The RSS-affiliated ABVP has won the post of joint secretary in the Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union (JNUSU) election, ending a nine-year period out of office. The ABVP's victory marks a significant shift in the political landscape of JNU, breaking the Left's long-standing dominance. Left candidates won the remaining three central panel posts, but the ABVP's victory is seen as a major gain for the right-wing group.
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.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Saturday said it is some people's job to create doubts and asserted the systems in place at the Election Commission are strong to ensure no mistakes creep in.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
The Congress on Wednesday questioned the Election Commission's move to get a post on electoral bonds scheme deleted from social media platform X and said that the issue raised in the post makes the government 'extremely uncomfortable'.
INDIA bloc parties are set to raise issues such as the Pahalgam attack, US President Trump's claims of brokering a ceasefire, and concerns over electoral roll revisions in Bihar during the Parliament's Monsoon session.
Questioning the relevance of the electoral process amidst the ongoing turmoil, the women traders from various market associations, are contemplating a boycott of the polls with their major grievance being -- 'the nation forgot Manipur'.
According to the procedure, all reports of the law panel are submitted to the Union law ministry, which then forwards those to the ministries concerned.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
'You've got to understand it is not easy to die by suicide.' 'People commit suicide only when they lose everything and find no other way to live.'
Aamir Khan has never endorsed any political party in his 35-year career and the viral video of the Bollywood superstar is "fake" and alarming, his spokesperson said on Tuesday.
Ramesh was asked by the poll panel to submit factual details by Sunday evening of the allegations that he made in a social media post recently.
The Cabinet also initiated the process of notifying the dates of the seven-phase parliamentary elections by sending the Election Commission's recommendation to President Droupadi Murmu.
A high-level committee on Thursday recommended simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
The Aam Aadmi Party, Delhi's ruling party, is already in election mode.
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.
'I wonder how people who come to power through democratic means turn out this way.' 'But people of India are strong, and those who think they can hoodwink people, are mistaken.' 'You can fool some people for some time, but not all people, all the time.'
The counting of votes in Mizoram will take place on December 4, a day after it was originally scheduled, the Election Commission said on Friday.
'I feel very happy that we are under democracy. The important thing is to pick the right people for your constituency. What we can do is more important than what the govt can do.'
The Election Commission on Monday censured BJP leader Dilip Ghosh and Congress'd Supriya Shrinate for derogatory remarks against the dignity of women.
The Election Commission shunted out Delhi's southeast Deputy Commissioner of Police Chinmoy Biswal and directed Additional DCP (southeast) Kumar Gyanesh to take charge.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
Aam Aadmi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal's car was pelted with stones during campaigning in the New Delhi constituency on Saturday, the party alleged.
The SEC, which held a meeting on Sunday evening, went through reports of vote-tampering and violence which affected polling in many places, and passed the order, an official said.
According to sources, the Election Commission is mulling over taking strong action against BJP candidate Kapil Mishra. Mishra had on January 23 tweeted, "On 8th February there will be a contest between India and Pakistan on the streets of Delhi."
The accusation comes a day after the President's secretariat forwarded the assertions of the Opposition BJP that Delhi was facing a constitutional crisis to the ministry of home affairs for "proper attention".
Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar convened the meeting of leaders of opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, which was attended by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, independent Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav, Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) member Anil Desai and Bharat Rashtra Samithi member K Keshav Rao among others.
From florists in Ghazipur's phool mandi to sweet shop owners in Old Delhi's Chandni Chowk, the preparations, if not the sales, have already begun.
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.
Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson Sonia Gandhi has criticized the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, calling it a 'brazen assault' on the Constitution and part of the BJP's strategy to keep society in a 'permanent state of polarization.' She also spoke out against the One Nation, One Election Bill, calling it a 'subversion of the Constitution.' Gandhi further accused the Modi government of ignoring the women's reservation bill and other demands for reservation, and of 'dragging the country into an abyss' where the Constitution will only exist on paper. She also criticized the government for limiting the speaking time of the Leader of the Opposition in Parliament and for not allowing discussions on important issues like the working of the defense and external affairs ministries and the challenges posed by China on the border.
The changes suggested include the amendment to the provisions of the Constitution relating to preparation of the electoral roll by the Election Commission of India in consultation with the State Election Commission(s) for the elections to the local bodies (in Article 325).
'WFI must reverse all amendments made during its suspension and ensure checks and balances in decision-making within four weeks.'
'Can you imagine that Surat's voters won't have any say now in exercising their fundamental right to choose a candidate of their own choice? This is what the BJP has reduced India's democracy to.' 'With this ugly act, in one stroke, the BJP has disenfranchised the voters of Surat.'
The BJP received 39.94 percent votes, while the Congress managed 39.09 percent in the assembly polls.
In a memorandum submitted to the EC, the INDIA party leaders submitted a list of recent instances of central agencies targeting Opposition parties and alleged an absence of a level playing field for the opposition.
While the Aam Aadmi Party is contesting on four seats, the Congress has fielded candidates for the remaining three seats.
The Election Commission on Friday issue a 'certificate of election' to NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu who has emerged victorious in the presidential poll.
