Pranab Mukherjee was on Sunday elected as the 13th President of India, marking a new journey for the veteran Congress leader after over four decades of life in active politics.
'There is no rocket science in it'
The Shiv Sena has decided to move its MLAs to a luxury hotel at Powai in northeast Mumbai ahead of the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, a party leader said on Friday, as the ruling coalition spearhead treads a cautious path after being outsmarted by the BJP in the last week's Rajya Sabha polls.
Bharatiya Janata Party-backed independent candidate Sadabhau Khot and Nationalist Congress Party's Shivajrao Gajre on Monday withdrew their nominations for the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls, leaving 11 contestants in the fray for 10 seats as the state was set to witness another bitter fight between the BJP and the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) after the last week's cliffhanger in the Rajya Sabha polls.
Congress President Sonia Gandhi has directed state units to ensure that one-third members of the All India Congress Committee and Pradesh Congress Committees are women.
The Congress on Friday won the Amravati division graduates constituency, taking the tally of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) to three in elections for five Maharashtra Legislative Council seats, a result which has come as a jolt to the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party-Balasahebnachi Shiv Sena alliance.
In a setback to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party-Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena combine in Maharashtra, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi-backed candidates clinched two of the five legislative council seats which were up for grabs in biennial elections from teachers and graduates segments, and appeared poised to bag a third seat also.
Vice President Mike Pence has told Donald Trump that he lacked the power to challenge President-elect Joe Biden's victory in the November 3 election despite the US president's insistence that he did not, according to a media report.
The poll panel has asked state Congress chief Govind Singh Dotasra to respond to the notices by 3 pm on Thursday and 7 pm on Friday, respectively.
This will pave the way for emergence of 24,000 new panchayat-level leaders in Telangana, he said.
There's enough time for Mamata Banerjee to change her mind, Alva said.
A senior Congress leader said the Opposition's presidential pick Meira Kumar might also pay a visit to Lucknow to seek votes from the electoral college as the party "will not leave any stone unturned" for the election.
Medical seats for under-graduates and post-graduates remaining vacant in the NEET era, together with the Centre 'freezing' the number of medical colleges and seats in (Dravidian) Tamil Nadu and the launch of the PM's 'Vishwakarma Scheme' for the nation's craftsmen, are all seen as a bid to further reverse the state's progressive socio-economic agenda of and its achievements of the past hundred-plus years, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
As per the latest projections, Biden has 253 electoral college votes and Trump trails behind with 213. But some US media outlets have given 264 votes to Biden and 214 to Trump.
The IOC had also stated that its Executive Board reserves the right to take any further action at any stage of the process depending on how the situation develops.
Former India captain Bhaichung Bhutia on Monday said he might explore legal options after the All India Football Federation (AIFF) turned down his request for a discussion on the appointment of Shaji Prabhakaran as secretary general.
Trump, who has launched a slew of lawsuits in key states, but has not provided any evidence to back his claims of fraud, announced on Twitter on Tuesday that he has fired Christopher Krebs, director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) at the Department of Homeland Security.
Concealed beneath the feat, which testifies to his political acumen and survival instincts, is the fact that the 72-year-old leader could never remain at peace with his allies which also made him change partners frequently.
With the Biju Janata Dal backing the National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, the vote share of the ruling dispensation has now crossed 50 percent, virtually paving the way for her election as the first tribal President and the youngest too.
Outgoing US President Donald Trump has declined to concede the closely-fought November 3 presidential race to Democrat Biden and is mounting legal fights in several key battleground states, but there has been no evidence of voter irregularities or widespread fraud in the election -- billed as one of the most divisive and bitter in recent American history.
'This is what happens to a party when it gets trapped in the vicious circle of nepotism and dynastic politics'
The Opposition candidate in the July 18 presidential polls, Yashwant Sinha, held his first campaign strategy meeting on Wednesday at the Nationalist Congress Party office in New Delhi and said a "rubberstamp President" will not work in the country.
Bhutia, one of the legends of the game in the country, said he did not understand why a central minister would spend so much time with the voters the night before the AIFF elections, though he did not accuse law minister Kiren Rijiju of canvassing against him.
Despite their opposition based on ideology, both the political Right and the political Left possess similar behaviour, observes Shyam G Menon.
'Elections in Madhya Pradesh have so far largely avoided freebies.' 'But this time both the Congress and BJP are making such announcements.'
After nearly 50 years in public office, and a lifetime of presidential ambitions, Joe Biden has captured the White House. In his third try for the presidency, Biden and his team found a way to navigate the political obstacles and claim a victory that, while narrow in the electoral college tally, is projected to surpass Trump's overall national total by millions of votes.
The two soon-to-become first dogs of the United States are going to revive a tradition that goes back to George Washington, who was the first president to have a dog, after the White House was pet-free for four years, reported New York Post.
In an unprecedented assault on democracy in the US, thousands of supporters of outgoing President Donald Trump stormed the Capitol building here and clashed with police, resulting in four deaths and interrupting a constitutional process by Congress to affirm the victory of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris in the election.
The Election Commission has decided to hold bypolls to eight Rajya Sabha seats, including the four in Karnataka, on June 26.
Eshwarappa would turn 75 in June, the unofficial age bar in the BJP for leaders to contest polls and hold official positions.
Its electoral triumphs in assembly polls, particularly in Uttar Pradesh, have made the BJP the single-largest party in the Rajya Sabha.
Alleging that the order made by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was unconstitutional, the attorney generals said the state overstepped its constitutional authority in accepting late ballots and violated the election clauses of the Constitution and that voting by mail creates voter fraud risks.
The 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly constitutes the electoral college Rajya Sabha elections, scheduled on June 10, and a candidate needs 42 votes to win a seat.
The term of President Pranab Mukherjee ends on July 24.
Indians living in Florida seems to have thrown their considerable weight behind Barack Obama, if one were to go by comments from a cross section of society in different parts of one of the largest swing states in the United States presidential election, with 27 electoral college votes on offer.
Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf is seeking a new five-year term in uniform on Saturday in a key poll which the Opposition has threatened to boycott to rob the General's expected victory of any credibility.
State-run PTV beamed footage on Monday afternoon of Zardari arriving at the presidential palace in the heart of the federal capital with his daughters Bakhtawar and Asifa and close aides. After some brief religious ceremonies, Zardari entered the mammoth building. He will be sworn in by Supreme Court Chief Justice Abdul Hamid Dogar during a ceremony to be held in the Aiwan-e-Sadr (presidency) at 1 pm on Tuesday.
Green-coloured ballot papers will be there for members of Parliament and pink for MLAs who vote in the election.
"Let me be clear, I may have campaigned as a Democrat but I will govern as an American president. The presidency itself is not a partisan institution; it's the one office in this nation that represents everyone. "It demands the duty and care of all and that's what I will do," Biden said.
'Most Assamese don't understand a word like ghuspethiya and its insulting connotation.'
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