High drama is expected during the voting for Rajya Sabha elections where much is at stake for ace lawyer Ram Jethmalani, liquor baron Vijay Mallya and several others.

The 86-year-old lawyer is contesting from Rajasthan, but is a rank outsider. There is much discontentment in BJP ranks over his candidature. The party had to lock up its 79 MLAs to stop them from cross-voting. The numbers in Rajasthan are dicey and the BJP may need some help from Independents to see Jethmalani through.

Vijay Mallya is backed by the JD(S), but needs more votes and has struck a deal with the BJP for its 31 spare votes in the Karnataka Assembly. The Karnataka Chief Minister Yeddyurappa and a section of the BJP are extremely unhappy.

Bagrodia is contesting as an Independent from Rajasthan. The Congress does not have the votes to send him to the Rajya Sabha and it has been alleged that he is trying to poach votes and get elected.

Anand Sharma is a minister at the centre but a rank outsider in Rajasthan. He belongs to Haryana, and has been politically active in Himachal Pradesh.

The Rajasthan Congress is thus not exactly elated at his candidature and party MLAs have made their displeasure known.

On the other hand in Orissa, it is a different story altogether where the BJP is supporting a Congress-backed candidate Tara Patnaik so that it can defeat the Biju Janata Dal candidate.

BJP hopes payback BJD and is still smarting from the royal ditch Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik gave the party ahead of last year’s Assembly elections.

Union Minister Anand Sharma, LJP supremo Ram Vilas Paswan, senior Congress leader Oscar Fernandes and former BJP chief M Venkaiah Naidu are among the candidates whose fate will be decided in the biennial elections on June 17.

Shibu Soren who emerged as the kingmaker here,Not only did the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha emerge as the single-largest party along with the BJP, it has actually improved its tally from 2005 by one seat to 18. Its vote share has shown a more impressive rise, from less than 3 per cent to 9 per cent.

Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) supremo Shibu Soren, an aspiring chief ministerial candidate, has begun bargaining for power.

Camping at his house in Bokaro, around 150 km north of state capital Ranchi, the JMM chief kept his cards close to his chest, refusing to announce which alliance he would prefer for the formation of a government in Jharkhand.

The assembly results threw up a fractured mandate on Wednesday with the JMM emerging as the joint largest party, winning 18 seats — as many as the rival Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Several political formations have emerged to stake claim for government-formation in the House of 81 members, but none are in a position to ignore the JMM.

Apart from the chief minister’s chair, Soren is reportedly demanding the deputy CM’s post for his son, Dumka legislator Hemant Soren.

ECI has declared the Jharkhand Assembly election results 2009. These are the results of the general elections that have been held been in the state after four years. It had not been held for all these years as the state, that had been separated from Bihar in the year 2009, could not secure the number of votes that are required for a party to gain majority. As a result, the state had witnessed a lot of brokering of seats and votes of the political parties, but Jharkhand had mostly been under the rule of the Governor.

Jharkhand threw up a hung Assembly today with the Congress-JVM(P) alliance as the largest grouping with 25 seats, well short of majority, and the JMM (18) and RJD (5) all set to be kingmakers — in a House of 81, any combine will need the support of at least 41 MLAs to form a government.

Indications of a tough bargain came from JMM which said it would back anyone who would support Guruji, the name given to Soren by his supporters. “I am not going anywhere. If anybody is willing to support us, we are ready to talk,” Soren told partymen as the results came in.

It is possible that Congress and BJP will be vying to form an alliance with the JMM. Another surprising aspect is that the people have chosen to elect so many independent candidates. Some reports claim that the Congress might end up joining hands with the JMM, but that is dependent on Shibu Soren being elected the Chief Minister. Congress has already made an alliance with the Jharkhand Vikash Morcha, that has secured 8 seats in the Jharkhand Assembly elections 2009.

The BJP-JD(U) alliance, which won 36 seats in the 2005 elections, was the second largest grouping with 20 seats. In New Delhi, BJP parliamentary board spokesperson Ananth Kumar indicated that his party did not rule out the possibility of forming a government in Jharkhand.

Initial trends emerging from the counting for Jharkhand Assembly elections on Wednesday indicated an edge for the BJP in the 81-member House.

The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) was ahead in 22 seats on Wednesday while the Congress was leading in 21 constituencies as early trends of vote counting in Jharkhand indicated a hung assembly.

Counting of votes polled in the five-phased Jharkhand assembly elections began Wednesday morning amid heavy security. Trends available for 47 seats indicated that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was ahead of the Congress.

The Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) was leading in eight seats and the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) in six.

There are about 30,000 security forces and 5,200 officials at the 31 counting centres in the state.

Nitin Gadkari, a 52-year old businessman-turned-politician was appointed as the youngest president of India’s main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday, marking a generational change in the party’s hierarchy.

The party on Friday began the process of passing on the baton to the younger generation. It first replaced its opposition leader in the Lok Sabha LK Advani and later, party president Rajnath Singh also decided to step down.

