Birj Bhushan loyalist Sanjay Singh becomes new WFI president
In the brief history of the hill state of Uttarakhand, there has not been a single instance where a chief minister has lost a by-election, reports Shishir Prashant.
The panel will comprise legal experts, retired people, intellectuals and other stakeholders, the chief minister announced on the last day of campaigning for the 70 assembly seats in the state going to polls on February 14.
In Maharashtra, Bhagat Singh Koshyari has done pretty much as he liked, observes Aditi Phadnis.
Nine ministers also take oath. Satpal Maharaj, Harak Singh Rawat, Madan Kaushik, Arvind Pandey, Subodh Uniyal,Yashpal Arya and Prakash Pant have been made Cabinet ministers.
"Press Conference by Election Commission of India for the announcement of Schedule for General Election to Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Punjab, Manipur, Uttarakhand, and Uttar Pradesh," reads the statement issued by ECI.
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
Mr Modi and Mr Shah will need him if they want to win UP again in 2022 and India in 2024. This signals a Yogi Adityanath-sized change in BJP politics, even under Mr Modi, Shekhar Gupta.
Modi said at a time when people are about to vote for the future of the state, "I want to offer you gratitude for your blessings and affections."
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
In UP and Bengal, it is willing to sacrifice its interests to stop the BJP and would work towards ensuring the BJP did not win incremental seats in Odisha and Telangana.
Modi said that unlike other parties that believe in keeping people weak so that their dependence on them never ends and their "crown" remains intact, the BJP believes in empowering them and making them independent.
'He felt that he had no place in the BJP and he was wrong.'
The prime minister will be part of the launch of several development initiatives on his birthday.
Referring to Modi, Adityanath and Union Home Minister Amit Shah as 'outsiders', the farmer leader said he has no objection if they become prime ministers after winning polls from Uttarakhand or Gujarat.
The resumption of drilling with the auger machine is likely to speed up the rescue efforts.
Counting for assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur was held on Thursday. Here's how the big names fared.
'Cracks continue to appear in more and more houses.' 'We believe the government is not going to tell us the truth.'
Since 2014, India has left its moorings as a pluralist, modern, secular State because that is how the BJP wants it to be, notes Aakar Patel.
'If such a practice were feasible, every state would seek additional funds, posing a significant risk to the overall health of the economy.'
'If the BJP doesn't want to accept the will of the people, then we will show them what a majority means.'
Ganesh Joshi also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the smooth conclusion of Rahul Gandhi's Yatra in Jammu and Kashmir.
"Given the constitutional crisis, I felt it was right for me to resign," Rawat said.
Governors must be impartial, fair, and above narrow politics to uphold the values and spirit of the Constitution. But in a rapidly changing political culture where the unstated rule is to crush the Opposition, such values have no meaning. At stake are Constitutional values, federalism and governance, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'This is about demolishing all that we have stood for as a nation after Independence. This is an attack on the nation's very foundation.'
What happened in Uttarakhand is a national tragedy. Why couldn't Dr Manmohan Singh announce that he was forming an Uttarakhand Relief and Rehabilitation Committee, with himself as chairman but inviting Narendra Modi to become the deputy chairman, asks T V R Shenoy.
In a tweet in Hindi, Rawat said, 'Isn't it strange that the organisational structure at most places, instead of extending a helping hand, is standing with its head turned away or playing a negative role at a time when I have to swim across the ocean of elections.'
As people queued up across these states to cast their vote, there were some famous faces in the lines at different polling stations.
The lawyers of the nine rebel Congress MLAs ahead of the trial of strength in Uttarakhand assembly as met Speaker Govind Singh Kunjwal in ab attempt to prevent action against them.
The BJP deputed Shah as observer to Uttar Pradesh, where Yogi Adityanath powered the party to an impressive victory and where there are no hurdles in the way of the priest-politician's second stint in power.
'BJP leaders are trying to save their lives in Punjab.'
'Now they're talking about changing the Constitution; they feel they have no reason now to hide their intentions.'
The win in UP is especially significant because UP assembly members carry the maximum value of votes in a Presidential election, given the fact that the state is India's most populous.
The BJP has bettered its show this time as its vote share in several states is well over 50 per cent, nothing short of a statistical wonder in Indian electoral history.
B C Khanduri was removed last year as chairman of the parliamentary standing committee on defence.
Introducing UCC is a challenging task for any government. The complexities are real and difficult to negotiate as it deals with sensitive religious and cultural sentiments. How can it strike an easy balance between individual rights and community interests?, asks Ramesh Menon.
UCC is a good step. It is being examined in the state, CM Jai Ram Thakur siad.
On Friday, the 65-year-old Dalit leader was sworn-in as an Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister.
