Ramesh said the current limit of 50 percent is not explicitly mandated by the Constitution, but has been decided through various Supreme Court decisions.
Election strategist-turned-politician Prashant Kishor has predicted that JD(U) president Nitish Kumar will contest the upcoming assembly polls in Bihar in alliance with the BJP but may switch sides later, with hopes for another term as the chief minister. Kishor, founder of the Jan Suraaj Party, also asserted that Kumar's popularity has declined and he is unlikely to win a fifth consecutive term. He challenged the BJP to declare Kumar as the chief ministerial candidate, arguing that they would struggle to win seats if they did so. Kishor also criticized Kumar's leadership, accusing him of being "physically tired and mentally retired" and of "bringing disrepute to Bihar" by touching Prime Minister Narendra Modi's feet. He said his new party will enter the fray to pull Bihar "out of the political rut" and that the state's much-touted prohibition policy is an example of the BJP's duplicity.
All-party parliamentary delegations on Monday met with the leaders of several countries and highlighted India's resolve to combat terrorism, which they stressed must be eradicated in the interests of all humanity.
Nishant Kumar's demand that the NDA name Nitish Kumar as its chief ministerial nominee is seen as a gambit to consolidate the CM's position in the ruling alliance.
Introducing the bill, Rijiju said the consultation process of the Joint Parliamentary Committee (JPC) was the largest ever exercise carried out by a parliamentary panel in India's democratic history.
'Muslims in Bihar under Nitishji's rule are safest than anywhere else.'
The Janata Dal-United state unit in Manipur has withdrawn support to the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Biren Singh government and the party has informed its decision to governor Ajay Kumar Bhalla.
'When voting clause by clause on Waqf came up in the JPC, the TDP and JD-U supported the BJP on each and every clause.'
In a significant move, the Centre on Wednesday announced that caste enumeration will be part of the next population census, with the inclusion of caste details for the first time since independence hailed by the Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies as a historic step to help design truly equitable and focused policies.
Lalu's son and heir apparent Tejashwi Yadav, however, sought to downplay the remarks made by his father, in an interview to a local news channel, claiming that the RJD supremo had merely tried to satisfy the curiosity of the prying media.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Tuesday thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Centre's decision to confer Bharat Ratna on his political mentor Karpoori Thakur.
The two 'One Nation One Election' (ONOE) bills, including one requiring an amendment in the Constitution, that lay down the mechanism to hold simultaneous elections were introduced in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday after a fiery debate.
The increased numbers of the Opposition bloc would mean that their MPs are likely to head several more panels than the four that they did by the end of the term of the 17th Lok Sabha.
The National People's Party (NPP) has withdrawn support from the BJP-led government in Manipur, citing the government's failure to resolve the ongoing crisis and restore normalcy in the state. The NPP, which has 7 MLAs in the Manipur Assembly, made the decision after recent incidents of violence and protests in the state. The BJP continues to hold a majority in the Assembly, with 32 legislators, and the withdrawal of support is not expected to affect the government's stability.
Bharatiya Janata Party's National Democratic Alliance partners have got five cabinet ministerial berths in the third term of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as against none in the outgoing government, given the party's dependence on allies for a majority in the Lok Sabha.
A sudden surge in political attacks in Bihar has stunned leaders of both the ruling National Democratic Alliance and the Opposition Mahagathbandhan.
'We used to discuss how image-conscious Nitish Kumar was and his sophisticated conduct in public life. All this has become a thing of the past.'
Ahead of senior BJP leader Narendra D Modi's election rally in Karakat on May 25 to support National Democratic Alliance candidate Upendar Kushwaha, the BJP finally acted against Pawan Singh, who refused to withdraw from the fray.
The preferred format would be for the top BJP leadership in the government to reach out to the alliance leaders on a case-to-case basis.
A careful calculation of the BJP's support base seems to have been at work in the cabinet expansion that took place a day after the party's national president chaired a meeting of the "core group" here.
Singh was JD-U president when the party was part of the INDIA bloc and used to accompany Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar to the coalition's meetings.
The ruling National Democratic Alliance in Bihar on Monday sparred with the opposition Rashtriya Janata Dal over items allegedly stolen from a government bungalow recently vacated by Tejashwi Yadav, to whom it was allotted while he was the state's deputy chief minister.
What some of our leaders were up to this week.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday snubbed the Rashtriya Janata Dal, headed by his arch-rival Lalu Prasad Yadav, stating that he had forged alliances 'by mistake' with the opposition party which 'did nothing' while in power.
There are challenges galore before him, and it is not going to be easy. In the next four years, he has to conjure a system that changes the optics about him and the BJP both nationally and internationally so that he can ride back on his own, claim the top slot, and not have to lean on a coalition, asserts Ramesh Menon as Modi 3.0 completes a year in power.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday termed his past alliances with arch rival Lalu Prasad Yadav's Rashtriya Janata Dal as a 'mistake' that he committed twice but was determined not to repeat again.
'If his health was good he would have become CM again after polls.' 'Those who are with Nitish Babu today will remain with him till the elections to use his name for votes and would definitely play games with him after the polls.'
BJP's IT department head Amit Malviya said there is a certain propriety and protocol one associates with these all-party meetings.
It is a double century with a difference for the cricketer turned politician, who is the lead campaigner for the Opposition Mahagathbandhan in the state.
Despite the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance throwing all its weight to snatch Jharkhand from the hands of a Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-headed coalition, the saffron camp suffered a debacle leaving the party's rank and file wondering what had gone wrong.
'We made a mistake. We misunderstood. Now all is well.'
'The RJD is a family centric party and its top leadership's main concern is only to promote the family.'
UP's representation in the government could diminish, given the BJP's decreased seat count in that state.
'There is also a possibility that Andhra Pradesh may demand a similar package. But as of now, we are only working on a package for Bihar.'
'The merger is undemocratic. Leaders have flouted the party (JD-U) constitution,' says Devendra Prasad Yadav, a JD-U member of Parliament.
The mother of Janata Dal-United MLA Kh Joykishan Singh in Manipur has lodged a complaint, alleging that Rs 18 lakh in cash and jewellery items worth Rs 1.5 crore were looted by a mob that vandalised the legislator's residence on November 16, police said on Thursday.
Polling for the seventh phase of the Lok Sabha elections will take place on Saturday, June 1, 2024, with 57 seats going to the polls across 8 states.
The deceased has been identified as Saurav Kumar. Another person accompanying him, Munmun Kumar, was injured in the firing, they said.
The RJD, which emerged as the single largest party in the 2020 assembly polls, ended up in the opposition since the Mahagathbandhan, which includes Congress and three Left parties, fell short of a majority.
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