The Election Commission is confident of holding the five assembly polls due early next year, including in Uttar Pradesh and Punjab, on time as the poll panel has gained a lot of experience from the electoral exercise in Bihar, West Bengal and four other assemblies amid the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has asserted.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi also warned that if parties try to sidestep proposed changes in election and income tax laws by taking advantage of any loophole, they will be dealt with accordingly.
Assembly elections in Bihar, where the Bharatiya Janata Party is set for a battle against a united Janata Parivar, are likely to be held sometime in September-October when extensive central forces and a reworked expenditure monitoring system will be deployed to curb money and muscle power.
Vice President Hamid Ansari on Monday held talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping and conveyed the new Indian government's interest in furthering bilateral ties, even as he flagged off India's concerns over border related issues during his parleys with the top leadership in Beijing.
According to Chinese officials, its current investments in India stands at $1.1 billion, mostly in Gujarat.
India and China have to narrow down differences and build on convergences by exploiting the potential of Panchsheel, the five principles of peaceful co-existence propounded by the two countries along with Myanmar in 1954, Vice President Hamid Ansari said on Saturday.
The Collegium system of appointing judges has not worked out as per expectations and the government must have a say in such appointments, Law Minister Kapil Sibal has said. He said he would "very soon" move a proposal in the Cabinet to replace the Collegium system with the Judicial Appointment Commission, which will give a say to the Executive in the appointments of judges to the Supreme Court and high courts.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee has found not a "single file or record" to show any culpability of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Finance Minister P Chidambaram in the 2G spectrum allocation, its chairman P C Chacko said justifying the clean chit to them in the draft report.
The foreign ministers of India, Russia and China on Friday held discussions on key regional and international issues, including situation in Iran, North Korean rocket launch and terrorism during a trilateral meet in Moscow.
Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav announced a state-wide 'jail bharo' agitation on Wednesday against Mayawati government in Uttar Pradesh and asked the Centre to "mend" its policies, but was silent on the issue of withdrawing support from the Congress-led UPA. "The 'jail bharo' agitation will not be symbolic. You all will have to go to jail...I will court arrest in Lucknow," Yadav said at the inaugural session of the party's Special National Conference in Agra.
With its ties with Congress under strain, the Samajwadi Party will elicit views of partymen on withdrawing support from the United Progressive Alliance and chalk out agitational programme against the Mayawati government at its special national conference beginning in Agra on Tuesday.
Despite facing the fury of floods every year, Bihar and Assam are among the states where legislative measures, suggested by the Centre to minimise the damage, have been pending for the past 33 years.The model bill, prepared by the Central Water Commission way back in 1975, will empower authorities to remove dwellings from flood-prone areas.The bill, if implemented, will seek to replace dwellings in low-lying areas by parks and playgrounds.
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