The Election Commission of India (ECI) has announced that it will set up mobile phone deposit counters at polling stations to ensure that voters do not have to carry their phones inside the polling booth. This decision was taken after it was observed that several voters were concealing their phones in their clothes due to the absence of a facility to deposit it. The ECI has also rationalized the permissible norms for canvassing in line with the electoral laws to 100 meters from the entrance of the polling station.
The National Commission for Women (NCW) has demanded strong action from the Bihar assembly speaker against Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over his remarks in the assembly on the importance of women's education to control the population and demanded his apology.
The male-female turnout gap was wide in Bihar and Jharkhand. While in Bihar, the male turnout was 52.42 percent, the female turnout was 61.58 percent.
The two signed a bond at the Bihar Women's Commission office.
After much pressure from Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi, the police have arrested Neel Nidhi Singh, main accused of the gang-rape of 5 Mahadalit women, all rag-pickers, in a village in Bihar's Bhojpur district.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday said the Centre's decision to include caste enumeration in the next census has exposed the difference between the Modi government's 'true intentions' and the 'empty sloganeering' of the Congress.
Thakur's tenure as chief minister is best remembered for implementation of the recommendations of the Mungeri Lal Commission, whereby quotas for backward classes were introduced in the state in 1978. This panel was the forerunner of the Mandal Commission. Both Mungeri Lal and B P Mandal were from Bihar, which has a long history of socialist struggles.
The party's national executive meeting chaired by its president and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar flagged price rise and unemployment as "burning issues"
In some states, many women voters had enrolled themselves by their relationship with the male members of their family instead of providing their own names.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused the Border Security Force (BSF), central agencies, and the BJP of fanning tension in Murshidabad by allegedly facilitating cross-border influx from Bangladesh. She also urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to keep the Union Home Ministry under control. Banerjee has announced a compensation of Rs 10 lakh each for the families of three people killed during the violence and directed the state chief secretary to initiate a probe into the role of the BSF.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
'Diplomatic and economic responses are first announced and then implemented. A military response is announced only after it is done.'
This was the first major election in the country amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Obviously, the women of Bihar were not intimidated by the pandemic and came out in large numbers to vote.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
The passage of the women's reservation bill has ignited hope among stakeholders about attaining gender equality in India's political landscape, especially at the policy-making level, even as some raised concerns over its effectiveness given the uncertainty in the deadline for its implementation.
A minor girl was allegedly gangraped in the city by five school students over a month ago and CDs and MMS of the act were circulated, according to an First Information Report lodged by Bihar Women's Commission.
There are also over 10 million voters in the 18-29 age bracket. Winning them over could be Nitish Kumar's biggest challenge, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Jan Suraaj founder Prashant Kishor has begun a fast unto death in Patna, demanding the cancellation of a recent examination held by the Bihar Public Service Commission (BPSC). Kishor's hunger strike comes after he gave a 48-hour ultimatum to the Nitish Kumar government to act on the demand, raised by aggrieved candidates who allege the exam was rigged. The administration has declared the hunger strike illegal as it is not the designated site for protests.
Addressing BJP workers at a felicitation function after the Bharatiya Janata Party's victory in Bihar elections and various bypolls, he asserted that the only mantra for his party's victory was 'Sabka saath, sabka vikas and sabka vishwas' and also launched a veiled attack on the West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress, saying those who cannot challenge the saffron party democratically have resorted to 'murdering' its workers to realise their goals.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has ordered setting up of a special investigation team to probe the alleged gangrape of a teenager by five school students on June 12 and the circumstances in which a CD of the incident was made public.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
The Congress on Monday promised that a government led by it will conduct a nationwide caste census and implement 33 per cent reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies at the earliest, including adequate representation for women belonging to the OBC community.
Sanjeev Kumar alias Sanjeev 'Mukhiya', an alleged kingpin behind the NEET paper leak, was not only minting money but wanted to become an MP or MLA.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
There are 218,442 voters over 100 years on the electoral rolls.
Voters of Bihar have made it clear that their aspiration and priority are development alone, Modi said in a series of tweets, adding that the people's blessings for the NDA's good governance show what are the state's dreams and expectations.
'Economic issues do not matter during elections; it is the emotional connect that helps swing votes.'
'Bihar's caste survey has bolstered the Opposition parties, but one shouldn't forget that the BJP is also trying to present itself as a party that cares for the OBCs more than other parties,' points out Sanjay Kumar.
Saturday's voting will mark the end to the marathon polling process that began on April 19 month and has already covered 486 Lok Sabha seats in 28 states and Union territories.
Several girls were sexually assaulted in a shelter home run by Thakur in Muzaffarpur, Bihar. He was convicted under various sections of IPC, POCSO Act and Juvenile Justice Act.
A voter turnout of 10.82 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Saturday in 58 constituencies in six states and two Union territories where polling is underway in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections.
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
The IMD has warned of heatwave to severe heatwave conditions in parts of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh during the next five days.
The marathon polling process to elect the 18th Lok Sabha ended on Saturday with the seventh phase of elections witnessing an approximate voter turnout of 62.36 per cent, amid clashes between Trinamool Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party supporters in Sandeshkhali and some other parts of West Bengal.
The Election Commission of India has set up more than 200 polling stations within housing societies in the urban areas of Uttar Pradesh to increase the voter turnout in the politically crucial state.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
At the meeting which lasted for more than half an hour, the leaders of the two parties are understood to have discussed the key issue of seat-sharing among alliance partners in the NDA, which also includes Ram Vilas Paswan's LJP.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
A voter turnout of 60.19 per cent was recorded till 5 pm in the third phase of Lok Sabha elections in 93 constituencies spread over 11 states and Union Territories on Tuesday with sporadic incidents of violence in West Bengal.
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