oppn parties BJP Leads Big In Gujarat Civic Polls

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  • Allahabad HC said that the UP Police is acting as law unto themselves as they detained a person unlawfully even before his arrest
  • Kolkata witnesses traffic snarls on the first day of the Durga Puja festival as revellers start pnadal-hopping
  • Neha Bora was subsequently released and Dipke is to appear before a magistrate today at noon
  • Delhi Police detained Cockroach Janta Party founder Abhijeet Dipke, Neha Bora of AISA, student leaders and supporters ahead of a rally in Connaught Place demanding Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar's resignation. The protest followed the detention and jailing of two CJP leaders earlier in the week over demonstrations at Jantar Mantar
  • The Reserve Bank of India is considering further monetary tightening to counter capital outflows and increase the cost of betting against the rupee, according to bankers and analysts cited by Reuters. The measures follow recent rate increases and steps to drain liquidity as pressure on the currency and inflation concerns persist
  • India directed oil marketing companies to stop diverting sugar-based feedstocks for ethanol production in the 2026–27 supply year, according to a new tender issued on Friday. The companies have invited bids for 11 billion litres of ethanol made from alternatives including corn and broken rice, amid concerns about domestic sugar supplies and prices
  • Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said India's trade imbalance with China was growing sharply and attributed the problem partly to restrictions on Indian goods and services entering the Chinese market. China subsequently said it was ready to work with India to address mutual economic and trade concerns; India's trade deficit with China reached $69 billion in the first half of FY2026–27, up 27% year-on-year
  • Indian equity benchmarks extended their recovery on Friday, with the Sensex rising 413.66 points to close at 74,729.27 and the Nifty 50 gaining 148.80 points to settle at 23,146.15. Information technology shares, including Tech Mahindra, Infosys and TCS, helped lift the indices
  • India defeated Zimbabwe by four wickets in the opening women's T20 International in Raipur, taking a 1–0 lead in the three-match series. Deepti Sharma and Niki Prasad combined in an 82-run stand after India's top order collapsed, helping the hosts chase down Zimbabwe's total of 114 for five
  • Indian wrestler Komal won bronze in the women's 59 kg category at the Under-23 World Wrestling Championships in Las Vegas, defeating Kazakhstan's Viktoriia Khusainova 7–2. Fellow Indian Amruta Pujari advanced to the women's 72 kg final after recording two pinfall victories
  • Indian shuttler Jagsher Singh Khangurra secured a bronze medal at the BWF World Junior Badminton Championships in Cairo
  • The Supreme Court of India upheld the Bombay High Court's decision quashing the 2020 write-off of ₹8,415 crore in additional tier-1 bonds issued by Yes Bank (Yes Bank). The court ruled that the bank's administrator lacked the authority to extinguish the bonds under the final reconstruction scheme, strengthening bondholders' claims
  • The Supreme Court issued notices to the Election Commission of India, Delhi Police and opposition leaders, including Rahul Gandhi and Akhilesh Yadav, in separate petitions concerning electoral-roll revision and protests held in Delhi on October 10–12. The court also directed the preservation of CCTV footage linked to allegations of police excesses
  • The Supreme Court ruled that a person converting from Hinduism to Islam cannot automatically claim backward-class reservation benefits in the new religious community solely on the basis of their previous caste status. The judgment upheld the Madras High Court's decision striking down a 2024 Tamil Nadu government order that permitted such certification for specified communities
  • The Election Commission of India ordered a Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in 14 states and three Union Territories, using January 1, 2027, as the qualifying date for voter eligibility. The draft rolls are scheduled for publication on November 12, claims and objections will be accepted until December 11, and the final rolls are due on January 4, 2027
Delhi HC refuses to ban CJP's Tiranga rally at Central Park in Connaught Place today /////// Police says will control and regulate it /////// NDMC closes the park for the public on Friday and Saturday
oppn parties
BJP Leads Big In Gujarat Civic Polls

By Linus Garg
First publised on 2021-02-23 07:41:58

About the Author

Sunil Garodia Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.

The BJP must be heaving a sigh of relief after its good showing in the Gujarat civic polls. Early leads show that the party is likely to sweep all the municipalities where elections were held. This must come as a shot in the arm for the party before the elections in four states and Puducherry.

Since the party fared poorly in the recent local body polls in Punjab, many commentators had linked it to the ongoing farm agitation and had started saying that it was payback time for the party as the angry farmers would not vote for it across the nation. But they forgot that BJP was never strong in Punjab and was riding on the coattails of the Akali Dal (SAD). Once SAD lost the people's confidence in the last elections and conceded further ground during the farm agitation, it was a given that the anger of the farmers would wipe out both the BJP and the SAD.

But Punjab is not representative of the support the BJP has in other parts of the country. The civic polls in Rajasthan showed that although the state had voted for the Congress in the last elections, the people have not completely turned their back on the BJP. The results in Rajasthan were a mixed bag and although the Congress won a greater number of wards in 19 districts, it did not get a clear majority in them while the BJP won the Ajmer Municipal Corporation by a huge margin. Now the Gujarat leads have confirmed that the farm agitation has not dented the BJPs core constituency.

Since the bigwigs in the party are focusing on the ensuing state elections, especially in West Bengal, Kerala and Assam, the elections in these states will perhaps give an idea which way the wind is blowing. The BJP is certain to retain Assam and is likely to make a good showing in the other two states. While the BJP is upbeat in West Bengal and Prime Minister Modi thinks there will be "asol poriborton" this time as the people will not vote for the TMC, it remains to be seen how far the party has managed to make inroads in the TMC citadel. 

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