The President's election is hitting the headlines because all the parties believe that in the 2009 general election no single party will get a majority. In such a scenario the President's role becomes crucial
President of India Pratibha Patil will be conferring the Padma Awards to the selected recipients on March 31 at a function in Rashtrapati Bhavan -- a senior official from the president's office confirmed this.
Gandhi came along with Mukherjee and while the former president left after sometime, the Congress chief offered to drop him back but Mukherjee politely refused.
Five years since he supported UPA's Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil after breaking ranks with National Democratic Alliance, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday appeared having second thoughts on the issue.
Sources said Modi also called up various leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav and Akhilesh Yadav of the Samajwadi Party, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik, Dravida Munnetra Kazagham's M K Stalin and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Parkash Singh Badal.
Expressing concern over slow growth in the farm sector, President Pratibha Devisingh Patil on Wednesday asked the policy makers to keep agriculture at the centre stage of the country's development agenda.
There was considerable disquiet in the Congress after Mukherjee accepted the invitation of the RSS to address its workers at its headquarters in Nagpur.
Pranab Mukherjee on Wednesday became the 13th President of India capping a five-decade career that saw him play significant roles in government, Parliament and party.
We had asked our readers earlier this week to cast their vote on who they would like to see enter the Rashtrapati Bhavan in July when its current occupant Pratibha Patil vacates. Following the overwhelming feedback from our readers, we are extending the voting period.
Ram Nath Kovind is the first Bharatiya Janata Party leader and second Dalit in Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Security of President Pratibha Devisingh Patil, who arrived in Pune on Friday on a four-day visit, has been beefed up following an E-mail threat. The President was provided a new bullet-proof vehicle, official sources said, adding that the vehicle was requisitioned from Mumbai.
At the age of 15, she is all set to graduate in Psychology from the Devi Ahilya Vishwavidyalaya in Indore.
Shiv Sena will support National Democratic Alliance's presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, party president Uddhav Thackeray said on Tuesday.
Raut also highlighted that the party had goodwill toward the opposition's Presidential candidate Yashwant Sinha.
Leader of opposition L K Advani on Tuesday led a delegation of 146 members of the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance and met President Pratibha Devisingh Patil to intervene in the row triggered by the joint-statement issued after talks between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani at Sharm-el Sheikh, Egypt -- wherein the issue of Baluchsitan was mentioned for the first time.
Abe Shinzo's murder is a personal loss for Prime Minister N D Modi, one of the Japanese leader's international friends -- Modi was the only world leader Abe followed on social media back in 2014 -- and the two prime ministers charted out a new road map for India-Japan relations that grew stronger in the Abe era and in the years since he stepped down.
Shiv Sena's executive president Uddhav Thackeray has clarified that backing United Progressive Alliance nominee Pranab Mukherjee for the coveted post of President of India does not mean his political outfit is supporting the ruling Congress party.
The list also includes the names of Mumbai BJP president Ashish Selar, fielded from the Vandre West seat, and senior party leader and Lok Sabha MP Narayan Rane's son Nitesh Rane, fielded from Kankavli, a seat he currently represents in the assembly.
The Election Commission on Friday issue a 'certificate of election' to NDA nominee Droupadi Murmu who has emerged victorious in the presidential poll.
Pakistan and Israel will define the relationship between the Modi government and the Middle East. While the region is concerned that India-Pakistan relations may become prickly in the Modi regime, it is also worried that the BJP government will give greater weightage to its ties with Israel.
A total of 4,140 candidates were left in the fray for 288 Maharashtra assembly seats after the deadline for withdrawal of nominations ended on Monday, a poll official said.
The tribal leader, India's youngest president at 64 and the first to be born after Independence, took oath of office in the name of god to 'preserve, protect and defend the Constitution and the law'.
The Bollywood veterans were felicitated by President Pratibha Patil in New Delhi today.
In the two years that President Pranab Mukherjee has spent so far at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the country's first citizen has shown a marked preference for playing the gracious host over being a travelling head of state.
He refused to acknowledge Pratibha Patil, his rival in the Presidential election, as a Shekhawat
The Narendra Modi-led government included neither a 100-day agenda nor its five-year programme of action in the speech it had approved for the president to read out at the joint session of Parliament.
The Presidential nomination drama has diminished the Congress' authority.
The 71-year-old Dalit leader is expected to have a smooth sailing in the event of an election.
When elected on July 18 -- which is almost a certainty, given the NDA's numbers in the electoral college -- Droupadi Murmu will be the first President born after Independence.
Polling began at 1000 hours in Parliament and 30 capitals of states and Union Territories amidst tight security and strict vigil by the Election Commission, which issued a series of stringent instructions for voters.
The controversial Control of Terrorism and Organised Crime Bill was passed by the Gujarat assembly on Tuesday, which allows police to intercept and record telephonic conversations and submit them in court as evidence.
Russia has described its bilateral ties with India as a "weighty" factor of global stability and security as Moscow underlined the need to deepen the "privileged strategic partnership".
President Pranab Mukherjee will visit China from May 24 to 27 during which he will hold talks with the top Chinese leadership, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday, announcing the first trip to the country by an Indian Head of State in six years.
The schedule for the Presidential election is likely to be announced by Tuesday evening.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has said that Beijing regards its relationship with New Delhi as one of the most important bilateral ties.
Vice President Hamid Ansari on Thursday visited Angkor Wat days after India allayed Cambodian concerns over reports of building of a replica of the world heritage site in Bihar.
Delhi's Lieutenant Governor Tejinder Khanna and Chief Minister Mrs Sheila Dikshit, who normally do not see eye to eye on most administrative matters, have decided to impose undeclared curfew and restrict the movement of people in public places on Sunday to ensure there is no untoward incident that could mar the opening and closing ceremonies of the Commonwealth Games.
The electoral college for the presidential poll is 4896, constituting 776 members of Parliament and 4120 members of legislative assemblies, including those of Delhi and Puducherry. The total value of votes is 10,98,882, with that of MLAs being 5,49,474 and that of MPs being 5,49,408
In fact they had been expecting the defeat once the United Nationl Progressive Alliance decided to abstain from the election and not support Shekhawat.
However, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, hosting a meeting of the leaders of the Third Front in Chennai on Sunday, said the Front would 'choose a nominee' for the presidential election.
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