BSP supremo Mayawati may have used her plan to nominate a Dalit candidate for the post of President as a bargaining tool with the Congress, reports Sheela Bhatt.
The Supreme Court's opinion on the presidential reference can impact on any number of cases if and when governors, if not the President, take a literary view of the Supreme Court's 'ppinion' on their 'discretionary powers' without reference to the rider on 'reasonable time', points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
An overview of the past vice presidential elections in India, highlighting uncontested wins, multi-cornered fights, and notable candidates.
Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation marks the third instance of a vice president resigning mid-term in India. The article looks at past instances of vice presidents who resigned.
By naming a sworn swayamsevak for vice president, the Modi-Shah duo have sent out a clear and positive message to Nagpur, where the RSS headquarters is located, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Mamata Banerjee's fate in the United Progressive Alliance hangs in the balance with the Trinamool Congress leader continuing to give a loud and clear message that her party is not going to vote for Pranab Mukherjee as the UPA's Presidential candidate.
The NDA's combined parliamentary and state-level committed Presidential votes number around 12,000 fewer than a majority.
Months before he demitted office as prime minister in 2014, Manmohan Singh had famously asserted that his leadership was not weak and history would be kinder to him than what the media projected at that time.
Veteran Congress leader Mani Shankar Aiyar, in his latest book, argues that Pranab Mukherjee should have been made Prime Minister in 2012 instead of Manmohan Singh, who was then recovering from health issues. Aiyar believes this would have prevented the "paralysis of governance" and "doomed" any prospects the Congress might have had to form UPA-III. He also criticizes the government's handling of the Anna Hazare-led agitation and the Commonwealth Games scandal, which he believes contributed to the party's downfall in the 2014 general elections.
In an electoral college of 10,98,882, the candidate backed by UPA could easily get over 5.70 lakh votes counting on Bahujan Samaj Party's vote share of 58,300 given the latest development in the Taj Corridor case.
The opposition is likely to put up a joint candidate for the July 18 presidential election despite not having numbers on its side, and consultations in this regard have already begun.
Several legislators in states on Monday said they have cross-voted in favour of National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu by not following their respective party lines in the presidential election.
"I will miss his tantrums" is what Congress president Sonia Gandhi said while bidding farewell to Pranab Mukherjee from the Congress Working Committee at a meeting which formally approved his name as the United Progressive Alliance's presidential nominee in June 2012.
"I will be able to open my cards (on the presidential polls) only after consultations with party MPs, MLAs and other leaders," she said addressing her first press conference in Delhi after taking over the reins of UP for the fourth time.
However, she declined to divulge the name of the candidate.
United Progressive Alliance Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee on Friday telephoned Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar and is understood to have expressed his gratitude for extending support to him in the July 19 Presidential poll.
Congress in Maharashtra had made efforts to woo the Raj Thackeray-led party to back UPA nominee Pranab Mukherjee for the presidential poll.
United Progressive Alliance on Wednesday projected a united picture on the eve of the Presidential poll with all constituents including Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress and supporting parties attending a lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The Delhi high court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the candidature of UPA's presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee accusing him of abusing his office as finance minister and securing "pecuniary favour" in the form of votes from various political parties in the upcoming Presidential election.
Pranab Mukherjee, who has been selected as the UPA's Presidential nominee, will resign on Sunday as the Union finance minister.
Union Agriculture Minister and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar on Friday said that he 'would love to have a cup of tea with Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray' during UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Mumbai next week.
Projecting a united face on the eve of vice presidential poll, all constituents of United Progressive Alliance and those supporting it from outside including arch rivals Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mayawati attended a lunch hosted by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
A source in the Congress party has said that the name of the next presidential candidate from the UPA would surface by May 25. Renu Mittal reports
With reference to the demand of debate on the lines of US election, made by his rival and opposition nominee P A Sangma, UPA's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee said in Mumbai that Presidents in India do not decide policy, and there can be no debate on "personality".
Emerging from a meeting with UPA presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in Kolkata on Monday, Congress MPs Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury and Deepa Dasmunshi lashed out at the TMC for "spreading canards" against Sonia Gandhi and Pranab Mukherjee and demanded immediate severance of all ties with the party.
United Progressive Alliance's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday refused to comment on the Bharatiya Janata Party's plan to file an election petition against his nomination.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi is hosting a dinner for United Progressive Alliance MPs and supporting parties on July 18, the eve of the Presidential election to consolidate the victory of its Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee. The election is to be held on July 19.
Janata Darty-Secular leader H D Deve Gowda on Thursday announced his party's support to UPA's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday appealed to Janata Dal (United) and Shiv Sena to review their decision to support the UPA's Presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee in the election for the top post and asked the two parties to back NDA's candidate P A Sangma instead.
"I do not believe in miracles," UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee remarked on Sunday, taking a jibe at his rival P A Sangma who is hoping for a miracle to see him through in the July 19 poll.
It alleged that Pratibha 'has been influencing and subverting the investigation of the case to shield her brother Dr G N Patil, also a Congress worker from Jalgaon'.
The Congress president said, in these contests, the numbers may be against them but "the battle must be fought and fought hard".
UPA's presidential candidate Pranab Mukherjee rejected Bharatiya Janata Party's charge that his letter of resignation from the Indian Statistical Institute was "fabricated".
Home Minister P Chidambaram on Wednesday described as 'scandalous' Bharatiya Janata Party's contention that Pranab Mukherjee's resignation letter to the Indian Statistical Institute was forged, and said the UPA Presidential candidate must surely have taken note of this allegation levelled against him.
Key National Democratic Alliance ally Shiv Sena was tonight understood to have assured United Progressive Alliance Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee its support.
Manmohan Singh, reveals the former President, was keen that either P Chidambaram or Montek Singh Ahluwalia be the finance minister.
'The PM who is first among equals, who has to listen to others, take their point of view into account and who would have to be a good manager'
UPA Presidential nominee Pranab Mukherjee's camp on Saturday hit back at opposition-backed candidate P A Sangma for raking up fresh allegations against his candidature saying the campaign was being "vitiated".
Five years since he supported UPA's Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil after breaking ranks with National Democratic Alliance, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Thursday appeared having second thoughts on the issue.
Recalling his long association with the CWC, the highest decision making body of the party, Mukherjee thanked the party for all the cooperation and for nominating him for the president's post, sources said.
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