Liquor baron Vijay Mallya's tenure in the Rajya Sabha came to an end on Wednesday with Chairman Hamid Ansari accepting his fresh resignation letter.
Gujarat Assembly has issued notification for elections to three seats of Rajya Sabha, to be held on July 22. Elections were necessitated as terms of Patel and BJP MPs Surendra Patel and Pravin Nayak would end in August.
After West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee stated that the truth would not emerge through existing mechanisms and called for a probe, several opposition leaders including Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge backed her demand.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday said the Union Budget strikes a fine balance between growth, employment, and fiscal consolidation, and promotes cooperative federalism. Replying to the discussion on the Union Budget 2024-25 and Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir Budget in Rajya Sabha, the minister said the government is on track to achieve the pre-announced fiscal deficit target of 4.5 per cent by 2025-26. Sitharaman, also a former defence minister, said the Agniveer Scheme to recruit people in the age group of 17.5 to 21 years, is aimed at keeping the armed forces fit, young and battle-ready.
Bharatiya Janata Party candidates Dineshchamdra Jemalbhai Ananvadiya and Rambhai Harjibhai Mokariya won both Rajya Sabha seats from Gujarat on Monday.
'It was then that the game started. It was decided that under no circumstances, the seat tally of the Congress should increase from 206 in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls'
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra defended Rahul Gandhi's upcoming visit to Germany, questioning the BJP's criticism when Prime Minister Narendra Modi frequently travels abroad.
Janata Dal-United MP Rajiv Ranjan Singh alias Lalan Singh offered juice to Harivansh to help him break the fast.
Confident of securing a massive majority in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday outlined his vision for his next five-year term saying the Modi 3.0 government will put all its might to strengthen the foundation of 'Viksit Bharat' or a developed nation.
The ruling alliance and the Opposition are set to lock horns over the two issues steeped in national security and foreign policy imperatives.
The talks about the reunification had already started when Ajit Pawar was alive. In fact, the two parties even contested the civic polls in Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad together.
With leaders of various opposition parties taking out a protest march in support of their demand for revoking the suspension of the 12 MPs, the Bharatiya Janata Party leader Pralhad Joshi took a swipe at them, saying the voters of the country have given them "marching orders" twice -- a reference to their back-to-back defeats in two Lok Sabha elections -- and will reduce their presence further.
He said that his primary goal would be to strengthen the political momentum to replace the Congress government with BJP rule in the coming assembly polls in Karnataka.
In apparent signs of thaw after years of bickering stemming out of internal feud in the AIADMK in the past, party chief Edappadi K Palaniswami welcomed Dhinakaran back in to the National Democratic Alliance. The AMMK founder reciprocated with a "heartfelt thanks," yet admitting there was "sibling rivalry" with AIADMK, the party he was once associated with.
Speaking to the reporters on Wednesday, Minister J P Dalal said that they have called all the MLAs to make the new MLAs understand on the polling procedure.
Former Union minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Praful Patel on Thursday filed his nomination for the Rajya Sabha election in Maharashtra slated for June 19.
Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam on Saturday re-nominated sitting MP M Kanimozhi, daughter of party president M Karunanidhi as its candidate for the June 27 Rajya Sabha elections for six seats, hoping to drum up support from other parties to ensure a second term for her.
A draw of lots was held on Friday to allot Rajya Sabha members to Telangana and residual Andhra Pradesh following division of the state.
Congress veteran Kapil Sibal had on Wednesday filed his nomination as an SP-backed Independent candidate for the Rajya Sabha polls.
Amid the race for mayoral posts across civic bodies in Maharashtra, a new political equation emerged in the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation on Wednesday with five corporators of Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena offering support to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena, which is in alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Vice President C P Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Narendra Modi led Parliamentarians in paying floral tributes to those who died fending off terrorists who attacked the Parliament House in 2001 on the 24th anniversary of the attack.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday for the remaining part of the Winter session after he threw a Rajya Sabha rule book at the Chair.
The Delhi services bill was passed in the Rajya Sabha on Monday with 131 MPs voting in its favour and helping the government complete the parliamentary procedure for the proposed legislation that saw the opposition parties join ranks.
As soon as the House resumed at noon, Joshi said, "In protest against the action of their party's former president (Rahul Gandhi) and in your honour and in honour of the Constitution, we would participate in the Question Hour while remaining standing in silence. We request for your permission".
A lot is riding on the Rajya sabha polls that are scheduled for Saturday. Major parties are whisking away candidates of other parties, while protecting their own, MLAs are being sent to 'camps' in the final countdown to the polls for 57 seats. Here is a state-by-state look:
The passing of bills without Parliament, including the treasury benches, having any real understanding of what they contained through any rigorous process has accelerated through the Modi era, points out Aakar Patel.
The BJP is still short of the halfway mark of 123 in the 245-member House, but can now muster a 'working' majority with help of allies, friendly parties, some Independents and nominated members.
Megastar Chiranjeevi is likely to get elevated soon to the Rajya Sabha from a member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly. His candidature is almost certain for one of the four seats that the ruling Congress can win in the biennial elections to the Upper House of Parliament from the state, slated for March 30. The Congress, as part of his Praja Rajyam Party's merger deal last year, promised to induct Chiranjeevi into the Union Cabinet by nominating him to Rajya Sabha.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Saturday lauded the organisational power of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh-Bharatiya Janata Party as he shared Narendra Modi's old picture and said how a grassroots worker went on to become the chief minister and prime minister by sitting at the feet of their leaders.
They said a 'mock poll' would be conducted in the Central Hall of the Samvidhan Sadan at around 2:30 PM on Monday after the briefing on the procedure to vote in the vice presidential polls.
Home Minister Amit Shah defended the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Lok Sabha, accusing the opposition of spreading falsehoods and questioning the safety of democracy if leaders are chosen by infiltrators.
On March 30, West Bengal will elect five new members to Rajya Sabha. The ruling Trinamool Congress with its 185 members of Legislative Assembly in the state legislative assembly is in a position to elect three members to Rajya Sabha with ease.
'While many politicians speak of development, Dada worked hard for it.' 'He realised that politics wasn't about power or politics -- it was about service to the people.'
Singh claimed the ICCR chairmanship is not an office of profit and in the past, Atal Bihari Vajpayee and P V Narasimha Rao had occupied this post when they were external affairs ministers.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley was on Monday named as the Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, while Congress veteran Ghulam Nabi Azad was declared the Leader of the Opposition.
This follows complaints from the Congress that nomination papers of two of its candidates were rejected "unconstitutionally."
Elections for 19 Rajya Sabha seats spread across eight states will be held on Friday with the contest in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan promising to be a close affair between the BJP and the Congress.
The election was held to fill the vacancy caused by the death of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.
Nitin Nabin, a five-time Bihar MLA, has been elected unopposed as the BJP national president, becoming the youngest person to hold the position. His appointment signals a generational shift in the party's leadership as it prepares for key state elections.
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