As Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party registered a thumping victory in the Delhi assembly polls, take a look at how the heavyweights fared.
'Mr Kejriwal has played it cool in distancing himself from Delhi's hotspots, adroitly pandering to the BJP's Hindu vote.' 'He neither visited the scene of JNU violence nor has he dropped by at Shaheen Bagh,' notes Sunil Sethi.
Sources pointed out that according to initial feedback received during the meetings, the party did not properly handle issues such as the Aam Aadmi Party government's announcement of freebies and the anti-citizenship law protest at Shaheen Bagh.
Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar on Tuesday joined the protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and National Register of Citizens in Shaheen Bagh and attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government saying that they fought elections on the promise of 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas', but they did 'Sabka Saath, Sabka Vinash'.
As the clock struck 12, the protesting crowd burst into a cheer to greet the fellow protesters the new year, and moments later broke into the national anthem in unison which was followed by the slogan 'Inquilab Zindabad'.
If Kejriwal wins the Delhi election, then most regional parties will copy Kejriwal's do's and don'ts of jugaad to win an election against the Modi-Shah juggernaut, reports Sheela Bhatt.
'A government whose policies are focused around making the life of ordinary citizens, specially the most deprived sections, richer; a government that prioritises education, health and transport, that doesn't treat its citizens as subjects who must come to it for everything, is rare in our country.' 'When such a government is thrown out, one is left stunned,' notes Jyoti Punwani.
The bench also disagreed with the appellants that claim that their nominations were rejected 'arbitrarily and malafidely', saying 'cogent and convincing evidence needs to be led to prove this' and such a finding cannot be arrived at based on mere documents and annexures in a writ petition.
The protesters including girls and schoolchildren, belonging to the schools within the campus, began their march from the Purani Chungi and culminated it at the Babey Sir Syed gate of the university. They also raised slogans in support of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh protesters and the Jawaharlal Nehru University.
'It is typical of China's strategic deception of making virtue out of necessity,' observes Rup Narayan Das.
Around 40,000 Delhi Police personnel, 190 coys (companies) of Central Armed Police Forces and 19,000 Home Guards have been deployed for smooth conduct of election in the national capital, officials said.
The Delhi police initiated an "outreach programme" on Friday as part of which its officials met imams and maulvis of various mosques in riot-hit northeast Delhi, officials said. The exercise was carried out by senior officials outside mosques in Kardampuri and Kabir Nagar. These areas witnessed pitched battle between the two communities on Tuesday and Wednesday. During the meeting, senior police officers were briefed about the recent riots.
In the recent past, Delhi has witnessed several fire incidents that have claimed a substantial number of lives and caused heavy damages.
The BJP, whose campaign was focussed more on issues related to nationalism and Shaheen Bagh, failed to find support among voters.
Addressing a press conference at the Singhu border protest site, farmer leaders warned of multiple actions if their main demands are not met. They said that only five per cent of the issues raised by them have so far been discussed in meetings with the government.
As the Aam Aadmi Party heads for a resounding win in Delhi, Rediff.com's Syed Firdaus Ashraf lists the reasons behind Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's triumph.
The 10-month-long timeline in the hijab ban case.
He had been involved in organising the protests at Shaheen Bagh but came into limelight after a video clip went viral wherein he could be heard making some disturbing comments while addressing a gathering at Aligarh Muslim University, following which he was booked under the sedition charge in the UP town.
The Supreme Court on Friday said it will set up a three-judge bench to hear a plea of Muslim girl students to sit for examinations in Karnataka government schools while wearing hijab.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Vishal Pahuja rejected the application saying requisite sanction from the competent authority, the central government, was not obtained which was required under the law.
The two, one a celebrity singer-actor from Punjab and the other a Bollywood star known for her combative comments, began bickering on the social media platform on Wednesday evening and continued till well into Thursday.
The publishing house faced massive backlash online on Friday after an advertisement of the book launch on Saturday with Bharatiya Janata Party leader Kapil Mishra as a guest of honour did the rounds on social media.
According to sources, the Election Commission is mulling over taking strong action against BJP candidate Kapil Mishra. Mishra had on January 23 tweeted, "On 8th February there will be a contest between India and Pakistan on the streets of Delhi."
Voter turnout was 67.47 per cent in 2015 assembly election. The voting percentage was 57.04 till 6 pm deadline, and rose to 61.46 per cent as those in queues at polling stations were allowed to vote, poll officials said, adding it may increase further.
Kejriwal runs his party with the proverbial iron fist and has learnt to temper his aggression, say people close to him.
'Kejriwal took political steps and micro level care at every level not to allow the consolidation of Hindu votes behind the BJP,' observes Sheela Bhatt, the distinguished political commentator.
It is a sight that both warms and breaks the heart. The women of Shaheen Bagh seem oblivious of the cold, these women and their children, the latter ranging in age from 19 days to early teens, who have been occupying the road for over two weeks now. Some of them have not gone home for days, but their faces are clear, unlined by fatigue, their eyes bright and fierce as those of the falcon, shaheen, the area is named for.
According to the police, one of the accused had made IEDs and later tested them at several places in Delhi, Rajasthan and Haldwani in Uttarakhand.
According to the sources, those named in the chargesheet are Taahir Hussain, Mohd Parvez Ahmed, Mohd Illyas, Saifi Khalid, Ishrat Jahan, Miran Haider, Safoora Zargar, Asif Iqbal Tanha, Shahdab Ahmed, Natasha Narwal, Devangana Kalita, Tasleem Ahmed, Saleem Malik, Mohd Saleem Khan and Athar Khan.
Perhaps the BJP will win the UP elections, but that will be a political win and will leave the problems on the ground from the economy to national security to disaffected farmers and minorities intact, asserts Aakar Patel.
Imam has been booked under Section 13 (unlawful activities) of the Act in the case, said his counsel advocate Mishika Singh. The police had earlier charged Imam with sedition, alleging his speech promoted enmity between people that led to riots.
The poll panel has asked him to respond to the notice before 5 pm on Friday.
Five teams of the Crime Branch have been deployed to locate Imam, a resident of Bihar, they said.
The attack took place on Saturday when the woman and her mother came to Delhi from Jaipur for some work, they said, adding that a first information report (FIR) has been registered.
'For the women of a community whose seclusion has been a byword of their lifestyle to take to the streets as a means of protest is an unprecedented event,' notes Amulya Ganguli.
Sharjil Imam came to limelight during the ongoing protests against the CAA in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, for his alleged remarks threatening to 'cut-off' Assam from rest of India.
The Committees on Subordinate Legislation, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha have granted time up to April 9 and July 9 respectively to frame these rules, he said in a written reply.
With the CAA rules being issued, the Modi government will now start granting Indian nationality to persecuted non-Muslim migrants -- Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, Parsis and Christians -- from the three countries.
On the lines of Delhi's Shaheen Bagh, around 50 women along with children have been squatting near the Clock Tower in Lucknow's old quarters. The women protesters alleged that blankets provided to them by some organisations were taken away by police. The police dismissed the allegations.
The plea has sought the apex court directions to the authorities to open the roads at Delhi borders, shift these protestors to allotted place and provide guidelines on social distancing and use of mask at the protest place to contain spread of COVID-19 cases.
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