A day after the Election Commission rejected the petition filed by the P A Sangma camp objecting to the nomination of Pranab Mukherjee, the UPA Presidential candidate on Thursday said it was now a closed chapter.
Even as focus is on Pranab Mukherjee and P A Sangma in coming Presidential polls, nomination papers have already been filed by 26 others who represent varied background -- from autorickshaw driver to tea vendor.
As the race for the President reaches it non-exciting climax, it is clear that no political constituent is winning with dignity, says Sheela Bhatt.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party announcing support to P A Sangma pitting him against UPA Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee, the Trinamool Congress said its chief Mamata Banerjee was keeping a close watch and the party would take an 'appropriate decision at the appropriate time'.
The National Democratic Alliance on Thursday got another jolt in the Presidential race with the Janata Dal-United becoming the second NDA ally after Shiv Sena to break ranks with Bharatiya Janata Party to support United Progressive Alliance candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
As many as 4,896 lawmakers -- 776 MPs and 4,120 MLAs -- are eligible to vote in Parliament and state assemblies. The total vote value is 10.98 lakh and a winning candidate needs to get 5,49,442 vote value if all of them exercise franchise.
Rasheed Kidwai, associate editor of The Telegraph newspaper who is the author of Sonia: A biography and 24 Akbar Road, made an exclusive appearance on Rediff Chat on Monday where he fielded wide-ranging questions about the Presidential poll. Here is the transcript from the chat..
At least 72 per cent of MPs and MLAs across the country on Thursday voted to elect a new President in a race in which United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee is set to win with a huge margin over P A Sangma who is backed by some opposition parties.
The Sena has repeatedly said that its choice for the the highest office is the RSS chief.
Nearly 100 Raj Bhavan staff petitioned President Pranab Mukherjee, the Prime Minister and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh seeking their intervention to remove the Governor and restore the dignity of Raj Bhavan.
The first session of the newly-constituted 16th Lok Sabha will be held from June 4 to June 11 with President Pranab Mukherjee addressing the joint sitting of both Houses on June 9.
Thackeray not only attended a meeting of National Democratic Alliance partners on Monday night, but also had separate talks with BJP president Amit Shah during which the two leaders discussed a host of issues, and agreed to meet more often for better coordination, a senior BJP leader, who was present during the confabulations, said.
Kovind may bag over 62 per cent votes but fall short of the 69 per cent votes polled by incumbent Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
The ceremony will be held at the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The Congress chief has already held talks with several opposition leaders including Nitish Kumar and Sharad Yadav of the Janata Dal-United, Nationalist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar and Left leaders Sitaram Yechury and D Raja, besides Indian Union Muslim League general secretary P K Kunhalikkutty.
The Bihar CM may be in the Opposition but his endorsement of Ram Nath Kovind, the NDA's presidential candidate, is among the many recent decisions that puts him apart from the others.
Justice Gogoi will be sworn in as the next CJI on October 3, a day after Justice Misra's tenure ends.
No one else filed papers till Sunday, according to Mullapally Ramachandran, the chairman of the party's Central Election Authority.
Shiv Sena on Sunday made it clear that it won't make any more concession for BJP, offering to cede it only 119 out of the total 288 seats in Maharashtra Assembly for the next month's polls, and said this was "the final attempt" to break the logjam over seat-sharing.
Going by precedence, the 15th presidential election scheduled to be held on July 17 this year will see a contest, notwithstanding the frenetic political confabulations for a consensus candidate.
Aseem Chhabra picks the finest Indian films in the 2010-2019 decade.
Ahead of Bihar Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi's floor test, Assembly Speaker Uday Narayan Chaudhary on Thursday granted the status of principal opposition party to the Janata Dal-United in place of the Bharatiya Janata Party, which slammed the move as "arbitrary".
'Whether she will remain CPP chairperson or not, that she will decide.'
From hobnobbing with the likes of Jacqueline Kennedy and Mick Jagger, the reclusive author-turned-politician has come a long way, says Anita Katiyal
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