Vijay, despite the loud message from his delayed arrival at the road-show/stampede venue, and more so his continued inaccessibility for fans-turned-cadres after graduating from a super-star to a political party leader with electoral ambitions, refuses to change. Or, so it seems, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Udvav Thackeray launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party and said that anyone who spreads communal disharmony 'can't be a Hindu', while also affirming that the 'Hindutva' of his party is 'clean'.
'The government does not want to be transparent or accountable. Therefore, they do not want to appoint information commissioners.'
The rising tide of Indian nationalism meant that the people of princely states now were keen to become a part of a united and integrated India rather than remain subjects of a princely state. The Congress too supported the people's wish and it fell upon Patel to get the princes to agree. He did so magnificently, using every trick available, whether it was sweet talk or coercion; the rulers buckled and Patel earned the eternal gratitude of the entire nation.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application pointing out the fact.
The other three crore -- nearly 40 percent -- will have to provide one of the 11 listed documents to establish their place or date of birth.
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
The Labor Party leader had travelled to New Delhi as a backpacker in 1991 and led a parliamentary delegation in 2018.
The Election Commission of India has announced that the Delhi Assembly elections will be held on February 5, 2023, with the counting of votes scheduled for February 8. The last date to file nominations is January 17, and the scrutiny of nominations will be done by January 18. Candidates can withdraw their nominations until January 20.
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
Pitroda was reported to have said that he does not understand the threat India faces from China, claiming that it is often blown out of proportion.
Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, the Election Commission on Monday directed the state government to transfer Director General of Police Rashmi Shukla with immediate effect following complaints from political parties, including the Congress, sources said.
A new book by former West Bengal governor Gopal Krishna Gandhi claims that former chief election commissioner T N Seshan proposed an immediate halt to the general election process after Rajiv Gandhi's assassination in 1991 and even offered to become home minister. Gandhi, who was joint secretary to then president R Venkatraman, writes that Seshan was the one who broke the news of the assassination to the president and arrived at the Rashtrapati Bhawan "super-fast" that night. According to Gandhi's account, Seshan told Venkatraman that he felt the election process needed to be stopped and that he was ready to take on the role of home minister if necessary. However, Prime Minister Chandra Shekhar and Cabinet Secretary Naresh Chandra assured the president that the situation was under control and that there was no need to pause the election process. Seshan's suggestions were ultimately ignored, but he did manage to postpone the second and third phases of polling.
The indication of a timeline comes two days after the Election Commission initiated the revision of electoral rolls in the union territory and prepare the draft rolls by August 31.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
'Pakistan will also try to turn Bangladesh into a base for terrorist attacks on India.'
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.
Kejriwal's remarks came shortly after the EC expressed dissatisfaction with his reply to its notice and gave him a fresh opportunity to explain his charges against the Haryana government.
This is in contrast to a Supreme Court judgment of March which said the panel should comprise of the prime minister, the leader of opposition in Lok Sabha and the Chief Justice of India.
The Awami League leaders were charged with committing crimes against humanity over the deaths of hundreds of people during last year's anti-government protests by a student platform. The protests resulted in the ouster of Hasina's 16-year-long regime on August 5.
'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'
Sources said the party has also tasked its senior leaders to be observers at the meeting of the Congress Legislature Party in Haryana to elect its new leader.
The revised salaries of MPs are significantly lower than the salaries drawn by top bureaucrats in the country.
'There was no financing or even promise of finance involved in MoU, forget X or Y amount'
The elections in the country should be held within the stipulated time of 90 days after the dissolution of the National Assembly.
The Himachal Pradesh high court on Wednesday issued notice to Kangana Ranaut, the Bharatiya Janata Party Lok Sabha member from Mandi, on a petition filed by a Kinnaur resident for setting aside her election on the grounds that his nomination papers to contest from the Lok Sabha constituency were allegedly wrongly rejected.
Sitiveni Rabuka's visit to New Delhi marks a major shift in India-Fiji ties as the former coup leader who once expelled India's envoy now returns as an honoured guest, explains Ambassador T P Sreenivasan.
The government is examining the Supreme Court's verdict on the appointment of chief election commissioner (CEC) and election commissioners and it will take "appropriate action" on it, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday.
Kumar said the increase was due to Outer Manipur being counted twice, since polls will be held there in two phases.
Voting for the Delhi Assembly elections began on Wednesday, with prominent leaders like President Droupadi Murmu, Union ministers S Jaishankar and Hardeep Singh Puri, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, and Delhi Chief Minister Atishi casting their ballots early in the day. Other notable figures who participated in the electoral process included Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, AAP leader and former Delhi deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva, Delhi Police Commissioner Sanjay Arora, and Delhi Chief Electoral Officer R Alice Vaz. The election is a triangular contest between the ruling AAP, BJP, and Congress, with the AAP aiming for a third consecutive term. Polling is underway at 13,766 stations across Delhi's 70 assembly constituencies to decide the fate of 699 candidates. The results will be announced on February 8.
Thackeray had on Monday claimed his bag was inspected by the election authorities when he arrived in Maharashtra's Yavatmal to campaign for the November 20 assembly elections.
A heated political battle erupted Tuesday over Arvind Kejriwal's claim of the Haryana government 'poisoning' the Yamuna water, with the Bharatiya Janata Party saying he cannot be forgiven for his 'dangerous statement', while the Aam Aadmi Party chief asserted he won't let the people of Delhi die due to the dirty, poisonous water.
Aam Aadmi Party supremo Arvind Kejriwal went to the Election Commission's office in New Delhi on Friday and furnished his reply to the poll body over its notice to him on his 'poison mixed' in Yamuna water remark.
The Election Commission on Saturday deferred the Haryana assembly poll date to October 5 from October 1, saying the decision was taken keeping in mind a centuries-old festival of the Bishnoi community.
Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Canadian counterpart Anita Anand held their first phone conversation, focusing on strengthening bilateral economic ties and advancing shared priorities. The call comes amid efforts to repair relations between the two countries, which had been strained under the previous Canadian government. Both ministers expressed their commitment to improving ties and working together on areas of mutual interest. The conversation follows a period of tensions stemming from allegations of Indian involvement in the killing of a Sikh activist on Canadian soil.
Meanwhile, the Congress' data analytics department chairperson Praveen Chakravarty on Tuesday wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, seeking assembly-wise voter rolls in excel sheet format for the Lok Sabha elections and the assembly polls in Maharashtra.
Congress leaders were seen giving media bytes at various places at the headquarters, arguing that the trends would change by 1 PM but it did not happen.
Several opposition leaders on Sunday criticised the bill on the appointment and service conditions of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners at an all-party meeting as "anti-Constitution" and "anti-democratic", sources said.
'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.
Pakistan's election commission has formed a high-level committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by a senior bureaucrat that widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body happened against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi.