Gadkari was elected the party chief in a meeting of a 10-member BJP Parliamentary Board, as Singh declared him his successor, describing him as “an able, capable and skilled political activist”.

RSS Chief Mohan Bhagwat has once again attacked the party’s current leadership, calling the BJP a divided house.

Speaking at a function in Pune, Bhagwat said that the BJP must not forget its roots.Bhagwat said, “A divided house cannot function properly…they have to know their roots.”

Bhagwat has in the past criticised BJP leaders for their public spats.

Mr. Bhagwat, who was speaking in Pune on Saturday, said he described the BJP as a “divided house” and suggested it needed a “young leader” to restore its organisational health. He did not confirm or deny whether that “young leader” was current Maharashtra State president Nitin Gadkari, whose name has been doing the rounds in the BJP circle as Rajnath Singh’s likely successor as party president. Mr. Singh’s tenure comes to an end in January 2010.

In his strongest statement yet on the internal squabbling in the BJP, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat on Saturday asked the party to set its house in order and warned the party leaders to not forget their moorings. “A divided house cannot function properly,” he said, in what was meant to be a reminder to the BJP, where infighting has worsened after its defeat in the 2009 elections.

NDA will counter the Congress’ poll campaign led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi for the Jharkhand Assembly elections by fielding its national leaders like L K Advani, Rajnath Singh and Nitish Kumar.

Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader LK Advani, party President Rajnath Singh, and leaders like Arun Jaitely, Sushma Swaraj and Venkaiah Naidu will campaign in the state for the five-phased polls beginning November 25.

The Janata Dal-United (JD-U) national president Sharad Yadav and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar will also campaign.

According to Sources, Advani and Nitish Kumar will campaign together while Rajnath Singh and Sharad Yadav will address poll rallies together.

The BJP and JD-U have cemented an alliance in the state. The BJP is fighting on 67 seats and the JD-U on 14 seats in the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly.

The five-phase polls to the Jharkhand Assembly will be held November 25-December 18 and the counting will take place December 23.

Campaigning ended on Sunday for the October 13 Assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, being seen as the first key test of popularity for major political parties after the Lok Sabha elections.

The over four week-long canvassing saw top leaders of Congress, BJP and other major players of regional parties hitting the campaign trail in a big way. The electioneering was occasionally marred by personal attacks.

The campaign witnessed personal attacks with Uddhav calling Raj a “rat,”, and the latter retorting by calling him a “snake”. Chief Minister Ashok Chavan jumped the name-calling bandwagon dubbing Raj a “frog”. Raj also mimicked the Congress President at a poll rally, to which Chavan said Raj should quit politics and join films.

In Maharasthra, 3,559 contestants, including 211 women and 1,820 Independents, are in the fray for the 288-member Assembly. Most of the Independents are rebels from the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and other parties.

In Haryana for the 90-member Assembly, 1,222 candidates, including 67 women and 461 Independents, are in the race.

For the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh Assembly, the poll will be held only for 57 seats as the candidates of Tawang, Mukto and Lumla were elected unopposed.

This is the third time that Congress Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu has been re-elected unopposed from Tawang. There are 154 candidates, including nine women and three Independents, in the fray.

Maharashtra has a total of 7,56,34,525 eligible voters to elect 288 MLAs, while Haryana has 1,20,63,257 electors for choosing 90 legislators. Arunachal Pradesh has 7,50,575 voters who can exercise their franchise to select 60 representatives.

Counting of votes will take place on October 22.

The stage is set for the Oct 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra where the ruling Congress-led alliance faces a stiff challenge from the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine for the control of one of India’s most industrialized states.

In 2004, the Congress and NCP won 139 seats in the 288-member assembly. The Shiv Sena and BJP finished with 119 seats while smaller groups as well as independents secured 30 seats.

This time, Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has cast a long shadow on the Shiv Sena and BJP. For the Congress, the Republican-Left alliance is a worry.

In this year’s Lok Sabha elections, the MNS undercut the Shiv Sena and BJP in at least 10 Lok Sabha constituencies.

The elections will be a credibility test for Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who took charge of Maharashtra after the November 2008 terror attack on Mumbai.

For Shiv Sena’s Udhav Thackeray, this is the first assembly election in which he will compete less with the ruling combine than his own estranged cousin Raj Thackeray.

A total of 3,559 candidates, including 211 women, are in the fray. There will be over 84,000 polling booths.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Tuesday saw itself forced on a backfoot in Haryana after the party’s candidate for the Jind assembly seat said that he was withdrawing from the contest and wanted to quit politics.

BJP candidate Swami Raghvanand said he took the decision to leave the party and politics since party leaders and workers were not taking the election in Jind seriously.

Raghvanand, who heads a dera (sect) near Jind, has been upset with the BJP leadership in Haryana for not extending him full support for the election.

Former Prime Minister and senior party leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee, BJP today issued an appeal from the ailing leader to the voters of Maharashtra and Haryana to vote for the party.

