An approximate voter turnout of 59.06 per cent was recorded in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha elections on Saturday in 58 constituencies across six states and two Union territories with the polling percentage in the Jangal Mahal region of West Bengal touching 78.19.
Widespread violence between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged electoral malpractices in strife-torn Sandeshkhali marred the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a number of people.
The hypocrisies of high-caste Hindus have cost their followers very dear. Millions have left their dharma, their great religion which boasts of the loftiest philosophical ideas, says Tarun Vijay.
The action followed a show-cause notice to the Shahpura MLA, who is a former Speaker of the state assembly, from the party's state unit president CP Joshi.
The Congress high command has so far maintained that the party will fight the February 20 elections to the 117-member assembly under a "collective leadership"
The Election Commission will announce the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
A doctors' body has threatened to launch a stir if the Maharashtra government doesn't take action after a video of the acting dean of a state-run hospital in Nanded, where 31 patients have died in 48 hours, being forced to clean a toilet by a Shiv Sena MP went viral.
If the BJP has to work as a junior partner of Vijay's TVK, then either the party will have to change the state leader, or the latter should change himself. Incidentally, ever since Vijay started talking politics and elections, the pro-BJP/Hindutva social media had stopped dragging his name into any non-existing issue.' In particular, they have stopped referring to him by his Christian name, 'Joseph Vijay', observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's similar remarks about the need for a review of the reservation policy, just ahead of Bihar polls, had cost the BJP dearly as it saw a massive consolidation of the electorate from the backward classes and weaker sections in favour of Nitish Kumar-led grand alliance.
A nine-year-old Dalit boy died on Saturday allegedly after he was beaten up by a teacher for touching a drinking water pot in a private school in Jalore district of Rajasthan, police said.
The Kukis have already declared that they are not fielding any candidate in the parliamentary polls as an act of boycott.
The collegium system has shut the doors of judgeship in the higher judiciary on Dalits, OBCs and even the poor among the upper castes
While the BJP says it is confident Dalits will vote for it in the state assembly polls due this year-end, the Congress says it is paying attention to seats with 10 per cent or more Dalit population.
The Supreme Court on Friday said that successful civil services aspirants have no right to be allocated a cadre of their choice or their home state, and also noted that before selection they opt to serve anywhere in the country "with eyes open" but later "scramble" for home cadre.
Japan has extended a state of emergency in Tokyo and three other areas until the end of May as the country battles a surge in COVID-19 cases
Under attack over Janardan Dwivedi's pitch against reservation on caste lines, the Congress and the government on Wednesday distanced themselves from the senior leader's remarks, saying it was his "personal" view and they support, adhere and subscribe to the existing policy.
There is a view that heavyweight portfolios like home, finance, defence and external affairs besides education and culture, two ministries with strong ideological hues, will be kept by the BJP, while its allies can get anywhere between five to eight cabinet berths.
Always interesting, DMK politics is going to get even more absorbing in the days to come, predicts Aditi Phadnis.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Sunday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party-led central government of being 'undemocratic', and said people will have to strongly fight against its 'dictatorship' to save democracy.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The police have arrested nine persons, including seven students of Jain (Deemed-to-be) University in Bengaluru, over a controversial skit which allegedly had casteist content.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Thursday claimed that contrary to the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh's "false propaganda" that the population of Muslim community was increasing in the country, the number of the minority community members vis-a-vis Hindus was fast declining, and added that he could prove it.
The Calcutta high court on Tuesday directed that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) be handed over the case of attack on Enforcement Directorate officials at Sandeshkhali and the custody of suspended Trinamool Congress leader Shajahan Sheikh, as it slammed West Bengal Police for 'totally biased' conduct and said every attempt is being made to delay the probe to 'protect' the accused.
Modi said that those who call themselves the biggest sympathisers of the backward communities are in reality their biggest enemies.
The Court dismissed the appeal filed by Dayanand Rayu Mandrekar and Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar against the Bombay High Court verdict.
SC/ST reservation in the LS and state assemblies extended for another 10 yrs. However, the benefit was not extended to Anglo-Indian members.
Out of the 25 seats, five seats each are reserved for Scheduled Tribes and Scheduled Castes.
'We were supposed to be a united nation based on unity and diversity.' 'Now what we are doing is there will be a class called Marathas, Dangars, etc.' 'The 100 per cent of our nation's population will be in classes and you will be allocating the nation's education and service resources in terms of classes.' 'How does it work out in terms of equality? Where is your equal nation?'
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, who heads the Nationalist Congress Party, has said that helming the NCP away from the shadows of his uncle and founder Sharad Pawar after the split is a huge responsibility.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
More than ever before, women voters can make or mar a political party's electoral fortunes.
Against the Samajwadi Party's decision to field actor Jaya Bachchan and retired IAS officer Alok Ranjan as its candidates for the Rajya Sabha polls, Apna Dal (Kamerawadi) leader and party MLA Pallavi Patel on Wednesday said she will not cast her vote.
A majority of over 50,000 internally displaced people are currently staying at relief centres across five valley districts and three hill districts.
The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has pinned its hopes on the old guard to ensure victory in next month's assembly elections in Chhattisgarh as it gave tickets to 11 sitting MLAs and renominated 13 leaders who lost in the 2018 polls.
Just 4.6 per cent of all rural households in the country pay income tax while such households with salaried income are close to 10 per cent, the first socio economic and caste census released in eight decades said.
The four names that are in the fray from the Congress are Jaipal Reddy, K Chandrasekara Rao, Damodar Raja Narasimha and D Srinivas.
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.
A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud said there was no ground to reconsider the verdict.
Gandhi claimed that Dalits, tribals, and Other Backward Classes were made bonded labourers and their participation was lacking in big companies, hospitals, schools, colleges and courts.
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