'Modi and Shah know their politics. That is why the alarmed switch to reservations, and raising the threat from 'vote bank' politics,' says Shekhar Gupta.
Widespread violence between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged electoral malpractices in strife-torn Sandeshkhali marred the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a number of people.
A team of National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on Friday held on-spot inquiries in Sandeshkhali to ascertain facts about alleged sexual abuse by some Trinamool Congress leaders even as fresh agitation rocked the trouble-torn village, where locals torched the property of accused Trinamool leaders and held demonstrations against the delay in arresting the main accused, Shahjahan Sheikh.
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The Commission said a ban has been put in place effective January 1, 2023 on the creation of new administrative units in the state till the exercise is completed.
A majority of over 50,000 internally displaced people are currently staying at relief centres across five valley districts and three hill districts.
Issuing a slew of directions, a bench of Justices S Ravindra Bhat (since retired) and Aravind Kumar asked the central and state governments to pay Rs 30 lakh as compensation to the next of kin of those who die while cleaning sewers.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
The five-state assembly elections are seen as a now-or-never, no-holds battle for the Congress, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
According to an official release, the voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, as polling was scheduled until 6 pm in many constituencies.
'We were supposed to be a united nation based on unity and diversity.' 'Now what we are doing is there will be a class called Marathas, Dangars, etc.' 'The 100 per cent of our nation's population will be in classes and you will be allocating the nation's education and service resources in terms of classes.' 'How does it work out in terms of equality? Where is your equal nation?'
'If you solve it in one day, it will go after a day.' 'If it is there for 100 years or 1,000 years, reservation has to continue.'
This is the full text of the address to the nation by President Droupadi Murmu on the eve of India's 78th Independence Day.
The unrest in the Sandeshkhali region of West Bengal ballooned into a major political row on Thursday as Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee blamed the saffron camp of fomenting trouble in the area, while the Bharatiya Janata Party and the National Commission for Women (NCW) accused her party Trinamool Congress and the state government of being complicit in crimes against women in the area.
Ghulam Nabi Azad remarked that the figures are not high enough to know whether the people are happy or angry with the abrogation of Article 370 and bifurcation of Jammu and Kashmir into two Union Territories, Mehbooba Mufti said it is a message that the people have not accepted the Centre's decisions.
Voting for 10 constituencies was held from 7 am to 3 pm in 10 seats and from 8 am to 5 pm in the rest 10 segments under a thick security blanket of police and paramilitary personnel in the Naxalite-hit Bastar division.
Kharge said conducting polls in seven phases meant that nearly all the development works will be stopped.
Rather than a blind reproduction of the government template, a more productive way of enforcing affirmative action in the private sector could be to emulate an American model, suggests Kanika Datta.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
The Kukis have already declared that they are not fielding any candidate in the parliamentary polls as an act of boycott.
The veteran politician, who has been chief minister of the erstwhile state three times as well as union minister, also said the time has come for the opposition parties to come together and fight the forces who are bent on destroying the secular fabric of the country.
'The court came to a conclusion using one person's case... Based on that one case, the term "rampant misuse" was used as if it is a generalisation.' 'If one in 10 cases turns out to be false, is it possible to call the Act a charter for blackmail or charter for personal vengeance?' 'Is there any Act either in India or anywhere in the world where there are no false cases?'
The top law officer said that even if some people of the community have come up, the stigma of caste and backwardness is still attached to them.
The passage of this major legislation comes ahead of the general election due early next year.
India's star cricketer Cheteshwar Pujara, who is also Election Commission's Brand Ambassador in Gujarat, specially flew down from Abu Dhabi, where he has been part of the Kings XI Punjab in the ongoing Indian Premier League, to cast his vote in Rajkot on Wednesday.
With the Congress in power in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapping at its heels, the BRS is now fighting an existential battle.
Additionally, the Haryana police and home guard personnel will be deployed for security during the elections, he said.
Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday appealed to the opposition for the unanimous passage of the women's reservation bill and said shortcomings, if any, can be rectified at a later date.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
'Only the smoke is coming out now. Let us prevent the lava from coming out by taking proper measures.' 'I have told every leader that you cannot have a stable government without winning the confidence of the scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and the most backward castes.' 'Leaders feel that by giving a sop here and there and by symbolic actions, they can win votes. That's all they want. Votes.'
Pant, a 1991-batch Indian Administrative Service officer of Rajasthan cadre, is currently secretary in the ministry of ports, shipping and waterways.
The Centre has appointed senior IAS officers Vumlunmang Vualnam and Neeraj Mittal as new secretaries in the ministry of civil aviation and the department of telecommunications respectively in a major secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle, a government order stated.
While the Congress is elated to see the new caste dynamics coming to its rescue, the BJP still believes that no one is leaving its ship.
Criticism against the August 12 order continued to pour in from the state and various parts of the country with National Commission for Women chairperson Rekha Sharma and senior Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member Brinda Karat strongly condemning the sessions court judge's observation.
From Instagram to X, social media platforms, in the run-up to the polls have seen bitter poster wars and even bitter meme battles for political one-upmanship.
The National Commission for Women has summoned Udit Raj over his "sycophancy" remark against the president.
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