“Unfortunately, in the last ten years, life is unsafe in Maharashtra. Law and order is in disarray. There is all-round corruption. Farmers are committing suicide. Back-breaking price rise has affected the common man. Unemployment is increasing. The Congress-led government has been unsuccessful in dealing with crisis in water, power, drought and floods,” he said in his appeal.

Vajpayee urged the voters to back the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance, which has ruled Maharashtra in the past.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is contesting on its own all the 90 seats in the Haryana assembly elections next month, is banking on youth energy by fielding many young candidates.

The BJP, which had only one member in the outgoing assembly, had an alliance with the Indian National Lok Dal headed by Om Prakash Chautala for the Lok Sabha polls, but they parted ways last month.

“The average age of the BJP candidates contesting in the Haryana assembly elections is 45 years. This time we have fielded youngsters on most of the seats in the state, as we believe that they can play a prominent role in the country’s overall progress,” Vijay Goel, the BJP leader in-charge of the party affairs in Haryana.

BJP has started its poll campaign in Arunachal Pradesh on Saturday, September 19, for the upcoming state assembly elections. Sushil Modi, a senior BJP leader and the Deputy Chief Minister of Bihar, released the manifesto of the party for the elections in Itanagar.

Senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi on Saturday asked the Centre to bring out a ‘white paper’ on Chinese incursions reported in media recently.

Referring to reported violation of the border by China in Arunachal Pradesh, Modi said “While we are for friendship with neighbouring China, we will not tolerate incursions in Arunachal and other bordering states.”

BJP announced its list of candidates for the oct 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh.

The candidate selection was done at a meeting of the party’s Central Election Committee chaired by BJP president Rajnath Singh. The meeting was attended by LK Advani, leader of the opposition (Lok Sabha), Arun Jaitley, leader of opposition (Rajya Sabha) and other committee members.

In Maharashtra, where the party is going to contest 119 of the 288 total seats, with ally Shiv Sena contesting the rest, it announced a first list of 66 candidates.

Maharashtra has been ruled by the Democratic Front – an alliance of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the past 10 years – and the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance is looking to regain power in the crucial state.

For Haryana, the party has named candidates for all 90 seats.

For polls to the 60-member Arunachal Pradesh assembly, the party on Saturday named seven candidates.

BJP President Rajnath Singh appointed senior leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi as the convener of its election management cell for the forthcoming assembly polls.

The party said Naqvi will be responsible for coordination with state units of Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh, where elections are scheduled on October 13.

Till recently, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was responsible for BJP’s election management and coordination.

As Haryana poll draws closer, the crack within opposition camps is widening. After Bahujan Samaj Party (SP'>BSP) scrapped its pact with the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC), now one of its most successful candidates in the last Lok Sabha election former cricketer Chetan Sharma quit the blue party on Tuesday. Sharma joined the BJP at a function in Faridabad, though he claimed he would not contest the forthcoming assembly elections.

The cricketer-turned-politician joined the saffron party in the presence of State BJP president Krishna Pal Gujjar.

BJP in Gujarat wrested five seats from Congress in the Assembly bypolls and yielded one to Congress which retained another seat.

Of the seven seats where polling was held on September 10, six were held by Congress while one was with BJP.

The BJP wrested Jasdan, Chotila, Dehgam, Danta and Sami-Hariz which were held by Congress earlier.

BJP, which earlier held Kodinar in the last Assembly elections, lost it this time in the by-polls to Congress. The Opposition also retained Dhoraji seat taking its tally to two.

Ruling BJP in Gujarat bagged four of the seven Assembly seats where by-polls were held on September 10 and was leading at one, while Congress won Dhoraji and Kodinar.

Counting for Danta Assembly segment in Banaskantha district is still underway where after 14 rounds, BJP candidate Vasant Bhatol is ahead with 3000 votes.

BJP on Wednesday released a “chargesheet” against the decade-long Congress-NCP black rule, highlighting its dismal record  in sectors that have historically driven growth in Maharashtra infrastructure, industry, agriculture. The BJP also alleged that law and order was deteriorating under the DF government.

By releasing an elaborate document against the Congress-NCP, the BJP has also tried to divert public attention from the turmoil in the party’s central unit. While releasing the  “chargesheet”, the BJP made a great show of solidarity, with almost the entire top brass of the state unit sharing the dais.

Ahead of the Haryana Assembly polls, BJP today snapped its alliance with Indian National Lok Dal led by former Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala.

The saffron party also decided to go it alone in Haryana in the forthcoming polls.

BJP general secretary Vijay Goel, who is in charge of the state, said clearly that the BJP would go alone in the coming elections, tentatively scheduled in October along with other four states � Maharashtra, Mizoram, Jharkhand and Goa.

Party sources, however, say the BJP may explore the possibility of an electoral understanding with the Haryana Janhit Party (HJP), led by Bhajan Lal, and his