'All those who participated in the agitation were branded as anti-nationals.'
The Centre told the Supreme Court on Wednesday that almost every country, including India, was grappling with the problem of use of black money in elections and the electoral bonds scheme was a "conscious attempt" to eradicate the menace of "unclean money" in the poll process.
The Election Commission has written to heads of recognised political parties saying that it has created a fund in which fines for contempt of court can be deposited for failing to comply with the apex court's directions.
'Legalised election betting would drive black money and satta operators out of business while creating a more level and transparent playing field for politics,' argues Devangshu Datta.
Never before has the BJP faced such a crisis over the nomination of the Chief Minister as it is facing now, discovers Prakash Bhandari, veteran observer of Rajasthan politics.
The Supreme Court of India on Wednesday said the problem with electoral bonds scheme is that it provides for "selective anonymity" and "selective confidentiality" as the details are available with the State Bank of India (SBI) and can also be accessed by the law enforcement agencies.
'We need to be far more careful given the fact that while this is group lending, it's essentially unsecured.'
The Aam Aadmi Party has told the Supreme Court that it has not 'encroached' the land of the Delhi high court at Rouse Avenue in New Delhi and that the space was allotted to it in 2015.
Party treasurer Ajay Maken has claimed that "democracy will be over if the action of probe agencies goes unchecked" and said the Congress has full faith in the judiciary.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has summoned Trinamool Congress MP Abhishek Banerjee to appear before it in Kolkata on November 9 in connection with the alleged school jobs scam, a TMC leader said on Wednesday.
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.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa, ousted as the president of Sri Lanka in a popular public uprising in 2022, on Thursday hinted that India was keen on his continuation despite the growing public discontent against him at the behest of certain Western powers.
Noting that the assembly election results being very disappointing is an understatement, the Congress Parliamentary Party chairperson urged party MPs to channel their disappointment into positivity for next year's general elections.
The meeting between Jaishankar and Zameer in the Ugandan capital city of Kampala came amid an unease in the Maldives' bilateral ties with India.
The BJP also promised Rs 25,000 to girls from economically weaker sections under the 'Rani Gaidinliu Nupi Maheiroi Singi Scheme' if voted back to power.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman is likely to step up efforts to boost consumption and rural economy while keeping inflation under check when she presents her sixth straight Budget on February 1. Experts said one way to boost consumption is to put more money in the hands of people, and one of the possible ways of doing it is by reducing the tax burden through tinkering with tax slabs or increasing the standard deduction. Another proposal is related to increasing the funds under the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA and higher payout for farmers.
The dealers operating in the space have jumped nearly three times over the past two years.
People aware of the development said, Law Secretary Niten Chandra, Legislative Secretary Reeta Vasishta and others met Kovind this afternoon to understand how he would like to go about the agenda before the committee.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
The 78-year-old Naveen is on the cusp of creating history. He must win the forthcoming Assembly polls to become India's longest-serving chief minister, a record held by Sikkim's Pawan Kumar Chamling.
Speaking to reporters in Thane, Pawar accused the Narendra Modi government of failing to fulfil any of the promises made by it since 2014 including bringing 'acche din, connecting villages through the internet, and providing toilets, water, and power to every household'.
India on Thursday said it remains committed to take forward its development agenda with the Maldives, including implementation of various welfare projects in the island nation.
The Indian government sources said Muizzu, in the meeting, brought up the issue of Indian military personnel present in the Maldives for operating aircraft for medical evacuation and to counter drug trafficking.
Why is the RBI harsh on Paytm Payments Bank? Why did it give Rana Kapoor of Yes Bank Ltd such a long rope?Often, it's a long investigation process, but the RBI doesn't discuss this openly since that can threaten financial sector stability, explains Tamal Bandyopadhyay.
The State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
Trinamool Congress is the second highest recipient of political donations through electoral bonds.
tailwinds of a remarkable year and handsome investor returns, Indian equities are set for an eventful journey in 2024, with a slew of local and global cues -- varying from interest rates to Lok Sabha polls to geopolitical happenings. Analysts are of the view that the bull run in the domestic equity market will continue, and over the next 3-6 months, the benchmark indices -- Sensex and Nifty -- could climb up to 7 per cent. In 2023, the 30-share BSE Sensex jumped 11,399.52 points or 18.73 per cent, and the NSE Nifty climbed 3,626.1 points or 20 per cent.
What some of our leaders were up to on Thursday, October 5, 2023.
To understand Modi, listen to what he does not say -- vide NRC, suggests Prem Panicker.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday morning raided the premises of Aam Aadmi Party MP Sanjay Singh in connection with the Delhi excise policy-linked money laundering case, officials said.
'They are happy for the Hindu community as Ram Lalla is consecrated in Ayodhya.'
Kakar, a lawmaker belonging to Balochistan Awami Party (BAP), will lead a caretaker government until a new election later this year.
The ED made this claim while seeking the 62-year-old Nationalist Congres Party leader's custody for interrogation in the money laundering probe linked to the activities of Ibrahim and his aides.
According to DMK, the voters are already consolidated on ideological lines, hence the impact of anti-incumbency, whether against the BJP Centre or the DMK state may not be too much, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
While no specific state-oriented sops were rolled out, a strong thread of political wellness ran through the Budget.
Nineteen political parties, including the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress, received over Rs 1,100 crore during assembly polls in five states and Union territories in 2021 and spent over Rs 500 crore, a big chunk of which went towards advertisements and travel expenses for star campaigners, a study said on Friday.
Modi wants the BJP to gets an additional 10% of the vote share from what it won in 2019. Plans are afoot to get new faces to replace MPs with poor chances of winning. Sources say more than 100 MPs are like to be axed, notes Modi biographer Ramesh Menon.
Calling China's one-child norm "barbaric", top Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney has vowed to cut off United States aid to the United Nations Population Fund for supporting Beijing's policy. If elected President, "I will cut off funding for the United Nations Population Fund, which supports China's barbaric one-child policy," Romney said in his address at the Conservative Political Action conference in Washington.
Trinamool Congress general secretary Abhishek Banerjee and several other party leaders were detained on Tuesday night as they held a dharna at the Union Rural Development Ministry office in New Delhi demanding a meeting with the minister and released around three hours later.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday expressed confidence that the NDA will get more than 400 seats and the BJP will win at least 370 seats in the Lok Sabha elections.
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