CATEGORIES

In Maharashtra, a tale of two coalitions

The sweep for Mahayuti marks a definitive political turn for the state, and a moment of reckoning for Congress, Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar

After LS losses, BJP gets UP boost with bypoll wins

After the reverses in the Lok Sabha elections this summer, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday swept the assembly bypolls in Uttar Pradesh, with the party-led NDA candidates winning seven of the nine seats that went to the by-elections, and dealt a blow to the Opposition Samajwadi Party (SP) which failed to repeat its success from the general elections.

BJP, allies win 25 seats in assembly bypolls

All eyes may have been on Maharashtra and Jharkhand, but Saturday also saw results being announced for bypolls to 46 assembly and two Lok Sabha seats across 15 states.

Wayanad: On electoral debut, Priyanka wins by huge margin

Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra registered a comfortable victory on her electoral debut as she won the Wayanad Lok Sabha (LS) bypoll on Saturday by over 400,000 votes.

PRASHANT KISHOR'S CANDIDATES LOSE DEPOSITS IN 3 OF 4 BYPOLL SEATS

The Jan Suraaj Party, floated recently by former political strategist Prashant Kishor, failed to make any impact in its electoral debut, with all four of its candidates losing the bypolls to four assembly seats in Bihar.

Big issues that decided the J'khand outcome

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday retained its hold over the state, bucking the trend of voting out the incumbent, buoyed by a campaign that banked heavily on tribal identity and welfare schemes.

3 factors that explain Jharkhand poll result

Three factors explain the JMM's big victory—it is the biggest ever in the state's history—in these elections: complete consolidation of its core constituency among Scheduled Tribe (ST) voters, better outreach among non-ST voters with a wider alliance, identity-agnostic welfare schemes, and some external help from a nativist party making its debut which hurt the BJP alliance far more than the JMM alliance.

WHY BJP FAILED TO MAKE A MARK AMONG TRIBALS IN EASTERN STATE

The BJP's narrative that Muslims were changing Jharkhand's demography and marrying tribal women to take over their land failed to take off.

Jairam Mahato's JLKM makes its presence felt with victory in Dumri

The Jharkhand assembly poll results on Saturday solidified the image of 29-year-old Jairam Mahato, founding president of Jharkhand Loktantrik Krantikari Morcha (JLKM), as the newest star in the state's politics and a prominent face of the OBC Kudmi community.

With new message and brand new avatar, CM joins pantheon of tallest tribal leaders

Two days after coming out of jail on June 28, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, in his first public address in Bhoginath, gave the call to uproot a \"feudal\" Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and restore the rule of tribals and the original inhabitants of Jharkhand in the state.

'Never seen such a tough election...don't think I ever will'

Jharkhand is set to welcome back chief minister Hemant Soren for a second term.

Soren's emotive campaign bucks J'khand's poll trend

With JMM winning 34 of the 43 seats it contested, the verdict solidifies Soren's hold over the state months after he was jailed

B'desh pitch fails to help BJP in tribal belt

The Jharkhand electoral contest was expected to be closer than the final outcome showed, with the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) pulling out all the stops on its Hindutva pitch during a high-octane campaign centred around alleged infiltration by Bangladeshis and corruption charges against chief minister Hemant Soren.

Champai factor doesn't boost BJP

Former Jharkhand chief minister Champai Soren salvaged his pride by winning the Seraikela assembly constituency for the seventh time but with little else to boast of as he was unable to swing the elections in the favour of his new party, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Kalpana grows in stature in no time

Kalpana Soren made her first public appearance on a political stage on March 4 this year, a little over a month after her husband and Jharkhand CM Hemant Soren was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate over money laundering charges linked to a land deal case.

JMM, Congress nail J'khand social configuration in diverse landscape

Soon after the Election Commission announced the Maharashtra and Jharkhand assembly polls on October 15, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) working president and chief minister Hemant Soren and his legislator wife, Kalpana Soren, met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and party leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi.

Three key insights to decode the mandate in Maha, J'khand

There is more than one way to look at the assembly election results for Maharashtra and Jharkhand.

Mahayuti wins Mumbai but Uddhav prevents rout

India's financial capital witnessed a strong wave of support for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti alliance in the Maharashtra elections, with the coalition winning 22 of the 36 seats in the city.

Brand Thackeray no longer immune to whims of voters

Shinde's Sena won 57 seats, as opposed to Sena (UBT)'s 20 this should worry Thackeray about the Sena mantle moving to his rival

Mahayuti's win makes smaller parties irrelevant

ALL THOSE WHO DREAMT OF BECOMING KINGMAKERS IN MAHARASHTRA HAVE NOW BEEN PUSHED TO THE FRINGES

Shinde camp settles Sena versus Sena debate

In a decisive verdict after the bitter split in the Shiv Sena in June 2022, the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena can finally claim the title of the \"real\" Sena – the party won 57 of the 81 seats it contested in the Maharashtra assembly, battering the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT), which managed just 20 of the 95 it contested.

Ajit Pawar's NCP has the last laugh

The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), seen by many in the run-up to the Maharashtra assembly elections as the weakest link in the Mahayuti coalition, had the last laugh on Saturday as it won 41 of the 59 seats it contested.

What changed between LS, state polls

One of the biggest surprises in the Maharashtra elections is the complete political turnaround between the 2024 Lok Sabha and assembly elections.

How parties fared across 5 regions of Maharashtra

Experts attribute the Mahayuti victory to several factors, especially changing dynamics of the Maratha quota issue

RSS hit the road, played key role in BJP's victory

Neither the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nor its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) has ever admitted it, but the perception was that the latter was largely absent from the Lok Sabha elections, in which the BJP-led Mahayuti won only 17 of the 48 seats in the state.

Uddhav's nephew beats Siddique's son

Bandra East is a prestigious constituency for Shiv Sena (UBT), as Matoshree, the family residence of the Thackerays, is located here. It has been a Sena bastion since the 1970s.

Behind the rise and rise of BJP in Maharashtra

The Mahayuti alliance of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and some smaller allies has won 235 out of 288 seats in the Maharashtra elections, the biggest win in the state for any alliance or party since the 1972 election.

Fadnavis back as a favourite for CM's post

From the morning of that hurried, furtive and eventually ill-fated swearing-in with Ajit Pawar in November 2019, Devendra Fadnavis has been the target of a zillion memes.

WILL CONTINUE TO RAISE CONCERN OVER ELECTORAL PROCESS: CONG

The Congress on Saturday said that it will analyse the outcome in Maharashtra which is \"completely opposite\" to the expectations and \"very strange\".

In battle of permutations, Mahayuti's decisive blow

The Opposition coalition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was decimated in the state elections, with its joint tally at 50