A delegation of opposition party leaders on Friday met the top brass of Election Commission to raise its concerns over poll code violations by the ruling party leaders, and also flagged concerns over delay in release of voter turnout figures for the first two phases of the polls.
The juggernaut of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance, which triumphed in three of the four east and north-eastern states that went for assembly bypolls on Saturday, was halted yet again in West Bengal where Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress registered a six-on-six clean sweep.
A five-member delegation of TMC MPs, comprising Derek O'Brien, Satabdi Roy, Prasun Banerjee, Pratima Mondal and Md Nadimul Haque, also met the farmers there to support their protest against the new farm laws.
Trinamool Congress candidate Prasun Banerjee on Wednesday won the Howrah Lok Sabha seat in a by-election defeating his nearest rival, Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate Sridip Bhattacherjee, by over 27,000 votes.
"Mr Kalyan Banerjee rose in this House and said sorry. But I will say that we all come to this House with the spirit of contribution to the nation's development...but we also come with a sense of self respect.
RS member Derek O'Brien said due to the polls, MPs of his party would not be able to attend the Parliament session.
Consensus emerged on the appointment of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge as the chairperson of the opposition Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), while Janata Dal-United chief Nitish Kumar's name was proposed for the convener's post, pending approval of parties absent at the alliance meeting on Saturday, according to sources.
Slamming Opposition parties for disrupting parliamentary proceedings, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said as details of the Parliament security breach incident emerge, it is getting "obvious" that the DNA of those who entered the Lok Sabha is inextricably linked to the "Congress-Communist axis".
The three ills of 'dynasticism, corruption and appeasement' politics must quit India in the best interest of the country, the Bharatiya Janata Party said on Wednesday as it commemorated the Quit India movement launched by Mahatma Gandhi on this day in 1942.
"We will complain. He can meditate, but televisions cannot show it," she said, alleging that this will amount to "violation of the MCC."
The Trinamool Congress on Friday secured absolute majority in the 294-member West Bengal assembly, winning 163 seats and leading in 23 others as results of 264 seats have been declared so far.
This was second time in a month that the TMC supremo had a telephonic interaction with the agitating farmers.
The sources said the opposition leaders would now plan joint rallies that were put on hold due to the assembly elections.
With an aim of maximising its electoral prospects, Trinamool Congress will be using the 'star power' of actor Mithun Chakraborty to add spark to its campaign for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The delegations led by Baijayant Panda, Ravi Shankar Prasad (both Bharatiya Janata Party), Sanjay Kumar Jha (Janata Dal-United), Shrikant Shinde (Shiv Sena), Shashi Tharoor (Congress), Kanimozhi (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) and Supriya Sule (Nationalist Congress Party-Sharad Pawar) will visit a total of 32 countries and the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.
A Raja said panel's chairman Jagdambika Pal has been conducting the panel's meetings in haste, raising doubts that it will not be able to serve justice.
'Mamata needs to address the anger and resentment among various sections of the Hindu community because low-scale communal violence has always paid richer electoral dividends for the BJP.'
Mamata's 'there is no United Progressive Alliance (UPA)' remark after a meeting in Mumbai with Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, an ally of Congress in Maharashtra, evoked a strong response from the party, currently being led by interim president Sonia Gandhi.
'The decline of the Congress party and its inability to play the lead role in Opposition politics has created a space for the TMC to expand.'
'Women are likely to have voted because of the numerous welfare schemes. The CAA consolidated minority votes and the BJP's booth-level organisation in Bengal is weak.'
22 images that captures glimpses of a most unusual Indian who led the nation for 10 years.
The leaders of the INDIA requested the EC to instruct its officials that they should follow the guidelines.
In a major setback to the opposition INDIA bloc, Banerjee announced that her party has decided to go alone in the state in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Fish sellers of Chittranjan Park found themselves in a state of disbelief last week when the anti-meat overdrive of the Hindu right hit the local markets with a warning to shut shops because they were close to a temple.
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Jay Shah also congratulated the franchise on social media.
Slamming Trinamool Congress member of Parliament Tapas Pal's controversial comments allegedly threatening to kill Communist Party of India-Marxist workers and have their women raped, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded that the leader be put "behind bars", saying he has "no right" to be in any political party.
Former India skipper Sourav Ganguly inaugurated a Puja Pandal in Howrah on Wednesday and during the inauguration the former Indian skipper opened up on India's campaign in the ongoing ODI World Cup 2023.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited was the top donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party at Rs 584 crore and the Bharat Rashtra Samiti at Rs 195 crore.
Mamata asserted that she has not spoken to anyone in the Congress on seat-sharing in the state for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The Congress now knows that it is the only force -- however weakened it might be -- that stands between the BJP and India's evolution into a single-party Republic. Because, once it is out of the way, the BJP could sort out the other regional powers: Co-opting some, demolishing others, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
The leaders will also raise the issue of alleged "use of religious symbols" by the Bharatiya Janata Party in their campaign, they said.
Ahead of senior BJP leader Narendra D Modi's election rally in Karakat on May 25 to support National Democratic Alliance candidate Upendar Kushwaha, the BJP finally acted against Pawan Singh, who refused to withdraw from the fray.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) is unlikely to attend a meeting of the INDIA bloc on June 1, sources said, as it coincides with the last phase of voting in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before it in Kolkata on November 9 in connection with the alleged school jobs scam, a TMC leader said on Wednesday.
In an informal conversation with rediff.com's Indrani Roy Mitra, Salim speaks about Trinamool Congress' much-hyped poriborton, what made Left fare badly at the last Lok Sabha and municipal elections among many other issues.
Trinamool Congress is the second highest recipient of political donations through electoral bonds.
While some parties including the Trinamool Congress, the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party were keen on having early seat-sharing talks, the Congress delayed the deliberations pending the outcome of assembly polls.
Polling for the fifth phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections will take place on May 20, 2024, with 49 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
The Supreme Court of India has asked petitioners in two Public Interest Litigations (PILs) to make representations to the Election Commission of India (ECI) regarding their demand for uploading polling booth-wise voter turnout data on the ECI website. The PILs, filed by TMC MP Mahua Moitra and NGO Association for Democratic Reforms, seek a direction for the ECI to upload the data within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling in Lok Sabha and assembly elections. The ECI, represented by senior advocate Maninder Singh, expressed willingness to deliberate on the matter and suggested a meeting with the petitioners to address their concerns. The court has adjourned the hearing to the week of July 28.
The TMC also announced it would hold talks with other regional parties in their bid to take on the BJP in the crucial 2024 elections but at the same time denied that it was planning a third front, separate from the Congress-led front.
