Lavasa, a career bureaucrat, joined as Election Commissioner on January 23, 2018, and being senior most on the poll panel would have become CEC in April next year after the term of incumbent Sunil Arora ends.
Rajasthan is all set to vote on Saturday to elect members of a new assembly with the Bharatiya Janata Party aiming to unseat the ruling Congress, which is fighting hard to change the trend of alternate governments in the state.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge on Friday said a decision on whether to oppose the Centre's ordinance on the control of administrative services in Delhi would be taken before the Parliament session.
The petition was filed ahead of the Chandigarh mayoral polls on Thursday. The polls for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor will be held.
'They just say we agree to your demands in the meetings, which is lip service. But on the ground they do not implement anything.'
The Shiromani Akali Dal chief said the passage of the Bills marks a 'sad day' for the 'country's millions and for democracy'.
The decision of its two oldest allies to walk out means that Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar, who is also president of the Janata Dal-United, is now the oldest BJP ally besides being the most powerful.
Ajit Pawar was seen as an heir-apparent in the NCP, but his dalliances with the Bharatiya Janata Party, including an early morning swearing-in as Maharashtra deputy chief minister along with chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in 2019, had not been received well by the party.
On one hand, South Indian states have been complaining about denial of a proportionate portion of the sharable funds from the Centre, based on population. On the other hand, they stand to lose Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha seats that again are based on population, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'Sadhavi Khosla was never formally part of the BJP IT cell.' 'Modi handles his own Twitter account.' 'On that handle, he follows many people to get a feel of the going ons on social media.'
There are concerns within the Congress with respect to the articulation of the party's demand for the caste census, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently accusing the grand old party of attempting to divide Hindus through its push for the Other Backward Classes.
Amid growing tension between India and Pakistan following Uri terror attack, Punjab has invited Pakistan along with other countries to participate in the 6th World Kabaddi Cup starting from November. However, Punjab Kabaddi Association which is organizing the event is not hopeful of granting visas to Pakistan players by the Centre in the wake of recent terror attack.
As many as 833 candidates are in the fray across 93 constituencies which will go to polls on December 5. Votes will be counted on December 8.
Harping on putting up a united front, the Congress alleged that democracy is being "mercilessly murdered" and MPs who raise people's issues are suspended from the House.
At the meeting, many parties urged the Congress to publicly denounce the ordinance but the Congress refused to do so, claimed AAP, adding that the grand old party's "silence raises suspicions about its real intentions".
Celebrations broke out outside the Rajasthan BJP headquarters in Jaipur and the party workers burst firecrackers and distributed sweets as Murmu emerged victorious in the presidential poll.
Senior BJP leaders Sushma Swaraj and Narendra Modi are sulking because they have a grouse against party president Nitin Gadkari, reports Sheela Bhatt.
What some of our leaders were up to this weekend.
Union Minister and Akali leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal on Wednesday blamed a "foreign hand" behind the turmoil in Punjab over the recent incidents of desecration of a Sikh holy book and said the government will expose such elements.
Besides in-charges, the party has also named co-incharges for several states, a BJP statement said.
The maharaja's win in Punjab after 10 years has also rekindled the hopes for the revival of the grand old party.
Counting for assembly polls in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur was held on Thursday. Here's how the big names fared.
'They have no incentive to be part of either the NDA or INDIA at this stage, but they may hedge their bets towards the winning coalition in the post-poll setting.'
A case of murder has been registered against six persons and one of the accused is also a Dalit.
The alliance would announce a coordination committee, which could be of 11 members from principal opposition parties.
His immediate challenge is the February 8 Delhi assembly polls followed by year-end elections in Bihar. However, his big test would be the next year's assembly polls in West Bengal, a state where the BJP has emerged as a strong challenger to Mamata Banerjee-headed TMC.
Navjot Sidhu has been given power and new and renewable energy sources, and his tourism and cultural affairs portfolio has been given to Charanjit Singh Channi.
'Revanth Reddy mounted a spirited campaign in Telangana which turned around the fortunes of the Congress in six months.'
The party has also expanded its list of spokesperson to 23, with MP Anil Baluni being elevated as the chief spokesperson and remaining its media head.
Stalin still enjoys a lot of sympathy and empathy as someone wishing well for the state, but not full-throated support as in 2019 and 2021, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Glimpses from the campaign trail on Thursday, February 17, 2022.
'It is very unfortunate that the AAP seems to be looking at the issue through the prism of rivalry with Congress in Delhi and Punjab'
'How and why did we lose so many seats in places where we were expected to win?'
After the Gujarat and Himachal elections and the municipal polls in Mumbai and Delhi, Karnataka, Rajasthan, MP and Chhattisgarh will elect new assemblies next year leading up to the Lok Sabha election in April-May 2024, points out Virendra Kapoor.
The BJP, whose campaign was focussed more on issues related to nationalism and Shaheen Bagh, failed to find support among voters.
KTR indirectly referred to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said the country does not need opposition unity on the basis of blind hatred against one party or one man, but on a positive model of governance
Several Oppn parties linked the mandate to CAA and NRC, saying people have demolished 'arrogance' of the BJP, which attributed its defeat to local issues and 'internal strife' in the state.
Per capita income in the state has consistently been below the national average for at least 24 years. However, it has narrowed the gap with the all-India level in recent years.
Delhi high court judge Justice S Muralidhar was on Wednesday transferred to the Punjab and Haryana high court. A government notification about the transfer was issued on Wednesday which said that after consultation with Chief Justice Sharad Arvind Bobde, President Ram Nath Kovind on Wednesday transferred Justice S Muralidhar, judge of the Delhi high court, as judge of Punjab and Haryana high court. The notification further said the President has directed Muralidhar to assume charge of his office in Punjab and Haryana high court.
The Aam Aadmi Party has claimed its internal survey has found it could win around 58 seats in the Gujarat assembly polls, likely to be held in December this year. The halfway mark in the state assembly is 92.
