BJP heavyweights Smriti Irani, Arjun Munda, Ajay Mishra Teni and Kailash Chaudhary were among the 13 Union ministers who tasted defeat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, as stunning losses in three Hindi heartland states forced the BJP to rely on allies to form the government.
On the eve of the counting of votes in Rajasthan, both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress have started reaching out to independent candidates, including rebels, and smaller parties.
Rajasthan Congress leaders Jyoti Mirdha and Sawai Singh Chaudhary switched to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Jaipur on Monday ahead of assembly elections due later this year.
Signalling both change and continuity, India's new government, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a third consecutive term, got into work gear on Tuesday with cabinet ministers and ministers of state filing into their respective offices to assume charge.
A first information report (FIR) was registered against 11 persons on Tuesday night and two of them have been arrested.
The government on Tuesday introduced a constitutional amendment bill reserving 33 per cent seats for women in the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, reviving a proposal pending for years and blending history, politics and societal imperatives on the first day in the new Parliament building.
The election management committee and the election manifesto committee were formed by the party's national president J P Nadda.
Both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha committees had recommended that their suspension be withdrawn after they expressed regret for their conduct during the Winter session when their relentless protests prompted the Chairs to take action.
The Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power in Rajasthan on Sunday, winning 115 seats out of the 199 where assembly elections were held last week.
Eight Union ministers, two former chief ministers and one ex-governor are among those who are set to test their electoral fate in the first phase of elections on April 19 when 102 seats across 21 states and Union territories will go to polls.
Here is the complete list of ministers in Modi 3.0 and their portfolios:
Over 65 Union ministers are likely to take oath, going by the visual of the meeting Modi held with his likely council of ministers.
Rajya Sabha on Tuesday passed a bill to regulate the appointment and service terms of Chief Election Commissioner and election commissioners incorporating key amendments like retaining their status at par with Supreme Court judges, upgrading the search committee and inserting a new clause to protect them from court cases while discharging their official duties.
The top court collegium headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud had on July 5 recommended the appointment of Justice Mridul, a judge of the Delhi high court, as the chief justice of the Manipur high court, amid the ethnic turmoil in the border state.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will present the Interim Budget on February 1 ahead of the Lok Sabha elections likely to be held in April-May.
The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in Rajasthan will meet in Jaipur on Tuesday to formally pick the next chief minister of the state, ending days of suspense after the party won the assembly elections.
Such a legislation, the panel said, should be made applicable not only to the NRIs but also to those individuals who come within the definition of 'Overseas Citizens of India' as laid down in the Citizenship Act, 1955.
Though the MLAs termed it a courtesy meeting, they said they will support Raje if the party leadership chooses her for the post in the state.
The Union Cabinet on Tuesday gave its nod to the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi (Amendment) Bill, which will replace the ordinance promulgated by the Centre on May 19.
Voters include 8.4 crore men, 8.23 crore women and 11,371 from third gender. There are as many as 35.67 lakh first time voters, besides 3.51 crore young voters in the age group of 20-29 years.
With the party fielding three Union ministers, besides four other MPs, as candidates in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, it may continue with the strategy in Rajasthan.
Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Khanna said the court has rejected all the petitions, including those seeking resorting back to ballot papers in elections.
A high-level committee to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, held its first meeting in New Delhi on Saturday and decided to invite political parties and the Law Commission to seek their views on holding synchronised polls in the country, a statement said.
A day after the Bharatiya Janata Party scored big wins in three assembly polls, talk within the party shifted to the likely chief ministerial picks in these states, with senior leaders holding discussions on Monday.
In veiled criticism of the Ashok Gehlot government on Tuesday, Congress leader Sachin Pilot called for zero tolerance to incidents like the recent killing of a Dalit boy and called for action against local officials for an alleged lathi-charge on the victim's family.
Rajsamand MP Diya Kumari and Jaipur Rural MP Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore are among the seven BJP parliamentarians who will contest the Rajasthan Assembly polls, according to the first list of 41 candidates issued by the party on Monday.
A high-level committee on Thursday recommended simultaneous elections for Lok Sabha and state assemblies as the first step followed by synchronised local body polls within 100 days.
Opposition parties Nationalist Congress Party and Samajwadi Party on Wednesday demanded reservation for OBCs in the women's reservation bill and questioned the reason for calling a special session when the bill cannot be implemented before census and delimitation.
First-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma was sworn in as the chief minister of Rajasthan at a ceremony attended by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party's top leadership on Friday, 12 days after the party ousted the Congress in the assembly polls.
Kiren Rijiju's exit from the coveted law ministry came in the midst of his frequent criticism of the judiciary, particularly on the system of appointment of judges to high courts and the Supreme Court.
Once more women assume leadership roles and join the nation-building process, he said, adding they will become a guarantee of the country's bright future.
The panel headed by Justice (retired) Ritu Raj Awasthi has submitted its report to the government, calling for an exhaustive overhaul of the law.
A nine-year-old Dalit boy died on Saturday allegedly after he was beaten up by a teacher for touching a drinking water pot in a private school in Jalore district of Rajasthan, police said.
The CJI said there is an urgent need to emerge from the adjournment culture to a culture of professionalism.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Wednesday alleged that the words 'secular' and 'socialist' were missing from the Preamble in the copies of the Constitution given to lawmakers on the opening day of the new Parliament building.
Union Minister of State Kailash Chaudhary was among the first to cast his vote, exercising his franchise in Balotra.
The appointments were announced by new Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal on Twitter.
Two ministers who raised the banner of revolt with former deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot during the political crisis also find their names in the list.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam MP D N V Senthil Kumar on Wednesday apologised in the Lok Sabha for his controversial 'north-south divide' remark which had sparked a backlash.
