The 17th Lok Sabha, which was dissolved on June 5, did not have a deputy speaker for its full term, and it was the second consecutive term of the lower house without an LoP.
With President's rule scheduled to end in Jharkhand on July 18, the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha and Congress leaders on Tuesday held talks on the possibility of formation of a government in the state.
Warning against canvassing for the December 18 phase of Jharkhand assembly polls, Maoists on Tuesday burnt the campaign vehicle of an Independent candidate contesting from Panki assembly constituency in Palamau district, the police said.
Some India states are likely to record a significantly higher number of heatwave days, according to the national weather body.
Sharad Pawar expressed surprise over the PM taking a "different stand" now.
The BJP has changed five chief ministers since 2019, including in Gujarat and Karnataka.
The state governments expressed their resolve to end the menace as India played global host to 2018 World Environment Day celebrations with the theme "Beat Plastic Pollution".
The Union Cabinet on Monday recommended President's Rule in Jharkhand. According to official sources, the Jharkhand assembly will be kept under suspended animation.The state had witnessed political uncertainty after Jharkhand Chief Minister Shibu Soren was forced to resign, in the wake of his humiliating defeat in the bypoll in Tamar constituency.
Yadav, who returned from the national capital on Thursday after a trip that lasted three days, asserted that there was "nothing new" in the summons, even as he alleged that the central agencies were acting as per the directions of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
It is unfortunate that the Congress has taken a decision of contesting the elections in alliance with the JMM without even consulting allies in the UPA government, he said.
'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
Buoyed by the Bihar assembly by-poll results, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad on Saturday met Congress President Sonia Gandhi pleading for a secular alliance for the assembly elections in Jharkhand that is due soon.
The NDA will raise its apprehensions in both Houses about the possibility of Shibu Soren government nominating an Anglo-Indian before the March 15 trial of strength in the Jharkhand Assembly, BJP deputy leader in Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj said.
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
A party, which is recognised as a 'state party' in four or more states, would be declared a 'national party', provided it keeps up that position in subsequent general election to the Lok Sabha or the assembly. The party, which has a lantern for its symbol, may lose its national party status following its poor show in last year's Jharkhand assembly polls.
Independence Day was celebrated across states and Union territories on Thursday, as several chief ministers announced job schemes while some others vowed their support for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision of a Viksit Bharat by 2047.
The second phase of polling began Saturday morning on 20 constituencies in Jharkhand, which votes in five phases to elect 81 members of the legislative assembly.
The move comes a day after the government called a special session of Parliament between September 18 and 22, the agenda for which is under wraps.
'Akhilesh Yadav made voters think why is the BJP asking for 400 paar.' 'They understood his words and believed the BJP wanted 400 paar only to demolish the Constitution and end reservations.'
Sources said senior leaders of the party have been told to reach out to other leaders of the alliance and talks with some parties have begun.
'The UP government will implement the quota for the upper castes fully without touching the reservation for other sections of society'
A special vigilance court on Tuesday sent former Jharkhand minister and Nationalist Congress Party leader Kamlesh Singh to 14-days judicial custody in connection with a disproportionate assets case.Singh, who was arrested at Hussainabad in Palamau district by the vigilance police on Monday, was produced before the court of Binoy Kant Khan.However, the court granted his plea to allow him to file nomination papers from Hussainabad assembly seat, as today is the last day.
Approximately 35 per cent voting was recorded till 1 pm on Wednesday in the first phase of elections to the 26 assembly seats in Jharkhand.Adequate security measures were put in place along with air surveillance and no untoward incidents have been reported from anywhere in the Maoist-infested tate so far.It is the second assembly election in Jharkhand after it was carved out from Bihar on November 15, 2000.
A sizeable number of MLAs from across state assemblies cross-voted in support of President-elect Droupadi Murmu, defying their parties' stated support to Opposition candidate Yashwant Sinha, sources said on Thursday.
The lack of clarity on who is next in line, when the time comes, as indeed it will one day some day, reflects poorly on the management of the world's largest political party. It scarcely need be said that a squabble between the contenders, Shah and Yogi, is exactly what the doctor ordered for the Opposition, notes Krishna Prasad.
The Jharkhand assembly was on Saturday adjourned till 2 pm after the opposition created pandemonium demanding a Central Bureau of Investigation probe into the alleged horse trading in the run up to the Rajya Sabha polls.
'The Opposition will continue to be attacked through misuse of agencies, civil society will be force-marched towards extinction and India's plummeting on global indices will continue.' 'Minorities and especially Muslims will continue to have open season declared on them. Institutions will continue their decline,' predicts Aakar Patel.
While the BJP and the Congress have always supported the bill, opposition by other parties and demands from some for quota for backward classes within the women's quota have been key sticking points.
In a major haul, security forces seized 400 kg of local explosives and over 1,700 detonators during an anti-Naxal operation in poll-bound Jharkhand on Monday.
"The governor has returned to Ranchi...so far he has not issued any order," an official source in Raj Bhavan said.
Soren also claimed that his Assam counterpart Himanta Biswa Sarma indulged in "purchase" of Jharkhand MLAs.
The biggest challenge will be to convert his regime into a coalition of minds. But given the fact that he is instinctively an authoritarian leader and supporter of the hard Hindutva line, the survival of his government will depend on his ability to balance between his heart and mind, between instinct and pragmatism, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay, author of Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times.
Voting for the second phase of Lok Sabha polls will be held on Friday for 88 seats in 13 states with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi seeking a second-straight term from Wayanad in Kerala.
The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday conducted raids on the premises of two independent members of Legislative Assembly and the relatives of several other legislators in connection with allegations of horse-trading that had led to countermanding of the March 30 Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday appointed senior advocate P S Patwalia as amicus curiae to assist it in examining whether an MP or MLA can claim immunity from criminal prosecution for taking a bribe to make a speech or vote in the legislative assembly or Parliament.
Noted constitutional expert Rajeev Dhavan said no prima-facie case was made out for the apex court to interfere with the decision of the governor who had fixed the date for the trust vote.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Madhu Koda on Tuesday smoothly sailed through a threat to his government by defeating an opposition sponsored no-confidence motion by 41-33 in the 81-member Assembly.
The Congress will begin the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra from the violence-hit Manipur on Sunday, in what is being seen as the party's bid to set the narrative in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls and put the spotlight on issues such as unemployment, price rise and social justice.
