A three-judge Supreme Court bench will hear petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Waqf (Amendment) Act, 2025, on April 16. The petitions, including those by politicians and the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, were filed in the top court challenging the validity of the newly-enacted law. The Centre has filed a caveat in the apex court, seeking a hearing before any order is passed.
"I say that he (Sushant) was not a Rajput. Please don't mind but a Rajput who belongs to Maharana Pratap's clan cannot hang himself by a rope," Yadav said on Wednesday while inaugurating a newly-built road in Saharsa, his assembly constituency.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren has distributed portfolios among the new ministers, keeping key departments such as Home, Personnel, and several others to himself. The Congress' Radhakrishna Kishore was given Finance, Commercial Tax, Planning and Development Department, and Parliamentary Affairs departments. JMM's Deepak Biruwa was allotted the departments of Revenue, Registration and Land Reforms (non-registration), and Transport. Chamra Linda, another JMM leader, was allotted the departments of Schedule Tribes, Scheduled Castes, Backward Classes (except Minority Welfare). RJD's Sanjay Prasad Yadav was given the departments of Industries, and Labour, Planning, Training and Skill Development. The Congress' Irfan Ansari got Health, Medical Education and Family Welfare, besides Food, Public Distribution and Consumer Affairs, and Disaster Management departments. The chief minister also kept to himself the departments of Cabinet Secretariat, Personnel, Administrative Reforms and Official Language, Road Construction, Building Construction, and those departments yet to be distributed to anyone. Among the other ministers, JMM's Ramdas Soren was given the School Education and Literacy, and Registration departments. Party colleague Hafizul Hasan was allotted the departments of Water Resources, and Minority Welfare Department. Panchayati Raj, Rural Works, and Rural Development departments were given to Congress MLA Deepika Pandey Singh. The CM gave Drinking Water and Sanitation, and Excise and Prohibition departments to JMM's Yogendra Prasad. JMM legislator Sudhivya Kumar became the minister for Urban Development and Housing, Higher and Technical Education, and Tourism, Art Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs departments. Shilpi Neha Tirkey of the Congress was allotted Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Cooperative Department. A total of 11 MLAs took oath as ministers in the Hemant Soren government in Jharkhand on Thursday.
The new cabinet, predictably, has a sizeable number of Yadavs and Muslims, though members of other sections of the society also find a place.
A day after the by-election results in Bihar, though leaders of the Rahtriya Janata Dal and the Bharatiya Janata Party claimed victory after the RJD and BJP retained the Mokama and Gopalganj assembly seats respectively, the fact that both seats were won with a reduced margin indicates that there is nothing to celebrate for either party.
Mahto and Yadav, who were reportedly charged with minor offences, were claimed to be serving Lalu as helper and cook.
RJD MLA Raj Ballabh Yadav, who has been accused of raping a minor, was on Sunday suspended from the party. M I Khan/ Rediff.com reports from Patna.
'JD-U wants to emerge as the single largest party in Bihar after the next assembly polls by contesting more seats than the BJP.'
The BJP MLAs, who had staged a demonstration outside the assembly during the first half and marched to the Raj Bhavan during the lunch hour, were summoned by the speaker when the House reassembled at 2 pm.
'The Congress has indeed become overly dependent on the RJD.' 'A few Congress leaders have successfully convinced the national leadership about the benefits of maintaining ties with the RJD.'
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren expanded his cabinet on Thursday, inducting 11 new ministers, including six first-timers and two women. The swearing-in ceremony was held at the Raj Bhavan in Ranchi. The new ministers include six from the JMM and four from the Congress. One minister is from the RJD. The expansion comes after the JMM-led alliance won the recent assembly elections with a comfortable majority. The cabinet expansion is expected to give the government a fresh impetus to push its agenda and accelerate development in the state.
Veteran Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Awadh Bihari Chaudhary was on Friday unanimously elected as speaker of the Bihar legislative assembly.
