Those who trim or shave beard and hair, smoke or drink alcohol cannot vote in the elections to Sikh religious bodies, with President Pranab Mukherjee giving assent to a bill passed recently by Parliament.
While the United Progressive Alliance government is preparing to ignore the protests from anti-Telangana members of Parliament and push through the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Bill in Parliament on Tuesday, the Congress' grim internal assessment is that the move may not pay the requisite electoral dividends which it had originally hoped for, says Anita Katyal
The Parliament had earlier this week given its nod to the legislation for bifurcating the state, a bold and far-reaching decision that seeks to redraw the map and future of a region at the center of a protracted militancy movement.
While all political parties have been talking about following in the footsteps of the debutant Aam Admi Party by fielding fresh faces in the coming Lok Sabha polls, Bihar Chief Minister and Janata Dal-U leader Nitish Kumar has set the ball rolling by deciding not to renominate his party's three sitting MPs in the coming biennial elections to the Rajya Sabha scheduled for February 7. Anita Katyal reports.
The AAP said the tie-up can only be done on 33 Lok Sabha seats across four states and one Union Territory.
Two persons were injured in a clash which took place between AAP and Congress workers at Sultanpur village in Sangrur district.
Polling for 16 Rajya Sabha seats in four states will be held on Friday amid allegations of attempts at horse-trading by rival parties which have corralled their MLAs in hotels and scenic resorts, prompting the Election Commission to appoint special observers and order videography of the entire exercise.
If the BJP wants to recruit him, it needs to make the supreme sacrifice -- of rolling back the three farm laws, because without that, Amarinder Singh is unlikely to cross over.
In January 2015, 25,023 tourists arrived by availing the scheme.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari, who is not contesting Lok Sabha polls as he is ailing, has been made acting in-charge of the AICC Communication department along with party spokesman Randeep Surjewala.
Supreme Court's ruling favouring Haryana on the contentious Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal issue has set political temperature soaring in Punjab, with the state Congress chief Amarinder Singh quitting as Member of Parliament and all MLAs following suit, as Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal asserted "not a drop of water" will be allowed to be taken out of the state.
Faced with a dilemma over handing tickets to leaders facing allegations of corruption, Congress on Wednesday gave indications that while former Railway Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal could be re-nominated from Chandigarh, Pune MP Suresh Kalmadi may not be fielded in the upcoming polls.
Kuldeep Bishnoi-led Haryana Janhit Congress on Thursday decided to snap its ties with Bharatiya Janata Party, putting an end to the prolonged tussle between the two parties which have been in an alliance for three years now.
'I can't say who is to blame for this incident; it could be anybody. I leave it to you and the people to decide,' Selja told Rediff.com, adding this was the first time she has been attacked in her career.
As part of the investigations, the DNA samples of the complainant and the accused will also be matched.
Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda onh Friday equated Khap Panchayats with organisations like Non-Governmental Organisations, saying that they are part of state's culture.
The high speed bullet train is expected to cover 508 km between in about two hours.
Vowing to raise voice for farmers on very platform, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi said government should take into account their concerns and not just extend monetary assistance.
Extended rounds of negotiations having failed, farm leaders now reckon that their best chance to pressure the government lay in defeating the BJP in the coming assembly poll, particularly in UP, observes Virendra Kapoor.
As many as 22 states and Union Territories have supported a Law Commission recommendation to bring a bill to prevent 'honour killings', but government has refused to fix a timeline to put in place a legal framework, saying a decision will be taken after due consultations.
The move comes against the backdrop of rising instances of people getting duped by illicit money pooling activities
The Congress party's first list of 194 Lok Sabha candidates released on Saturday night has no major surprises. Anita Katyal reports
The assembly polls are seen as a test of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's popularity, especially in the wake of demonetisation.
Although Gorakhpur is the largest urban centre and trading hub in Eastern UP, catering not only to the neighbouring district but also the adjoining Bihar and Nepal, it had been lacking in proper infrastructure of road and air connectivity, impeding the harnessing of its socioeconomic potential.
Amarinder, who is also former Punjab Chief Minister, has sent his resignation to the Lok Sabha Speaker, copy of which was released to the media here, and has also sought a personal meeting with the Speaker next week.
The Congress released its second list of 71 candidates on Tuesday night. It is an interesting list, considering the names which have been taken on and the ones which were dropped. Renu Mittal reports
'The vehicles have evolved, the mindset hasn't. And it won't, not until boys are reformed to understand, imbibe and espouse the importance of consent,' says Veenu Sandhu.
'She really doesn't care if she is called heartless.' 'For her, the job needs to be done. That's all that matters.'
Kargil observed it as a 'black day' and leaders in Leh seeing it as an opportunity for development.
B D Pande was Punjab's governor during Operation Bluestar. In this excerpt from his memoir, In the Service of Free India: Memoir of a Civil Servant, Pande reveals what really went on behind the scenes during those dark days in India's history.
The demand for turning Hyderabad into a UnionTerritory on the lines of Chandigarh and make it the joint capital of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana may be considered by the government.
'Politics is about caste in Eastern UP and religion in Western UP.' Rediff.com's Archana Masih gets a sense of the fault lines in this election's most volatile region -- that can make or break the future of political parties in UP.
They alleged that the central bank has "failed miserably" in handling the situation post-demonetisation.
Twenty-one serving and retired Indian Police Service officers have been booked by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the last three years in 16 different cases ranging from disproportionate assets to destruction of evidence, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
With 600-700 new NPA cases getting admitted into NCLT every month, the demand for resolution professionals is on the rise with their number more than doubling in less than a year.
The Lok Sabha election will be held in 7 phases, beginning on April 11, 2019 and ending on May 19, 2019.
BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Saturday attacked Congress for its decision to give tickets to "tainted" leaders, saying "Adarsh candidates" including Ashok Chavan and Pawan Kumar Bansal have been "rewarded".
MPs will first attend a 'Farm Progress Show' in Iowa, then visit the Monsanto headquarters in St Louis, Missouri.
"There is no doubt we are fighting with our backs to the wall but these political bonfires in the BJP will help to consolidate our position to some extent," a senior Congress leader tells Rediff.com's Anita Katyal.
Maharashtra and Punjab, which are recording a surge in new COVID-19 cases, tightened curbs on Friday and the chief minister of the western state said lockdown is an option, as India added close to 40,000 cases in the biggest daily increase in nearly four months.
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