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Ending two decades of speculation and uncertainty, Tamil film superstar Rajinikanth on 28th December 2018, emphatically announced his arrival in politics and declared that he will launch a political party in time to contest in all 234 constituencies in Tamil Nadu in the next Assembly elections. His politics, he said, would be beyond caste and religion but “spiritual.” He would keep off the election to local bodies as the time is short and take a decision about the 2019 Lok Sabha polls later. The term of the current Assembly in Tamil Nadu will end in 2021. Making the announcement in front of his fans at his Raghavendra Kalyana Mandapam here, he said, “I will definitely come to politics. The time has come. In the upcoming State Assembly elections, I will contest in 234 constituencies. I will start a political party a few months before elections and tell people about our ideology and policies and tell people what we will do and what we won’t. If we can’t do it, we will resign in three years,” said Mr. Rajinikanth. Explaining the reasons behind his decision to join politics, he said, “Politics in the State has deteriorated very badly. Democracy has undergone severe decay. In the last year, the political events that unfolded in Tamil Nadu have made the people hang their heads in shame. People in all States are laughing at us. If I don’t do anything in a democratic way to change this situation, the feeling of guilt will affect me till my death.” His foray into politics was the compulsion of time, he asserted. The actor recited a verse from the Bhagavad Gita, in which he quoted Lord Krishna’s advice to Arjuna to do his work and not worry about the rest, and said the “time has come” to enter politics. “There is a need for a political change. The system needs to change. We need a politics that is truthful, straightforward and clean. We need a kind of politics that is devoid of influences of caste and religion. We need ‘spiritual’ politics. That is my goal and wish,” he said. The actor said that while in the olden days kings would loot other empires and palaces, now parties were looting in the name of democracy. “In the name of democracy, political parties that come to power are looting people in different ways, different modes and different methods. Kings would loot other empires, but these people loot their own people. This needs to change,” he said. With inputs from The Hindu, January 1, 2018
Soon after the Aam Aadmi Party announced its Rajya Sabha nominees, disgruntled AAP leader Kumar Vishwas attacked Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal saying that he has been punished for speaking the truth.
Vishwas, who was angling for an RS slot, said that it is difficult to survive in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) if one disagrees with Kejriwal. The AAP leader's comments came as the party nominated Sanjay Singh, Sushil Gupta and N D Gupta as its Rajya Sabha nominees. While Singh has been associated with the party since its inception, Sushil Gupta is a Delhi-based businessman and N D Gupta a chartered accountant.
"In the last one and half years, I spoke the truth whether it is Arvind Kejriwal's decisions or issues like surgical strike, irregularities in ticket distribution, softness towards extremists in Punjab, JNU incident among others, for which I have been rewarded in the form of punishment for speaking the truth," Vishwas told newspersons here. "I think that it is a moral victory of a true revolutionary, poet and friend," he told newspersons here.
Taking a dig at Kejriwal for nominating N D Gupta and Sushil Gupta to Raya Sabha, Vishwas said that he wanted to congratulate AAP volunteers that their voice has been heard in choosing the "great revolutionaries". The AAP leader also charged that around one and half years ago Kejriwal had in a party's national executive meeting said with a smile, "We will finish you, but we will not let you be a martyr." "I want to congratulate (Kejriwal) that I have accepted my martyrdom," AAP leader said. The Echo of India and The Indian Express, January 3, 2018.
Sources: The Indian Express
The Shiv Sena on 23 January 2018 passed a resolution not to align with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and go solo in the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls next year.The resolution was moved by Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who said the BJP had been demoralising the party for the last three years.The resolution was passed unanimously in the party's National Executive meet here."I moved the resolution for the Shiv Sena to fight the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls on its own in 2019," Raut said. Business Standard January 23, 2018.
Source: Business Standard
Elections in India 2018: Polls are considered as festivals in India. In 2017, the largest democracy in the world witnessed a few elections, including crucial Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Gujarat Assembly polls and RK Nagar by-poll. 2018 will be crucial as it will be a penultimate year before the mother of all polls – 2019 Lok Sabha Elections. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amit Shah-led BJP has continued its winning streak in 2017, Congress will look to get back its mojo under the leadership of party president Rahul Gandhi. In India, elections generally take place almost every month even though PM Modi has advocated the idea of holding simultaneous elections to Parliament and state assemblies. In 2018, we will see BJP and Congress lock heads in crucial states like Karnataka, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. There will be a few key Lok Sabha by-polls in politically crucial states like Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra and West Bengal. In Maharashtra and West Bengal regional parties like Shiv Sena, NCP, TMC and CPM will play a pivotal role along with BJP and Congress.
