP is now focusing on winning the maximum number seats in the district panchayat president (Zila Panchayat Adhyaksh) polls to held in the first half of July.

NEW DELHI: BJP Chief J.P. Nadda and Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday discussed next year's Punjab Assembly polls with party state unit chief Ashwani Sharma.

CHANDIGARH: The Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) and the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) on Saturday formed an alliance to contest the 2022 Punjab Assembly elections together.

MUMBAI: Maharashtra politics saw a flutter on Friday as much sought-after polls mastermind Prashant Kishor called on Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar and the duo broke bread over lunch here.

NEW DELHI: Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief J.P. Nadda and discussed governance as well as the political situation in the state.

CHANDIGARH: Underscoring full faith in Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh's leadership and vision for state, Punjab MPs today reiterated that Congress would comfortably sweep 2022 assembly polls to carry forward party's ongoing developmental agenda for people of the state.

CHANDIGARH: Punjab Chief Secretary, Ms Vini Mahajan, on Tuesday directed all the departments concerned to take necessary measures to address the major environmental issues in the state and control water and air pollution besides ensuring proper solid and plastic waste management.

NEW DELHI: BJP Chief J.P. Nadda and party's General Secretaries met Prime Minister Narendra Modi here and apprised him of the upcoming Assembly polls preparations in five states early next year.

NEW DELHI: Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh appeared before a three-member Congress panel here on Friday, reportedly formed by the party high command to sort out the problems in its state unit. The meeting lasted for more than three hours.

PATNA: The Bihar government has decided to delay the Panchayat elections in the state due to the Covid outbreak. The tenure of Panchayat representatives in Bihar ended on June 15 this year.

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Friday said that it has deferred the bypoll for a Rajya Sabha seat in Kerala due to the Covid situation.

BHOPAL: The Congress has adopted an aggressive political strategy in Madhya Pradesh after its recent victory in the Damoh Assembly by-elections, with party leaders, including former Chief Minister Kamal Nath, intensifying their attacks on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) governments in the state and at the Centre.

KATHMANDU: In a dramatic turn of events, Nepal President Bidya Devi Bhandari on Friday midnight dissolved the Parliament as per the recommendation of the government and declared to hold midterm elections on November 12 and 19.

WASHINGTON: In the November 2020 US presidential elections, Indian-Americans reported the highest rate of voting at 71 per cent among adult citizens, according to the publisher of demographic data and policy research on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI).

SANTIAGO: Some 6.45 million eligible voters in Chile have cast their votes for mayors, councillors and for the first time regional governors and members of a constituent assembly over two days of polling this past weekend, election officials said.

TEHRAN:A total of 592 people have registered for the 13th presidential polls in Iran, Jamal Orf, head of the country's election campaign, said.
Out of the total candidates, 40 are women and 552 are men, Xinhua news agency quoted Orf as saying in a statement on Saturday.

NEW DELHI: Air pollution from planned new coal plants built by companies in which HSBC holds ownership stakes will cause an estimated 18,700 global deaths, close to half in India, from air pollution per year, a new research from the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said on Wednesday.

CHENNAI: The perception that the way to political power in Tamil Nadu is through Kollywood does not hold good anymore given the humiliating defeat of the parties floated by heroes Kamal Haasan and Vijayakanth in the 2021 assembly polls, said political analysts.

NEW DELHI: After the dismal performance of the Congress in recent Assembly elections in five states/UT, party leader Kapil Sibal said on Tuesday that this is not the right time to discuss such issues when the nation is in the grip of pandemic.

NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressed his anguish and concern over West Bengal post poll violence in a telephonic conversation with state Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, asking him to restore law and order.

LUCKNOW: With the counting for the three-tier panchayat elections in Uttar Pradesh still on, the ruling BJP and the opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) have claimed that their candidates have won over half of the zila panchayat seats.

LUCKNOW: A total of 3.19 lakh candidates have been declared elected unopposed in the Uttar Pradesh panchayat elections, the State Election Commission (SEC) said in a statement.

CHENNAI: The Congress party retained the Kanniyakumari Lok Sabha seat in the bypoll with its candidate V. Vijayakumar trouncing former Union Minister and BJP's Pon Radhakrishnan.

BENGALURU: Buoyed by the victory of the Congress and the DMK alliance in Tamil Nadu, and Trinamool Congress retaining power in West Bengal, Karnataka leader of the opposition, Siddaramaiah on Sunday described these election results as 'a new game' in the country.

BENGALURU: Karnataka's opposition Congress is set to retain the Maski (reserved) Assembly seat as its candidate Basanagouda Turuvihal was leading by a margin of 30,606 votes over ruling BJP's nominee Pratapgouda Patil, as per poll officials.

JAIPUR: Cashing in on the emotional card, Rajasthan's ruling Congress won the bypolls to the Sujangarh and Sahada Assembly seats while the BJP retained Rajsamand.

NEW DELHI: As the Trinamool Congress, led by Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is looking at a spectacular victory in the West Bengal assembly elections, Senior BJP leader and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh was the first from the BJP to congratulate her. The TMC is on course to winning more than two hundred seats in the 294-member assembly.