Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge has called for tough decisions and unity within the party after the Congress suffered electoral defeats in Maharashtra and Haryana. In a meeting with top party leaders, Kharge highlighted the need to strengthen the organization from the grassroots, fix accountability, and address internal bickering. He also urged leaders to remain united and avoid public criticism of each other. The Congress chief expressed concern over the party's performance in state elections despite a strong showing in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year. He acknowledged the need to learn from the setbacks and improve the party's strategy and communication to counter its rivals' propaganda.
'It will split people and create caste clashes. Unity of people will be affected for the time being.'
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Wednesday said Chief Minister Eknath Shinde should be willing to make 'sacrifices', in terms of seat-sharing for the assembly polls, like the BJP has done to keep the alliance intact.
The Sharad Pawar faction quoted lines from a popular poem 'Tutari' written by Jnanpith awardee Kusumagraj.
Observing that it will not venture into the "policy issue", the top court dismissed the PIL which had also sought a direction to the poll panel to put in the public domain the audit report, if any, of EVM's source code.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) met on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and firmed up the responses to the terror attack.
President Ram Nath Kovind on Monday appointed Chandra as 24th CEC on Monday.
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
The Delhi high court on Tuesday issued summons to former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, his son Aaditya Thackeray and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut on a defamation suit filed by MP Rahul Ramesh Shewale for allegedly levelling frivolous corruption allegations against him and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena faction.
The State Bank of India, which unsuccessfully sought extension of time till June 30 to disclose the details of electoral bonds, on Monday faced searching questions from the Supreme Court which wanted to know about the steps taken to comply with the directions it had issued while scrapping the controversial scheme of anonymous political funding on February 15.
Sagoo was the lone candidate left in fray after incumbent senior vice president Anju Bobby George opted out of the race for the position.
The Congress leader said he believes that democracy is derailed and "we are becoming too authoritarian". "It's all about one-man show," he said.
Authorities in New Delhi are all geared up for the counting of votes polled in the Delhi municipal elections, with officials saying 42 centres have been set up for the Wednesday exercise which will begin at 8 am amid tight security.
Eleven states and Union territories -- Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Telangana, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand -- had a voter turnout lower than the national average of 67.40 percent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
He succeeded Fakruddin Ali Ahmed after his death in 1977.
Uttar Pradesh's Chief Electoral Officer Navdeep Rinwa said in post on 'X' that an FIR has been registered in the matter at the Nayagaon police station in Etah district.
The share of such voters has shrunk to 1.9 per cent of registered voters in 2024 from 2.7 per cent in 2014.
During a review, the EC found that the performance of some officers was "unsatisfactory" and they were found "complacent, if not complicit" in various matters, including the illegal supply of liquor as a possible poll inducement, sources said.
Indelible ink mark is normally expected to last for three days when applied on the skin but lasts for a few weeks on the fingernail till the nail grows out.
Insiders say President Kovind has been told he will not be re-nominated, reveals R Rajagopalan.
'If democracy has succeeded, it is largely due to perfect conduct of elections by election commissioners starting from Sukumar Sen to the present election commissioners'
The launch of the first-ever direct train service from Delhi to Kashmir would be a big turning point in the Valley's mood and its integration with India. He had to thwart it at any cost, asserts Shekhar Gupta.
He could have blazed a trail that few Indian judges had. It was a missed opportunity of a lifetime, notes Ramesh Menon.
'What are the compulsions of the Election Commission that it cannot see any violations by the prime minister'
'What does Indira Gandhi want from me? At this age, what will I do to her?'
Various constituents of the INDIA bloc condemned Kejriwal's arrest and claimed that the BJP is scared of the outcome of the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and acting out of panic to create problems for the opposition.
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.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday took a major step to implement its key plank of "one nation, one election" as the Union Cabinet headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi approved the constitutional amendment bill to roll out the concept of simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, sources said.
The Bombay high court on Friday constituted a three-judge special bench to hear the pleas challenging the constitutional validity of the law providing Maratha reservation following a Supreme Court directive.
Justice Sachin Datta said the plea was misconceived and devoid of merits and the ECI can take an independent view on the complaint of the petitioner in accordance with law.
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma has accused Congress MP Gaurav Gogoi of raising questions on sensitive defence matters in Parliament after his marriage to a British citizen. Sarma alleged that Gogoi's wife, Elizabeth Colburn, has links with the Pakistani establishment, including working for an organisation allegedly a front for the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). Gogoi has rejected the allegations as "baseless" and said the BJP is trying to divert attention from its own failures.
A delegation of Congress leaders met the Election Commission and handed over complaints against the prime minister, alleging that he has trampled upon and violated the model code and directions of the poll body.
The Rashtriya Janata Dal, which had suffered decimation in the last general elections, was leading in five seats, out of 23 where it had fielded candidates.
The Samajwadi Party and Congress have announced that they will contest together under the INDIA bloc.
The Delhi high court on Thursday reserved its order on an appeal by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray challenging a single judge's decision dismissing his plea against an Election Commission interim order freezing the Shiv Sena name and election symbol.
A Canada commission report has said that 'no definitive link' with a 'foreign state' in the killing of Canadian Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar was 'proven', smashing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's allegations that accused the involvement of Indian agents in the killing.
The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations over irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to 'strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality', then it is doing a 'remarkable job' at creating that impression.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
The stage is set for the high-stakes civic polls in Delhi on Sunday, with poll authorities and security forces all geared up for the elections, largely being seen as a three-way contest among the Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Under the RPA Act, Kejriwal is an elector of Delhi and can contest polls.