Forthcoming Assembly Election 2018 and by polls
| Name of Sates | Month |
|---|---|
| Meghalaya, Nagaland & Tripura | February |
| Karnataka | April |
| Mizoram | November |
By polls 2018
Gorakhpur and Phulpur of Uttar Pradesh in January-February
Anantnag of Jammu and Kashmir in January-February
Araria of Bihar and Bhandara Gondiya of Maharashtra in January-February
Rajya Sabha elections
Sikkim and bye-election to the Council of States from Uttar Pradesh.
Urban local body elections, Panchayat elections in all states
West Bengal Panchayat elections are scheduled to be held in May this year with inputs from Finical Express, January 5, 2018.
Sources: Finical Express
It is being touted as the semi-finals before the big assembly election battle in the desert state of Rajasthan in December this year. The by polls to the Lok Sabha seats of Alwar and Ajmer and assembly seat of Mandalgarh may give the winners only about a year in the seat of power, but for BJP and Congress it could mean a lot: it will show which way the wind is blowing in Rajasthan. It was a sight on 8th January and 9th January 2018 in Alwar and Mandalgarh, respectively, when all three bigwigs of Congress in Rajasthan - former CM Ashok Gehlot, state party chief Sachin Pilot and senior leader CP Joshi- shared the stage as nominations were filed by party candidates. Congress, infamous for its factionalism in the past, is putting up a united front, knowing well that it needs to take the fight to BJP after its loss in 2013 assembly polls. "All our senior leaders in campaign mode means we are contesting these polls to win," said Pilot. Gehlot, fresh from the Gujarat campaign where Congress gave a close fight , said : "BJP is indulging in politics of hatred and violence here too...but as Rahul Gandhi said in Gujarat, we will follow the same pattern here and do politics of love and compassion to win all the three by polls. People have made up their minds for Congress," Gehlot said. Rajasthan BJP chief Ashok Parnami, however, said Congress doesn't even stand a chance. "There's no anti-incumbency. We will win all three seats with bigger margins. Just in April, we swept the Dholpur assembly bypoll, a seat which was not even held by us previously." Out of the 16 assembly constituencies in Ajmer and Alwar Lok Sabha seats, BJP holds 14 and Congress one. CM Vasundhara Raje is also expected to be present when BJP candidates file their nominations on Wednesday. Both Ajmer and Alwar bypolls have been necessitated due to the demise of senior BJP leaders, Sanwar Lal Jaat and Chand Nath. In the Yadav-dominated seat of Alwar, both parties have fielded candidates from this community who have both been MPs earlier from here. Seventy-one-old Karan Singh Yadav of Congress is taking on BJP's Jaswant Singh Yadav in Alwar where recent comments from BJP MLAs on cow protection and growing Muslim population have stirred a controversy. "In Alwar, there is a deliberate attempt to give polarising elements a free run by BJP in view of the elections," Pilot claimed. But Parnami denied this, saying MLAs expressed their "personal opinion", and not that of the party's. "We are fighting only on the plank of development, not on caste or religion," he said. Pilot, however, questioned why BJP give a ticket to Jaswant Yadav, a sitting MLA and state cabinet minister. "If he wins, it will prompt another byelection," Pilot said. He also accused BJP of doublespeak on dynastic politics, saying BJP has given a ticket to Sanwar Lal Jaat's 30-year-old son Ram Swarup Lamba, "who is a greenhorn in politics", just to get sympathy votes. "Lamba has consistently worked with his father in politics and has influence in the seat," Parnami said. A senior BJP leader said Congress has already seen the writing on the wall in Ajmer, with its former MP Sachin Pilot not contesting from there as anticipated. A senior Congress leader, however, said this was a "deliberate strategy" as Pilot needed to concentrate on campaign in all three by-poll seats and not be restricted to one constituency. PM Modi's visit to Barmer on January 16 for laying the foundation stone of a Rs 42,000-crore refinery project could end up being the political X-factor. Barmer is far from any of the three constituencies, but BJP is hoping PM Modi's presence in Rajasthan will have a far-reaching impact. BJP aggressively touting refinery's prospects of creating record number of jobs in state as it will be operational in 2022. The Economic Times, January 10, 2018.
