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 ministry of home affairs (MHA) on Monday sent a letter to the West Bengal State Election Commission (SEC) seeking details of the need for additional 485 companies of central forces, for which it has sent a requisition, an official said.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
Two persons, including a woman, were killed and 18 others were injured on Thursday in clashes between rival groups during the second phase of three-tier panchayat elections across Uttar Pradesh, which recorded 75 per cent polling.
'The BJP alliance needs to handle the Maratha quota issue skilfully and address its root cause, which is agrarian distress. Then there is stalled industrialisation. If these issues are addressed, caste fault lines would wither away. But, this is next to impossible in a short span of three-four months.'
The tribal panchayat at Chikhlar village situated about five kilometres away from Betul district headquarters also punished the girl's uncle for allegedly eloping with her, by making him run around with a garland of shoes and a grinding stone tied to his chest.
Tamil Nadu's Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin has reacted to Andhra Pradesh counterpart Pawan Kalyan's out-of-turn taunts with a one-liner, 'Let's wait', and thereby hangs a tale, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference on Wednesday said none of its members would contest the MLC election from panchayat quota. "We make it clear that no member of AJKPC shall contest the MLC's election and we shall continue our fight for the empowerment of the Panchayati Raj institution in the state of Jammu and Kashmir," chairman of AJKPC, Shafiq Mir, told reporters.
'Now I have understood that an actor needs to switch on and off between action and cut.' 'I take my characters only from the vanity van to vanity van.' 'When I put on the makeup and wear the costume, I'm in character.' 'The minute I remove the makeup and take off my costume, I am out of it.'
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
Three persons, including husband of a Communist Party of India-Marxist candidate, were killed on Monday and several others injured in violence during the second phase of panchayat elections in West Bengal where 75 per cent polling was recorded.
Out of the 20 candidates announced by the BJD for the 21 Lok Sabha seats, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's party has nominated at least seven leaders who came from either the Bharatiya Janata Party or the Congress.
They claimed that though they had repaid Rs 2.50 lakh to Panchayat, the caste body demanded Rs 6 lakh to 'settle the outstanding amount' which the couple refused to pay, prompting the panchs to ostracise them.
The warming up of ties became apparent after the Centre announced the country's highest civilian honour Bharat Ratna to his grandfather and former prime minister Chaudhary Charan Singh.
He was reviled by critics in his party as a neo-liberal in disguise but till the end, he retained his belief in secularism and the humanity of Communism.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Thursday complimented the panchayat system of Leh saying this model should be practised in the entire country.
Backing the Khap panchayats' demand for a ban on marriages in same sub-caste, yoga guru Ramdev on Monday asked the caste councils, who are seeking amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act, to take up the issue in a non-violent manner and within the purview of Constitution.
A 32-year-old woman was beaten to death in a village in Bihar's Purnia district following a panchayat order that sentenced her to death for a alleged adultery, police officials said on Tuesday.
The mega campaign, to start on Mahatma Gandhi's birth anniversary, will be conducted just before the elections in three major Bharatiya Janata Party-ruled states and also before the 2019 general elections.
The governor also named Justice Mukherjee as the new vice chancellor of Rabindra Bharati University, he added.
'Modi knows the people here are opposed to this project, but he is using the might of government to push this port down our throats.'
Under the stewardship of the then TMC national general secretary Mukul Roy and North 24 Parganas TMC district president Jyotipriyo Mullick, he joined the party and quickly ascended in power, becoming a close associate of Mullick.
The meteoric rise of Shajahan Sheikh from a modest background of a helper in a local transport company to becoming the so-called 'tiger' of Sandeshkhali is what Bollywood film scripts are made of. And so does his fall.
Strongly defending Khap Panchayats (caste councils), Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda on Saturday said they don't order "honour killings" and most such cases involve relatives of boys or girls, whose relations are opposed by their families.
The panel may recommend amending at last five articles of the Constitution to enable holding of simultaneous polls in the country.
With an eye on next year's panchayat polls, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday showered more sops on the Muslim community, including new loan schemes and an employment bank. The announcement comes days after she declared a monthly honorarium and housing subsidy for imams in the state.
The actor-turned-politician has been allotted Panchayat Raj and Rural Development, Environment, Forests, and Science and Technology portfolios.
To make the scheme attractive, the government has announced a rate structure wherein the operators may take the optical fibre on lease and provide broadband connectivity to customers.
While the state government, contending that it had the power to notify panchayat elections under section 42 of the state Panchayat Act and as such notified the election in two phases on April 26 and April 30, the poll panel refused to budge.
A Haryana panchayat said that the two rape accused cousins be hit by shoes five times in public and submit a paltry fine of Rs 50,000.
A TMC worker, identified as 52-year-old Jiyarul Molla, was shot dead in Phulmalancha area in Basanti in South 24 Parganas district late on Saturday night while he was returning home, a police officer said.
The connectivity will not only improve delivery of government schemes but will also empower people, he said while talking to reporters on the sidelines of the Pravasi Bharatiya Divas in New Delhi.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday refused to accept the West Bengal State Election Commission's plea for 800 companies of central armed police force for holding the panchayat poll in the state and directed that the state may requisition them from other states or the Centre if there was any shortfall.
Kanimozhi also encouraged the school children to have the delicious meal.
At least eleven people were killed in police firing and seven CRPF personnel and policemen injured in violence in Goalpara district during the third and final phase of the panchayat elections in Assam on Tuesday.
An increase in the farmer income support scheme PM Kisan Nidhi, the introduction of a 'robot tax' to fund reskilling of people who lose their jobs to artificial intelligence (AI), and a reduced income-tax (I-T) to bring relief to the middle classes - these are some of the items in the Budget wish list submitted by Sangh Parivar affiliates to Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman. Representatives of the affiliates of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), such as the farmer organisation Bharatiya Kisan Sangh (BKS); trade union Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS); Laghu Udyog Bharati, which works for micro and small industries; and Swadeshi Jagran Manch (SJM), which works on economic and policy issues, met the FM and other officials over the last couple of weeks as part of the pre-Budget consultations.
The Jammu and Kashmir government has finally decided to hold Panchayat elections in the state which were postponed last year in the aftermath of the deadly summer unrest, in March.
Aggrieved by the violence that marked the panchayat poll in West Bengal which claimed at least 12 lives and left 43 injured, several candidates who were in the fray had met the SEC officials and demanded the repolling.
