Sporadic incidents of unrest marred the West Bengal bypolls, with a local Trinamool Congress worker Ashok Shaw dying following a crude bomb attack in Bhatpara, an area adjoining Naihati assembly constituency where voting was underway.
Sitaram Yechury strived to have the country's Left movement shed its doctrinaire approach to India's socio-cultural complexities and stitch electoral and social alliances to fight the Sangh Parivar.
To keep their MLAs together, political parties are organising dinner meetings and arranging hotel stays for them ahead of the council elections, which are taking place just three months ahead of the assembly polls in the state.
The editorial came amidst the ongoing tussle between Arlekar and the Marxist party-led Left Democratic Front government over the usage of 'Bharat Mata portrait' during official functions being held in Raj Bhavan.
Polling will take place in 3,328 polling booths, out of which 1,100 are sensitive and 28 are categorised as critical.
They said the Left party is consulting its lawyers to challenge the notice of the tax authorities.
As pressure mounted, the CPI-M-led Left Democratic Front seemed to be supporting Mukesh, taking a cautious wait-and-watch stance.
The counting of votes for the bypolls to 46 assembly seats in 13 states and in the Lok Sabha segments of Nanded in Maharashtra and Wayanad in Kerala, a crucial electoral exercise since the parliamentary polls in April-May, will begin at 8 am on Saturday.
The Communist Party of India-Marxist on Tuesday said it would not enter into any alliance or united front with the Congress while continuing to adopt tactics to isolate and defeat the Bharatiya Janata Party. 'The party differentiates between the BJP and the Congress, considering the latter as a secular bourgeois party, though it vacillates when the communal forces take the offensive,' the party said in its political resolution adopted in the party Congress.
The BJP received the highest amount in large donations among national parties in the financial year 2023-24, with over Rs 2,243 crore declared from 8,358 donations, according to a report by poll rights body the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The report, based on data submitted to the Election Commission, highlighted trends in political donations above Rs 20,000. The total declared donations to national parties stood at Rs 2,544.28 crore from 12,547 contributions - a sharp 199 per cent increase compared to the previous year.
The Congress-led opposition stepped up its attack on Friday against the government over the Adani row and demanded that there should be a thorough investigation into what they alleged was a 'mega scam' as it involved public money.
Asked why she is not taking the charge of the bloc, given her credentials as a strong anti-BJP force, Banerjee said, "If given the opportunity I would ensure its smooth functioning."
The final NRC, a list of Indian citizens residing in Assam, was released in 2019 by excluding 19,06,657 people. However, it has not been notified by the Registrar General of India, leaving the controversial document without any official validity.
'The President-elect firmly believes we can avoid conflict with the Chinese Communist party because they need our markets.'
The BJP, which rules the Centre, is in power in Uttarakhand, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Goa, Assam, Tripura, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, and is all set to get Madhya Pradesh back and snatch Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh from the Congress after today's vote count.
Exit polls, which had given a clear majority to the Congress in Haryana and an edge to National Conference in Jammu and Kashmir, appear to have failed to feel the pulse of the voters once again.
A legislation has been introduced in the United States Congress for countering the Chinese propaganda by creating a new sanctions authority against state-backed disinformation networks.
Throwing its weight behind actor-cum-MLA M Mukesh, the ruling Communist Party of India-Marxist in Kerala on Saturday said that he need not resign from his post as legislator merely because a rape case has been registered against him.
With the all-party meetings called by Rajya Sabha Chairperson Jagdeep Dhankhar and Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla producing no breakthrough to end the deadlock in Parliament, Union ministers Piyush Goyal and Pralhad Joshi accused opposition parties of repeatedly 'insulting' Dhankhar.
'After giving my own money to this party, I was insulted.'' 'Neither this party nor its leaders have no respect for women.'
On the 83rd anniversary of the Quit India movement, Utkarsh Mishra recalls the conditions under which the Congress, led by Mahatma Gandhi, launched the final struggle for independence.
Passed by the House by 352 to 65 votes, the bill now heads to the US Senate for it to be sent to the White House for the President to sign it into law.
Vijay, with his chief ministerial ambitions, is a one-man army, at least as of now, and his campaign team considers him omnipresent. He has to be present in all districts, if not all constituencies at the same time, as there is no second-line leader or platform speaker in the party, who can draw crowds, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
In her maiden speech at a political rally, Sunita also asked people whether Kejriwal should resign as Chief Minister.
The Kerala Assembly passed a bill allowing for the establishment of private universities in the state. This marks a significant policy shift for the CPI(M)-led government, which had previously opposed privatization of education. The bill was passed by voice vote following discussions on Monday and Tuesday. The opposition raised concerns about the potential impact of private universities on public institutions and questioned the practicality of the requirements for starting a private university. However, the government defended the bill, stating it was a necessary step to improve higher education in Kerala and elevate public universities to global standards.
There is simmering disquiet in the Communist party and the world is watching as to what can unfold in China in the days to come ahead of next year's party congress, notes Rup Narayan Das.
Fissures appear to have emerged in the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) as its two key allies, the Congress and the Trinamool Congress, on Thursday clashed over seat sharing for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal.
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
A heated debate erupted in the Rajya Sabha over the ongoing strike by ASHA workers in Kerala, with Congress and CPI(M) MPs trading accusations over responsibility for addressing their demands for a higher honorarium and post-retirement benefits. Congress MP Jebi Mather alleged that both the Kerala government and the Union government had ignored the workers' pleas, while CPI(M) MP John Brittas countered by claiming Kerala provides the highest honorarium to ASHA workers. The debate also saw demands for an AIIMS in Kerala and a hike in MBBS seats, as well as concerns over maternal health, elderly care, and mental health in India.
Following that, Sudhakaran, at another event in Alappuzha on Thursday, claimed that what he had said earlier was not completely true and he had added something extra to it from his "imagination".
'There will be no compromise with someone who has betrayed the party at this stage even if she is my sister,' Congress MP K Muraleedharan told reporters.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
The current situation in Kerala politics is perhaps best described as a case of the state's traditional two front politics now seeing a third front (the BJP) muscling in with the potential outcome being either a messy three front affair or a renewed endorsement of the two front pattern but with one of the old fronts compromised or quashed, observes Shyam G Menon.
A delegation of 21 Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc MPs will pay a two-day visit to Manipur beginning Saturday to assess the ground situation first-hand and then make recommendations to the government and Parliament for a solution to the problems in the violence-hit state.
The announcement was made after AICC general secretary Ajoy Kumar held a meeting with CPI-M state secretary Jitendra Choudhury on Friday evening.
On Tuesday, 49 opposition MPs were suspended for the remaining part of the session for disrupting proceedings, taking the total tally of suspended MPs in Lok Sabha to 95.
A bench of Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices J B Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, however, agreed to examine the constitutional validity of Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 empowering the Election Commission to undertake the delimitation of constituencies.
'The continuous and mysterious praise of the BJP and the chief minister by AIUDF leadership and senior members have affected the public perception of the Congress party'
18 leaders from 14 parties said it is unfortunate that the government has 'unleashed a misleading campaign to malign the combined opposition' and blaming it for the continued disruption of Parliament proceedings.
