AICC general secretary K C Venugopal announced that the INDIA bloc will stage a major protest in Delhi on Monday to protect voting rights, following meetings with the President and a planned meeting with the Chief Justice of India. He accused PM Modi and Amit Shah of attempting to protect Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and criticised the Centre for denying an AIIMS facility to Keralam despite past assurances. Venugopal affirmed the bloc's commitment to ensuring free and fair elections and expressed hope for AIIMS if they come to power.
The INDIA bloc is escalating its protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, planning further actions and seeking an urgent meeting with President Droupadi Murmu.
Opposition parties, led by Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge, plan to march to the Supreme Court on Monday to meet the Chief Justice of India. They aim to submit a memorandum regarding alleged 'vote chori' and demand CEC Gyanesh Kumar's resignation, halting of SIR, and a return to paper ballots. The protest follows widespread detentions during previous demonstrations, which the opposition condemns as an assault on democracy.
The Congress party staged nationwide protests, demanding the immediate arrest and removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The party accused the Election Commission of an "unprecedented attack" on voter equality through an alleged 'Mark VIP' feature and called for an independent review of decisions made under Kumar, citing objections from other commissioners regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Congress party has demanded the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, alleging "vote chori" and treason, following a media report revealing that two other Election Commissioners had formally objected to decisions regarding the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge have accused the BJP, RSS, and EC of undermining democracy, citing concerns over voter list tampering and lack of transparency.
The Congress party has launched nationwide protests against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, demanding his removal. Accusing him of acting in favour of the BJP and citing alleged irregularities in electoral roll revisions (SIR), party workers burned effigies and clashed with police. Opposition parties plan further action, including a meeting of the INDIA bloc to strategize for his ouster.
The Congress party has formally appealed to the Election Commission, demanding an immediate reversal of the rejection of Meenakshi Natarajan's nomination for the Rajya Sabha polls, labelling the decision as 'egregious' and a 'subversion of democracy'.
Kerala's voters are sophisticated, educated, and unforgiving. They have once again made it clear that no government is entitled to remain in power. The Congress would do well to remember this, points out Ramesh Menon.
Top Congress leaders attacked the BJP and election commissioners at a rally in Delhi, alleging election irregularities and demanding action against those involved in 'vote chori'.
The Congress on Tuesday claimed that there are "far deeper reasons" for Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation as the vice president than the health reasons cited by him, and said his resignation speaks highly of him but poorly of those who got him elected to the post.
'Innocent lives lost. Tourists, families, people who were just... living. Seeking beauty. Seeking peace. And now there's only grief.'
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is expected to achieve a clear majority in Rajya Sabha after bye-elections for 12 seats scheduled next month, which would help the party get the nod for key legislations such as the Waqf (Amendment) Bill.
The only occasion when the BJP had 100 seats in the Upper House was in 2022.
Gandhi was seen sitting behind a few rows of seats, which were occupied by members of the Indian contingent that took part in the recently-held Paris Games.
This has affected all political activity of the party, Maken said at a press conference.
Union ministers Ravneet Singh Bittu and George Kurian were elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha Tuesday along with senior Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi and former minister Upendra Kushwaha.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has convened a meeting of party general secretaries and state in-charges on March 26 to discuss organisational elections, the party's membership drive and the current political situation besides planning agitational programmes.
The interim panel headed by him would take the place of the Congress Working Committee, the apex decision-making body, till a new CWC is formed after Kharge's election is ratified at the party plenary.
From the 'group of 23' leaders, who had written letter to Gandhi seeking Congress' overhaul, Azad and Sharma continue to be regular members of the CWC,
Gearing up for the assembly polls next year, the Congress on Wednesday constituted the election committee for Uttar Pradesh, which includes state unit chief Ajay Kumar Lallu and former Union ministers Salman Khurshid, Rajeev Shukla and R P N Singh.
Meanwhile, Kamra has refused to retract his controversial tweets against the Supreme Court or apologise for them, saying he believes they "speak for themselves".
The leaders who Gandhi met included Deputy Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Anand Sharma and Lok Sabha MP Manish Tewari. She is likely to meet some other leaders of the G-23 as well in the coming days.
According to party sources, the Congress Legislature Party meeting lasted for about an hour and a half.
'If the platform is public, then every Indian regardless of his ideology and commitment has got the right to convey his view'
Gandhi met the president and handed over a memorandum signed by two crore farmers demanding a repeal of the laws, saying they will not benefit farmers or labourers.
The BJP had replaced Raj from the North West Delhi Lok Sabha constituency with Punjabi Sufi singer Hans Raj Hans.
Scindia, who is now with the BJP and took oath as a member from Madhya Pradesh, greeted his bete noire before taking oath. Scindia and Singh had differences that led to Scindia quitting the Congress. Scindia also greeted Congress leaders Mallikarjun Kharge and Ghulam Nabi Azad.
The division bench completed the hearing of arguments and said it will pronounce its order on Friday, requesting the Speaker too to extend his deadline for accepting the MLAs replies to the notices. The notices had followed a Congress complaint that the 19 MLAs should be disqualified from the assembly for defying a party whip.
The highlight of the five-hour meeting, which ended with a plan to hold a 'chintan shivir' at the earliest opportunity to chalk the Congress' future strategy, was a demand by Sonia Gandhi's loyalists that Rahul Gandhi should assume the party leadership again.
Bansal has been named as the 39th prosecution witness in the case in which Singla, the then Member (Staff) of Railway Board Mahesh Kumar and eight others have been chargesheeted for the offence of criminal conspiracy under the IPC and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
The Congress, which criticised the amendment, walked out of Rajya Sabha saying it is dissatisfied with the home minister's reply on the amendment to the SPG Act.
'For some South Asians, it may be tempting to think "I'm not Muslim, this doesn't really affect me".' 'But please know, it affects all of us,' says Arun Venugopal, a reporter at WNYC in New York.
The SC asked Gujarat Congress 'why is it so late in raising question over the use of NOTA'.
Gandhi, on the other hand, has also reached out directly to the party workers in the three states to know their top choice for the chief minister post through an internal mobile messaging app, party leaders said.
