Counting of votes will be held today in Jammu and Kashmir and Jharkhand which witnessed a record turnout in the multi-cornered contests to elect their assemblies.
With the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha announcing its decision to withdraw support to Arjun Munda-led Bharatiya Janata Party government in Jharkhand, the prospect of a ninth government in 12 years is looming large over the state created on November 15, 2000.
The Aam Aadmi Party on Sunday said Tihar authorities were 'lying' about specialist doctors examining Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, while his wife Sunita Kejriwal alleged that he was being denied insulin for diabetes as 'they want to kill' him.
The victims have been identified as Sushil Nag, Ghatsila circle inspector, his driver and two activists of the Nagarik Suraksha Samiti, an anti-extremism outfit floated by villagers and supported by the district police.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Jharkhand faced embarrassment on Thursday when their candidate S S Ahluwalia lost the Rajya Sabha elections, which was held afresh after being countermanded earlier as the Congress and Jharkhand Mukti Morcha bagged the two seats.
Speaker Inder Singh Namdhari on Thursday had announced the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance government under controversial circumstances.
Scenes from day two of the Opposition conclave in Bengaluru on Tuesday, July 18, 2023.
Sixty-eight Rajya Sabha members, including nine Union ministers, are completing their tenure this year, triggering a race of sorts among leaders across political parties to eye a six-year term in the Upper House of Parliament.
Kejriwal said that the ordinance must be defeated collectively in Parliament where it is likely to come up for voting as a law in the forthcoming session.
Leaders of the West Bengal Congress unit, which has an alliance with the CPI-M-led Left Front in the state, were seen welcoming the Left leaders.
Long queues were seen at outpatient department ticket counters in government hospitals, where senior doctors joined their junior colleagues in the protest.
Bharatiya Janata Party veteran L K Advani on Tuesday backed party leader Yashwant Sinha saying he is the 'right person' to be chief minister and suggested that he should leave jail after securing bail to lead the 'historic agitation' against power crisis in Jharkhand.
The party's decision, however, does not threaten the government's stability.
The Palamau Express derailed on Tuesday evening after suspected Maoists blew up a stretch of railway tracks in Latehar district but no casualty or injury was reported.
High voter turnout was recorded in most of the seven assembly constituencies in six states where by-elections were held on Tuesday.
Police has also taken a man into custody for interrogation.
As the raids were completed, the I-T team took two managers of the distillery located at Sutapada to an unknown location for interrogation, they said.
All five RJD members abstained from voting, while Enos Ekka of Jharkhand Party, Independent Harinarayan Rai, Congress' Gopal Nath Sahadeo and Arup Chatterjee of the Marxist Coordination Committee were absent.
The impending expulsion of Trinamool Congress (TMC) member Mahua Moitra from the Lok Sabha, three bills to replace criminal laws and a proposed law for the appointment of election commissioners are issues set to dominate the Winter Session of Parliament, with the government urging the Opposition to ensure a conducive environment for discussions in the House.
As per a letter sent to the MLAs by the assembly secretariat, the chief minister has expressed his willingness to move a motion of confidence to prove his majority.
Political parties were bracing for the assembly election results on Thursday in the crucial state of Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and politically volatile Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur, sending out feelers for possible post-poll tie-ups.
The Congress president also came down heavily on the BJP over the Adani issue.
With 18 assembly seats in his kitty, Jharkhand Mukti Morcha chief Shibu Soren on Thursday said the results indicated his popularity and expressed his desire to form the government in Jharkhand, which has given a fractured verdict. "The JMM is the single largest party and I should be given the chance to form the government," said Soren, who has emerged as the king-maker after the results of the state assembly polls were declared on Wednesday.
"Only 38 MLAs (in the 82-member House) favour dissolution of the House while others favour formation of government. So allow us some more time as we are holding talks with other parties," sources quoted Soren as having told the governor.
He denied speculations that the three ministers, who appear to be switching sides to the UPA to topple his government, have faxed their resignations to the governor.
With the Income Tax department recovering over Rs 225 crore cash during a series of raids on an Odisha-based distillery group on charges of tax evasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday assured the people that the money looted from the public will be returned.
According to insiders, their lack of enthusiasm is showing on the ground. There is nothing to suggest that their enthusiasm will return in the final four phases of polling, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
The four-day-old Arjun Munda government in Jharkhand won the trust vote in the 82-member Assembly by 15 votes.Forty five members voted in favour of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition and 30 against.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Days after Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda was booed by the BJP activists during a rally attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren too faced a similar situation when hundreds of BJP supporters jeered at him and shouted anti-government slogans on Thursday.
A top Maoist leader, allegedly involved in the killing of five policemen and subversive activities ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, was arrested on Thursday in Latehar district of Jharkhand.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to re-examine its 1998 judgment granting MPs and MLAs immunity from prosecution for taking bribe to make a speech or vote in Parliament or state legislatures.
The ceremony was attended by Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, Home Minister Amit Shah and the family members of Advani, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a post on X.
The Commission, under Justice (retd) Ritu Raj Awasthi, would recommend an amendment to the Constitution to add the "new chapter or part" on simultaneous elections, the sources said.
The bandh, which began at post midnight on Wednesday is in protest against the reported arrest of Maoist cadres in neighbouring Odisha.
This is a one-sided electoral understanding without taking the RJD into confidence, party's national spokesman Sanjay Paswan said.
Hansda's name will be proposed when JMM supremo Shibu Soren meets UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi shortly, the JMM central committee decided on Thursday night, party sources said. "My name has been added to the list as I am the only woman MLA in JMM and a four-time MLA," Hansda told media persons.
