Congress names screening panels for assembly polls

October 13th, 2009 NEW DELHI - If the assembly elections in the three states Tuesday were seen as the first major popularity test since the Lok Sabha polls, the Congress is set to consolidate its top position, going by the early projections made by IBN-Lokmat and Star News-Nielson. The Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance is likely to win in Maharashtra, according to IBN-Lokmat Times projections.

October 13th, 2009 THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Battle lines have been drawn for Nov 7 by-elections from three Kerala assembly constituencies, as the Congress leadership Tuesday cleared the names of the candidates suggested by the state unit. Polls are due in Kannur, Ernakulam and Alappuzha - the three seats which fell vacant after the sitting Congress legislators were elected to the Lok Sabha in the April-May general elections.

October 12th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Undeterred by opinion polls that predict a hung assembly after Tuesday's Maharashtra assembly polls, the Congress Monday said the party is confident of forming the government with its ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We are confident of forming the government in Maharashtra with NCP and the performance of Congress would be much better this time.

October 11th, 2009 KOCHI - Kerala unit Congress president Ramesh Chennithala said Sunday that discussions to finalise candidates for the three assembly by-elections due Nov 7 are almost over and the names would be announced in a few days. Chennithala told IANS: "We are holding talks with a cross section of party leaders and select people in these constituencies to finalise the names.

October 6th, 2009 RANCHI - More than five years after striking up a successful alliance in Jharkhand, the Congress and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) are gearing up to fight the assembly polls separately. JMM chief Shibu Soren has said no United Progressive Alliance (UPA) exists in Jharkhand and his party will fight elections separately.

September 25th, 2009 NEW DELHI - After President Pratibha Patil's son, the Congress has named the offspring of two union ministers in its third list of candidates for Maharashtra assembly elections. The list that was announced past midnight Thursday has the names of Amit Deshmukh, son of Heavy Industries minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, and Praniti Shinde, Power Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter, as candidates from Latur City and Solapur City Central constituencies, respectively.

September 22nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) late Tuesday formally announced they will contest the Oct 13 Maharashtra assembly polls together. The Congress and the NCP will contest 174 and 114 seats respectively, Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, state Congress president Manikrao Thakre and NCP leader Praful Patel told mediapersons at the Congress headquarters here.

September 21st, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata party (BJP) Monday announced its second list of 40 candidates for the Oct 13 assembly elections in Maharashtra and Haryana. The party also finalised the names of candidates for by-election to three seats in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, according to an official statement here.

September 20th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Central Election Committee of the Congress party met here today to finalise candidates for Maharashtra, Haryana and Arunachal Pradesh assembly polls. Prime Minister Dr.

September 11th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Congress Friday appointed Heavy Industries Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh as chairman of the election management committee for Maharashtra polls. "Congress president Sonia Gandhi has nominated Vilasrao Deshmukh as the chairman of the election management committee for the ensuing assembly election in Maharashtra," Janardan Dwivedi, chairman of party's media department, said in a release here.

September 10th, 2009 PATNA - Voting was underway Thursday in by-polls for seven assembly constituencies in Bihar amid high security. It is seen as a mini referendum for the Janata Dal-United government ahead of state assembly polls slated for next year.

March 25th, 2009 HYDERABAD - A day after finalising seat sharing agreement with the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) Wednesday released the first list of 27 candidates for the next month's assembly elections. The main opposition party has retained majority of the sitting legislators or those who lost in 2004 elections.

March 22nd, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Archana Nayak, the only woman MP in Orissa's ruling Biju Janata Dal (BJD), Saturday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Nayak, who has organised and led many women's movements in Orissa against dowry, violence against women and other such issues, said she quit the BJD as it would be unable to fight the Congress in the assembly and parliamentary polls after splitting with the BJP.

March 14th, 2009 JAMMU - The National Conference (NC) and the Congress have reached an agreement to share seats for by-elections in Jammu and Kashmir, necessitated after two former chief ministers Farooq Abdullah and Ghulam Nabi Azad vacated their assembly seats on being elected to the Rajya Sabha. The NC will contest two of the three assembly seats going to polls.

January 4th, 2009 RAIPUR - Dharamlal Kaushik, a legislator of Chhattisgarh's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was elected as the speaker of the state assembly Monday, the maiden sitting of the newly-elected third assembly. Kaushik, an influential leader of the Other Backward Classes (OBCs), won the Bilha assembly seat in Bilaspur district in the November assembly polls.