Kushwaha made the exasperated remark in reply to queries from journalists about Singh's relentless, and often personal, attacks on Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and Chandra Shekhar's uncharitable remarks about Ramcharitmanas which triggered a controversy.
Lalan Kumar Paswan, who lodged the FIR with the vigilance department, held that the RJD chief's alleged act was tantamount to 'corruption' since, as a member of the legislative assembly, he was a 'public servant' whom Yadav had tried to entice away from 'performing the constitutional obligation of taking part in voting in the House'.
The party's state unit president Jagadanand Singh announced the names of Mohd Qari Sohaib, Munni Rajak and Ashok Kumar Pandey.
Hemant Soren, the youngest chief minister of Jharkhand, has navigated a tumultuous political journey marked by legal battles, party rivalries, and personal setbacks. Despite facing challenges, he has emerged as a powerful advocate for the rights of tribal communities, earning his place as a formidable figure in the state's political landscape. This article explores his rise to power, his leadership style, and the key initiatives he has undertaken for the betterment of Jharkhand.
"Hemant Soren repeatedly ignored my advice and eventually landed in jail... he has always been surrounded by wrong advisors," Hembrom, a lawmaker from Borio seat in Sahibganj district, told reporters.
The charge sheet has been filed before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court in Delhi and the court has listed the matter to be heard on January 16, the sources said.
A total of 45 MLAs voted in favour of the confidence motion in the 81-member assembly.
The legislator visited the residence of mother Rabri Devi on Tuesday evening, spent the night at her place and, according to party sources, announced that he will henceforth not be living at the bungalow allotted to him by the state government.
The RJD has fielded six women candidates, some of them are wives of bahubalis.
In a stunning comeback, Hemant Soren's Jharkhand Mukti Morcha-led alliance on Saturday stormed to power in Jharkhand for a second consecutive term, winning 56 seats in the 81-member assembly, despite an all-out blitz by the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance which managed only 24 seats.
All the winners in the assembly bypolls were from the respective ruling parties.
The state cabinet can have up to 36 ministers, including the chief minister. The induction of ministers on Tuesday is expected to keep a few berths vacant for future expansion.
Tejashwi took the four MLAs to the assembly in a car he himself drove, in a gesture that was rich in optics as well as symbolism.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Sunday won four seats in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Odisha, while the Rashtriya Janata Dal retained the Mokama assembly seat in the bypolls to seven assembly constituencies in six states.
Terms of the two dozen seats had expired last year though elections were deferred because of a delay in Panchayat polls which could not be held in time on account of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The JD-U leader's outbursts met with disapproval from the RJD as well as ally BJP, leaving the party to fend for itself.
Nearly 13.04 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Wednesday in 43 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where voting is underway in the first phase, officials said.
She reached the office of the federal probe agency in central Delhi around 11 am and left around 6 pm.
The assembly bypolls in Bihar and Maharashtra, scheduled for November 3, are set to be the first electoral test of the popularity of the respective state governments after a change in the political alignment.
In an embarrassment to the Bharatiya Janata Party in Bihar, one of its MLAs has been accused of hurting Hindu sentiments by allegedly berating Goddess Lakshmi and Saraswati and Lord Hanuman.
JD-U chief whip Shravan Kumar said those defying the whip "will lose their membership" even as he maintained that it was a "routine exercise that takes place ahead of every assembly session".
He claimed that Tej Pratap kept egging on his henchmen while Ramraj was being humiliated and that he even got the entire episode videographed.
Despite these challenges, his strong voice for the state's tribal population has been central to his political identity
They had said they wanted to protest, while maintaining social distancing, against the attack on the family of a party supporter in which case a Janata Dal-United MLA has been named as an accused.
Yadav came out with a video statement, nearly seven minutes long, fulminating against a news portal which had carried a report about his divorce case, apparently presenting him in a poor light.
The ED said AB Exports Pvt Ltd is a "shell" or fake company owned by Prasad's son and Bihar deputy Chief Minister Tejashwi Yadav and Chanda Yadav (another daughter of the RJD chief) and its registered address is the bungalow located in the New Friends Colony area.
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