It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Two women candidates; Lok Sabha Speakers; Chief Justices; A Chief Election Commissioner; drafters of the Constitution; the RBI's first Indian governor; a farm leader who unsuccessfully contested four times; an iconic Bharata Natyam dancer...
A US-based Dalit civil rights organisation on Thursday accused Google of having a casteist and hostile workplace practices.
Unemployment, delivery of justice in desecration cases, illegal sand mining and drug menace are likely to be key issues in the Punjab assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's comprehensive defeat to the Congress in Karnataka where the two parties ran a campaign of contrasts has left the ruling party much to ponder as the two rivals are facing a direct contest in three more state polls this year in the run-up to the all-important 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
There were many people who wanted to seek favours from her by offering lakhs and crores of rupees even through her family members when she was Odisha's transport minister. She never allowed any kind of corrupt practices to touch her department officials, family members or the supporters who have stood by her.
Pragatisheel Samajwadi Party (Lohia) chief Shivpal Yadav on Monday said that his party's priority is to form an alliance with the Samajwadi Party for the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections and that it should be allotted 100 seats.
...the BJP's template of operation was different or if the Centre and the state were ruled by dissimilar parties? asks Shyam G Menon.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear on March 9 Bharatiya Janata Party leader Subramanian Swamy's plea seeking a direction to the Centre to declare 'Ram Setu' a national heritage monument.
Hearing a petition by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray against the Election Commission's interim order freezing Shiv Sena's name and election symbol, the Delhi high court on Monday asked why it should not wait for the final decision of the poll panel on the dispute between the party factions.
Following the death of Lok Janshakti Party leader and Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Ramdas Athawale of Republican Party of India is the lone member from the Bharatiya Janata Party allies in the National Democratic Alliance government at the Centre.
Within a few hours of Nitish Kumar leaving the NDA, entirely reasonable people were speculating as to how the CBI or ED could be used against him or his party, notes Mihir S Sharma.
Athawale said nobody can do any dadagiri at the mosques.
While Governor Ravi's speeches have put the local BJP supporters on the defensive in matters of religion and social justice, his add-on 'attack on the constitutional scheme' in the 'Senthil Balaji case', has been condemned squarely by many legal experts and editorial writers across the country, thus adding weight to CM Stalin's position -- at least until the courts come up with their binding views, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The high court's observation came while dismissing an appeal by Samata Party challenging a single judge's order which had rejected its plea against allotment of 'flaming torch' election symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the Supreme Court's ruling on the political crisis that led to the fall of the three-party Maha Vikas Aaghadi government led by him following a revolt by the Eknath Shinde faction reinstates trust in democracy.
Yadav said all parties have joined hands against the BJP in the Bihar assembly, and added "now this is going to be replicated across the whole country".
The Centre is planning a series of political initiatives in Jammu and Kashmir which may include discussion with mainstream parties of the Union Territory and elections to the assembly in the early part of next year, officials said in New Delhi.
Interacting with media persons in Mumbai after attending a meeting called by NCP president Sharad Pawar to discuss the issue, Patil maintained the party will not take Malik's resignation as the latter "was arrested in a wrong manner."
Tamil Nadu Governor R N Ravi on Thursday staged an unprecedented walkout from the state assembly following a face-off with Chief Minister M K Stalin over the former's customary address to members of the house in its first session of the year.
"The country and Maharashtra will benefit out of Pawar's vast experience and hence, it is extremely necessary for Pawar to consider joining the NDA. I invite him to join the NDA," the Union social justice minister said.
After Chief Minister Stalin moved a resolution, even as Ravi was speaking, that the speech was read, the governor walked out of the assembly.
'The BJP will be the ruling party.'
If elected, he will be the second All India Congress Committee president from Karnataka after S Nijalingappa, and also a Dalit leader to hold the post after Jagjivan Ram.
The BJP continuing to look at the Dravidian polity through the religious prism has not worked in Tamil Nadu whereas it has yielded political and electoral results across much of the rest of the country, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While Manipur's Bharatiya Janata Party leadership has flown to Delhi to lay rival claims to the post of chief minister of the north-eastern state, National People's Party leader Conrad K Sangma, who had earlier flown to Imphal to seek a place for his party in the new government, seems miffed by hints that the BJP will go ahead and form a single-party government.
'...it gets a survey report that they are going to lose elections.' 'The fear of losing elections will make them immediately conduct a caste census.'
'They fear their caste privilege will be exposed if there is an OBC caste census.'
The BJP ally Nishad Party, which represents the OBC fisher communities "welcomed" the court order, saying that the state government's previous notifications on the issue were flawed and "unconstitutional".
Though another 75 candidates are in the fray, the Elangovan-Thennaruasu fight has become a prestige battle for the DMK and AIADMK, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
President Biden underscored that the United States will 'continue to stand up for its interests and values and, together with our allies and partners, ensure the rules of the road for the 21st century advance an international system that is free, open, and fair', the White House said in a readout of the meeting.
Today, a friendship forged by common ideals behind prison walls has become a transactional understanding, notes Aditi Phadnis.
Mapanna Mallikarjun Kharge, a staunch Gandhi family loyalist from Karnataka, has become the Congress' first non-Gandhi president in 24 years.
Asked about BJP's Gorakhpur (Urban) MLA Aggarwal, the Samajwadi Party chief told reporters in Lucknow, "If you (reporters) can establish contact with him and speak to him, the ticket will be announced and he will get the ticket."
Speaking shortly after taking oath as the 46th President of the United States, 78-year-old Biden also pledged to repair America's global alliances, which suffered during his predecessor Donald Trump's four-year regime.
The pirzada said that the newly launched outfit might contest state elections from all 294 assembly seats.
'Please do not threaten us with street violence.' 'Do you have some humanity left in you?'
The people will view it from their viewpoint, their immediate interest, historical experiences, their insecurities, he said.
'With vendetta politics as its main plank, the BJP will be looking out for every opportunity to destabilise this Mahagatbandhan government.'
