The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on Wednesday nominated Rajan Vichare as the party's chief whip in the Lok Sabha, replacing MP Bhavana Gawali, party leader Sanjay Raut said.
Maharashtra Assembly Deputy Speaker Vasant Purke on Tuesday suspended Shiv Sena legislator Om Raje Nimbalkar for lifting the mace from the speaker's table in protest against a minister's reply on the acute water scarcity in Osmanabad city of Marathwada region.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stay the order of the Uttar Pradesh assembly speaker disqualifying five Bahujan Samaj Party legislators under the anti-defection law.
Eight sitting Members of Legislative Assembly including two ministers and the deputy speaker do not figure in the first list of candidates released by the Communist Party of India for the April 13 Kerala assembly polls.Revenue Minister K P Rajendran, Forest Minister Binoy Viswom and Deputy Speaker Jose Baby missed out following the party's decision not to field MLAs who have served two terms, party sources said.
The sources said that Priyanka Gandhi remained in constant touch with the party president, the chief minister, ministers and all important leaders, and did not allow any laxity.
"Fresh elections to the assembly should be held to enable people to elect a popular government in the state in accordance with law," the memorandum to the Haryana governor read.
The Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress on Sunday were set to share the honours in the Lok Sabha and assembly bye-elections in 13 states.
The three seats fell vacant following the resignations of Baburao Chinchansur, R Shankar and Laxman Savadi to contest the assembly elections.
The Tamil Nadu assembly on Friday once again passed a unanimous resolution urging the Centre to exempt the state from National Eligibility-cum-Entrance Test and allow it to admit students to medical courses based on Plus Two exam marks.
'You can wake up a person who is sleeping, but how do you wake up a person who's pretending to sleep.'
Maharashtra Shiv Sena MLA and minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday moved the Supreme Court against the disqualification notice issued by the deputy speaker to him and 15 other rebel legislators.
In a rare gesture, not only the legislators of the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist)-headed Left Democratic Front and Congress-led United Democratic Front, but the lone Bharatiya Janata Party member in the 140-member state assembly, O Rajagopal, also supported the resolution against the Centre, saying 'it is the democratic spirit'.
Karnataka Legislative Assembly Secretary M K Vishalakshi, who is the returning officer for the Rajya Sabha polls, declared the 'unanimous election' of Gowda and Kharge from the Janta Dal-Secular and the Congress respectively, and BJP's Iranna Kadadi and Ashok Gasti, with no extra candidate in the fray.
Modi's inability to make peace with a renewed Opposition will only embolden his coalition partners and it is just a matter of time before they begin asking probing questions besides politely disagreeing with his tactics, predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The apex court said that once such persons demit public office, there is nothing to distinguish them from the common man.
Assembly Speaker Ramanlal Vora suspended Congress MLAs Paresh Dhanani and Baldevji Thakor on the charges of trying to attack BJP MLAs and two ministers -- Vallabh Kakadiya and Nirmala Wadhwani.
Modhwadia emphasised that he was not joining the BJP due to any coercion or allurement as claimed by the Congress.
Unless the merger is reversed, the Congress is set to lose its Opposition Party status in the state assembly.
The Congress ministers from Telangana in Andhra Pradesh on Monday said they will not take back their resignations until the party high command sets a time-frame for the formation of a separate state."We won't take back our resignations till the high command acts within a time-frame for the formation of a separate state of Telangana and clarifies doubts over the second statement of Home Minister P Chidambaram made last week," said AP Civil Supplies Minister J Krishna Rao.
They have also sought that the Speaker should restrain from dealing in any manner that adjudication proceedings on the pending disqualification proceedings against them.
The post of Karnataka Lokayukta had been lying vacant since September 2011, after Shivaraj V Patil resigned from the post in the wake of a media expose that showed irregularities in the allotment of two residential plots to him and his wife.
Police later let the legislators off after a brief detention at a marriage hall. Stalin demanded the dismissal of the AIADMK government over the issue of the alleged pay-offs.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear at 5 pm the plea of Shiv Sena chief whip Sunil Prabhu challenging the Maharashtra governor's direction to the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government to take floor test in the assembly on Thursday.
The plea, mentioned before the mentioning officer of the apex court for urgent hearing, said the Speaker, the Chief Minister and the Principal Secretary of the Assembly be directed to 'hold the floor test in the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly within 12 hours of the passing of the order by this court and as directions...issued by Governor'.
Observing that the name and photographs of Sharad Pawar cannot be used by the Ajit Pawar faction for political gains, the Supreme Court on Thursday sought a response from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) faction led by the Maharashtra deputy chief minister on a plea of the veteran Maratha leader alleging misuse of his popularity by the rival camp.
The governor accepted the resignation and asked Kumar to continue as the caretaker chief minister till the new National Democratic Alliance government is sworn in.
The one-year-old Himachal Pradesh Cabinet headed by Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu was expanded on Tuesday with the induction of Rajesh Dharmani and Yadvinder Goma as cabinet ministers.
The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Saturday adopted a resolution urging the Centre to withdraw three contentious farm laws, against which farmers have been holding protests outside Delhi for months.
Though Sukhu has been putting up a brave face and there appears to be no immediate threat to his government, the BJP is looking to bring down his dispensation with bypoll wins amid a view that it may draw more legislators of the ruling party into its fold.
Putting up a spirited performance in the assembly by-polls despite its Lok Sabha debacle, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Tamil Nadu has won nine of the 22 segments where elections were held in two phases in April and May.
The following are the highlights of the Supreme Court verdict in which a five-judge Constitution bench unanimously held on Thursday that it cannot restore the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray as the former chief minister resigned without facing a floor test in June last year.
Congress general secretary (communications) Jairam Ramesh said like other states, the BJP started the game of using money power, power of the government and muscle power to destabilise the Congress government in Himachal Pradesh but has failed.
Sources in the BJP said a petition would be filed on Monday with the Assembly Speaker K G Bopahiah, seeking their disqualification on the charge of 'anti-party' activities.
'I had said that if they have a strong candidate, then I am ready to debate with that person. They can decide the topic, time, and place. I'm ready'
Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said he would move a resolution in the state assembly on Tuesday expressing solidarity with those living in the contentious boundary region with Karnataka.
Four more Shiv Sena legislators were on Thursday suspended from the Maharashtra assembly for a year for creating ruckus in the House. Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harshwardhan Patil said they insulted the Constitution during their noisy protests and moved a resolution to suspend them for a year. The resolution was approved by a voice vote amid pandemonium, leading to the Speaker adjourning the House for the day.
Other prominent candidates among the 904 in the fray are Union minister Anurag Thakur, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, RJD supremo Lalu Prasad's daughter Misa Bharti.
Members of the Congress and AIUDF, protesting against a Cabinet decision to repeal the Assam Muslim Marriages and Divorces Registration Act, 1935, staged walkouts later.
