The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Election Commission (EC) is duty bound to act in a fair and legal manner and a person who is weak-kneed before the powers cannot be appointed as an election commissioner.
'Why should Khargeji work against the Gandhis for the sake of proving his independence?'
On August 18, the apex court convicted Singh in the case, overturning the orders of the trial court and the Patna high court that had acquitted him.
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she suspects that the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP's poll campaign.
In the first part of an interview to rediff.com's Sheela Bhatt, Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Arun Jaitley spoke of his party's election campaign and the performance of the United Progressive Alliance government.
The petition has referred to the Centre's PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Scheme and other programmes announced by some state governments such as Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Odisha and Jharkhand which, it claimed, helped the parties in power at the Centre and states get political advantage in the recently concluded general elections.
Nearly 88 per cent of voting was recorded in the one-day Tripura assembly elections, which were "largely peaceful', a senior EC official said on Friday.
'What you need is a credible Opposition, a credible platform to persuade people to believe that it can replace this government.'
'You can attack and conspire to weaken us, but you cannot destroy the Congress permanently.'
Senior sports administrator Anil Khanna on Wednesday quit as acting president of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA), almost two weeks after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) refused to recognise any "acting/interim president".
Addressing the mediapersons, Mamata alleged, "It is genocide. We have decided to observe today as a black day. The forces fired on them directly. The Central Industrial Security Force is trained to provide security to industries and not to control a mob. I could not sleep last night but the prime minister was eating sweets. Such an incompetent government, incompetent prime minister, incompetent home minister."
The world body said it has been keeping an eye on the protest by the wrestlers against WFI president Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh.
In the 76 years since India gained independence, 53 recipients of the Bharat Ratna have been there. That's less than one every year, which is a healthy ratio given there is the sanctity of this gem of an award to preserve. But four recipients for the year were announced in a few days in addition to one announced earlier. That took the total number in 2024 to five in less than a month, the highest for any year, post-Independence, notes Shyam G Menon.
Freebies promised by political parties in their election manifestos shake the roots of free and fair polls, the Supreme Court on Friday said and directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines for regulating contents of manifestos.
For the last four years since abrogation of Article 370, Kashmir-based political parties have been struggling to forge an alternate narrative to the one forcibly snatched from them. The BJP is bound to go hammer and tongs at them now that their armoury is reinforced with the Supreme Court judgment, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the veteran commentator on Kashmir affairs.
The Congress on Friday said it did not participate in the Constitution Day event in the central hall of Parliament in protest and to remind the country that the Constitution is not being respected and is being undermined instead.
Top leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday met the Election Commissioner to lodge their protest against the Centre's announcement of the direct cash transfer scheme ahead of Gujarat elections and demanded its withdrawal. Led by party leader L K Advani and Leaders of Opposition Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley, the BJP delegation questioned the timing of the announcement and demanded its withdrawal to ensure free and fair elections in Gujarat.
'The government has been anti our civilisational values.' 'My fear would be that they erode that some more to have their way and to consolidate their power.'
For people with disabilities, a mobile application called 'Saksham' has been introduced, which they can login to and choose the option to vote.
The sector may be overcrowded with a fair number of large players and the entry of the Adani Group through its two key acquisitions, followed by the takeover of majority stake in Sanghi Industries via Ambuja Cements. Since every major player is in expansion mode, there could be a capacity surplus and hence, price wars.
Justice Rastogi asks Mehta if he thinks that in the absence of law, whatever appointments are being made in a process are appropriate.
'The time has come for all those believe in a democratic India to stand up and be counted and to make a choice.'
Senior Congress leader Shashi Tharoor has written to the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry seeking the publication of electoral rolls for the upcoming election to the post of All India Congress Committee president, sources said.
'For the first time since the War of 1812, the United States Capitol was breached today'
The PM is seen as slipping up in confidence levels as aired by his 'exposure' of the BRS on a crucial issue as alliance negotiations, which is not done under normal circumstances, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
A five-judge Constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph said the concepts of liberty, equality and fraternity must not be "strange bedfellows" to the ruling class.
Former United States President Donald Trump sexually abused and defamed author and advice columnist E Jean Carroll in 1996, a Manhattan federal jury has found and awarded her $5 million for battery and defamation, a verdict that may hurt him in his 2024 bid to regain the White House.
The Congress needs to reorganise itself at the grassroots, infuse younger blood, and have more boots on the ground. Just offering freebies is not the answer anymore. Leadership matters, asserts Ramesh Menon.
'Das is friendly, but he finally does what he does. The quality of engagement is very good.'
An Indian student has claimed that he was disqualified from the London School of Economics (LSE) Students' Union elections as a result of a deliberately orchestrated smear campaign because of his Indian and Hindu identity.
Will a caste census make tens of millions desert Mr Modi?, asks Shekhar Gupta.
Member of Parliament Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said the president was the "supreme authority' in the Congress and whoever got elected to the post would decide on the way forward (for the party).
'From what evidence has come up, General Bajwa somehow managed to tell the Americans that I was anti-American.' 'And so, it [the plan to oust me] wasn't imported from there. It was exported from here to there.'
'He's charismatic, a populist, very popular, and indeed a cult of personality.' 'That ensures a powerful reaction from his support base -- even if it's not sustained, it will be quite intense, and that's worrisome for stability.'
A delegation of the Progressive Party of Maldives led by its presidential candidate, Abdulla Yamin Abdul Gayoom called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday.
'Barring Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the BJP will may make inroads in Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana in 2024.'
'Priyanka has done very well in Bollywood and Hollywood. But had she joined politics, it might have been a different story altogether. Given how ambitious she was, she would have made a good youth leader. She might even have launched her own party,' says Sathya Saran
In a bid to ensure free and fair elections and curb the use of money power, the Election Commission has disqualified as many as 2,171 candidates for failing to furnish details of expenditure incurred while contesting Parliamentary and assembly polls.
BJP candidate Akash Saxena defeated his Samajwadi Party rival Asim Raja by 33,702 votes.
'It will dictate the flow of funds into the index. We will maintain caution on mid/smallcaps.'
