Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin has announced the formation of a panel headed by a retired Supreme Court judge to study the relationship between the Union and state governments and ensure state autonomy. The panel, which will submit its interim report in January 2026 and its final report in two years, will examine the transfer of subjects from the State List to the Concurrent List, citing the National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test (NEET) as an example of a subject outside state purview.
Uddhav Thackeray criticized BJP MP Nishikant Dubey for his controversial remarks amid the Marathi-Hindi language row, accusing him of trying to divide people and disturb harmony.
'Prashant Kishor is a businessman before he is a politician, and given that the expected average turnout for JSP candidates is 5,000 to 6,000 votes and since Bihar has a significant number of seats where the margin between the winner and runner-up falls within that range he will capitalise on exactly that to showcase his presence.'
In more than one way, it's a setback for the DMK and Chief Minister Stalin in political terms. The electoral fall-out, if any, will have to wait until the next summer, only when assembly elections are due in the state, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The governments of Tamil Nadu and Punjab have moved the Supreme Court alleging delay by the state governors in giving assent to bills passed by the respective state assemblies.
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.
Voting for the bypolls in Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar and Tamil Nadu were held on Wednesday.
In focus are the assembly polls in 2026. From a BJP perspective, their attack on the ruling DMK, using the 'Hindutva' card, and Annamalai's targeting of both Dravidian majors on corruption has not worked, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The value of the vote of a member of Parliament has gone down to 700 from 708 in the presidential poll scheduled for July 18 due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir.
The bench said the report submitted by the special judge indicates that he has 29 cases with him. In many cases, the trial has begun while in many others the trial is yet to begin.
Parliament's approval of the Waqf (Amendment) Bill, a contentious piece of legislation aimed at reforming Waqf bodies, has sparked strong reactions from the opposition, who allege that the bill was "bulldozed" through Parliament. The bill, considered the government's most consequential legislation in its third term, was passed with comfortable majorities in both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha despite opposition claims of a lack of consultation and an intrusion into religious affairs. Other notable bills approved during the session included the Finance Bill, Appropriation Bill, Immigration and Foreigners Bill, and Tribhuvan Sahkari University Bill. The session, which saw high productivity, also witnessed debates on issues such as economic distress, delimitation, and the three-language policy. While the government touted its achievements, the opposition criticized the government's approach and vowed to challenge the Waqf bill in court.
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.
A bench comprising justices J B Pardiwala and R Mahadevan on April 8 gave a huge relief to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam-led Tamil Nadu government and cleared 10 state bills which were stalled and reserved by Governor R N Ravi for President's consideration, and also set a timeline for all governors to act on the bills passed by state assemblies.
The BJP often forgets that in Dravidian Tamil Nadu, the voter does not mix religion, which is personal, and politics that is in the public sphere, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The electoral exercise, the first since the Lok Sabha elections, will decide the fate of many veterans and some debutantes including Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu's wife Kamlesh Thakur.
The chief minister underscored the back-to-back suicide deaths of a son and his father on August 12 and 13 respectively due to the stress of NEET.
This article traces the history of the DMK's fight for state autonomy, beginning with C.N. Annadurai's advocacy in the 1960s and culminating in M. Karunanidhi's resolution in the Tamil Nadu Assembly in 1974. The article highlights the key figures involved, the arguments presented, and the impact of the Rajamannar Committee Report.
In a significant development, the Supreme Court on Friday agreed to consider the separate pleas of opposition-ruled Kerala and West Bengal, alleging the denial of assent to bills passed by the respective legislative assemblies.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
The state government said these bills had been pending with the governor for as long as about two years and his action "subverted" the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence "ineffective and otiose".
Given the possibilities that next year's assembly elections could throw up, Stalin told the state assembly that an interim report had to be submitted by January 2026. The outcomes may well find its way into the DMK's poll manifesto, thus seeking to keep the electoral focus still on the BJP-ruled Centre and Prime Minister Modi, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Thursday asserted that Marathi is the language of Mumbai and Maharashtra and anyone who lives here should learn and speak it. Fadnavis was speaking in the state assembly after Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav said the government should clarify its stand on senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Suresh Bhaiyyaji Joshi's comments that a person coming to Mumbai may not necessarily learn Marathi.
The actor-turned-politician did not suffer any injury in the incident.
The mortal remains of 29 people who died till Thursday were handed over to their relatives and the bodies were either buried or cremated, Kallakurichi District Collector Prasanth M S said.
'The new Waqf bill sows the seed for conflict in every town and village of India.'
Thirty four people belonging to Kallakurichi district have died following consumption of 'methanol mixed arrack', Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin said on Thursday.
First-time MLA Rekha Gupta will be the new chief minister of Delhi, capping 11 days of suspense over who will get the top post after the Bharatiya Janata Party returned to power after over 26 years ending the 10-year rule of the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
Two Opposition Dravida Munettra Kazhagam members of Legislative Assembly were evicted from Tamil Nadu Assembly following a heated exchange of words with rival All India Anna Dravida Munetra Kazhagam legislators.
The Supreme Court on Monday deferred the hearing on the Tamil Nadu government's plea alleging delay by Governor R N Ravi in granting assent to bills passed by the state assembly to December 1.
The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to consider a plea of the Tamil Nadu government against the refusal of Governor RN Ravi to appoint senior DMK leader K Ponmudi as a minister in the state cabinet.
Postal ballot facility for eligible overseas Indian electors cannot be extended for the upcoming assembly polls as the matter is still under discussion with the Ministry of External Affairs to iron out logistical challenges in implementing the proposal, Lok Sabha was informed.
The manner in which Members of Legislative Assembly spent their funds during the recent four-state assembly elections is something that needs to be looked into.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam chief Jayalalithaa is disqualified from contesting elections for ten years, the Tamil Nadu government has said in a gazette notification.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday approved the proposal for 'one nation, one Election' as recommended by the Kovind panel, Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw said on Wednesday.
A PIL petition was filed on Tuesday in the Madras high court seeking to forbid the Tamil Nadu government from shifting the state secretariat and assembly from the complex built by the previous Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam government to Fort St George. The petition also sought an interim injunction restraining the authorities from shifting the state secretariat and the legislative assembly from the present location.
Looks like all political parties have thrown caution to the winds where 33 per cent reservation for women is concerned. Take the examples of Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal which recently went to polls.
Rulers in New Delhi and their political aides in sensitive states like Tamil Nadu have to be doubly careful not to provoke a situation whose consequences may be much more than visible now to the naked eye, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Stalin said one cannot and should not decide the mood of the entire country based on the results of one state elections.
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