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.
The counting was scheduled to start at 5 pm Friday, but it could not be taken up as the Bharatiya Janata Party approached the Election Commission alleging violation of rules by three MLAs of the state's ruling alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Rajendra Gudha, Sandeep Yadav, Wajib Ali, Lakhan Meena, (Bahujan Samaj Party turned Congress MLAs), Girraj Singh Malinga and Khiladi Lal Bairwa met Gehlot, the sources said.
Veteran party leader Anil Vij will seek re-election from his Ambala Cantt stronghold.
The 31-year-old US-educated Yaduveer was crowned as the titular head of the erstwhile Mysuru royal family on May 28, 2015, making him the 27th 'King' of the Wadiyar dynasty.
Rajya Sabha MP Kapil Sibal on Friday described the electoral bonds scheme as a 'very big scam' and demanded that a special investigation team (SIT) be set up with court-appointed officials to probe the alleged quid pro quo and wrongdoings under it.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
'They are fighting it out, but they have deeply traumatised; they are alive and they are carrying on in life.'
In the wake of communal violence in West Bengal and Bihar, Sibal had on Sunday questioned the "silence" of Prime Minister Modi over the matter, and said "let not 2024 general elections be the reason" for the violence.
Amid criticism that the Congress had given a walkover to Irani in Amethi, sources said, the party in its wisdom believed that Rae Bareli's historical, emotional and electoral importance for the Gandhi family was higher than that of Amethi.
Generally, before adjourning the house sine die the chair reads out the statistics about the business transacted in the house in detail.
Rajya Sabha MP Subhash Chandra on Tuesday filed his nomination from Rajasthan for the elections to the Upper House of Parliament as an Independent backed by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Wednesday took potshots at the rival Shiv Sena over its minister not finding a place in the reconstituted NITI Aayog.
Union ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and Piyush Goyal, Randeep Surjewala and Jairam Ramesh of the Congress and Shiv Sena's Sanjay Raut were among the 16 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha from four states where polling was held on Friday after tussle over cross voting and alleged breach of election rules delayed the counting by around eight hours in Maharashtra and Haryana.
All legislators of the Sena have been summoned to Mumbai and they will stay together till the polls on June 10.
Both the BJP and the Congress have banked on new and young faces, some of whom have been nominated by the parties for the first time.
The counting of votes for the Rajya Sabha elections was delayed on Friday in Maharashtra and Haryana over alleged violation of rules, officials said.
In a recent letter to TRAI, Reddy claimed the Andhra Pradesh Cable TV Operators Association took these four channels off air due to alleged coercion by the TDP-led government in the state.
The BJP on Wednesday also named its in-charges for assembly bypolls to four seats in Tripura.
Several opposition leaders and some lawyers of the Supreme Court reacted sharply to Modi attending the puja at the CJI's residence.
Talking to reporters in Kolhapur, Raut said Malik is paying the price for exposing the farce behind the case and the real face of the BJP.
Even before the first votes are counted in Maharashtra, fissures have emerged within the ruling Mahayuti and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) on who will head the next government. Both camps are claiming the chief minister's post, with constituents in both camps laying claim over the chief minister's post. The MVA, consisting of the Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP), and the Mahayuti, comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP, have expressed confidence that their respective alliance will form the next government after votes are counted on Saturday. While a majority of exit polls have predicted that Mahayuti will retain power, a few have favored the MVA.
The Supreme Court has sought details from the Allahabad High Court regarding controversial statements made by Justice Shekhar Kumar Yadav at a VHP function. The development comes amid calls for action against the judge for his remarks, which have been labeled as hate speech by some. The judge's statements were made at a VHP function on December 8, where he spoke about the Uniform Civil Code and the law working according to the majority. Several individuals and organizations, including lawyer Prashant Bhushan and CPI(M) leader Brinda Karat, have called for an inquiry into the judge's conduct and for his removal from judicial duties.
According to a senior Election Commission official in Chandigarh, Panwar got 36 votes, while Sharma got 23 first preference votes and six transferred from the BJP, taking his tally to 29.
The prime minister's insistence that his voice cannot be suppressed left me both puzzled and amused. He has at his call, the government's official news dissemination/publicity channels, the pliant newspapers and television channels that were eager to prostrate themselves before a powerful government and yet, the dominant voice thinks it is in competition with other voices! exclaims Shyam G Menon.
The ceremony to inaugurate the new Parliament building will begin with an early morning havan and a multi-religion prayer on Sunday followed by a formal opening in the Lok Sabha chamber by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The tumultuous Winter session of Parliament ended on Wednesday a day before schedule with proceedings in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha marred by repeated disruptions by the opposition over which the government and the Congress traded charges and the presiding officers expressed their anguish at the conduct of some MPs.
The seat got vacant after the death of Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha MP Madan Lal Saini in June. Rajasthan has 10 Rajya Sabha seats.
Political temperatures were soaring in several states that could see close contests, with parties trying to keep their flock together and trading accusations of poaching of MLAs.
Initiating the debate from the opposition's side in the Lok Sabha, Gandhi said, "I stand here in support of Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam."
Singh, a veteran Congress leader, was a member of the Upper House of Parliament from Assam for almost three decades.
The Congress accused the Centre of making a serious assault on the basic structure of the Constitution, saying the action subsumes the independence of the judiciary.
Whether Rajeev Chandrasekhar wins or not, Thiruvananthapuram will likely never see such an interesting contest again.
Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader Sanjay Raut has been booked on the charge of sedition and other offences for writing an objectionable article against Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the party mouthpiece Saamana, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The Congress has accused the Bharatiya Janata Party of trying to break the opposition party to win the Rajya Sabha polls.
Samajwadi Party MP R K Chaudhary's demand to replace the Sengol installed next to the Lok Sabha Speaker's chair with a copy of the Constitution triggered a war of words on Thursday, with opposition leaders backing him, and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party castigating him for 'disrespecting' Indian and Tamil culture.
'Although there is a visible dent in TMC's urban votes, especially among women, the CPI-M and the BJP are unlikely to benefit from this'
The political crisis arose in Himachal Pradesh during the recently held polling for the Rajya Sabha elections as nine MLAs, including six Congress rebels and three independents, voted in favour of BJP candidate Harsh Mahajan.
Tabled by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai, the legislation will reverse the effect of the Supreme Court verdict in May that gave the Delhi government power over administrative services.
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.
