'Union Budgets are often used as political instruments and that was the intention of this government too.' 'But while the exercise has settled two fronts, it has left open several others and this has the potential to aggravate with time,' predicts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
This time Modi has no emotive message to take to the stump. Muscular nationalism doesn't work against the backdrop of China's successive inroads into Indian territory. Rising prices is a sore point that cuts across class and caste barriers; unprecedented levels of unemployment has the youth in a ferment. This has reduced the BJP campaign to a laundry list of recycled grievances and thinly veiled communal appeals, neither of which are working as well as they have in the past, argues Prem Panicker.
During a session titled 'Sustaining Democracy; Nurturing Democracy', he claimed that tightening the already stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in a way that kept people like Siddique Kappan in jail for two years without bail is one of the many ways the current dispensation has 'managed to depart from the democratic spirit of the Constitution'.
The interesting bit about the Azamgarh poll finding on India TV was the whopping percentage of Muslims backing the SP-BSP alliance, which sort of negates Mayawati's appeal to the community to not split their vote with the Congress, says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
'There is one way to defeat the intention behind this directive: To patronise Muslim establishments that have been forced to identify themselves.' 'This is one opportunity for the Congress to show that the 'mohabbat ki dukaan' its leader talks about does exist.' 'Can Akhilesh Yadav, who has asked the court to take note of this directive, order his party members to do this?' asks Jyoti Punwani.
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
Counting of votes for the high stakes assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry began on Thursday morning with trends expected to be available by 11am.
The Delhi high court on Thursday sought response of the Centre and the Election Commission on a plea seeking to ensure that masks are worn mandatorily by everyone involved in poll campaigns during the ongoing elections in various states and union territories.
The plea said the grounds for disqualification ought to be specific with the nature of offences as specified under the CrPC and not in a "blanket form", as is currently in force according to section 8(3) of the 1951 Act.
A Ganesh Nadar shares interesting vignettes that usually get lost in the heat-and-dust of election coverage.
The Law Commission said it values the input of all stakeholders and aims to create an "inclusive environment that encourages active engagement".
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
As many as 163 workers of Kitex garments have been arrested for the Christmas day violence at Kizhakkambalam area of Ernakulam district, a move which the company's managing director claimed was targeted to harm him, his business and his political outfit.
Sandeshkhali, a village in North 24 Parganas district of West Bengal, has been at the centre of a political storm for nearly a month and has witnessed unprecedented protests over allegations of sexual abuse by scores of women against a local Trinamool Congress leader.
The Act deals with automatic disqualification of MPs and state legislators upon being convicted and sentenced for two years or more in a criminal case.
A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian said the Kerala Police Act was the successor legislation of certain police enactments of the colonial era which aimed at scuttling the democratic aspirations of the indigenous population.
Deriving from Narendra Modi's continuing charisma, the proposed scheme, if and when implemented, can cut both ways. That is to say, if Modi can win, he can lose. Or, someone else in his place, later on, could lose as much as he could win in his time, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
Trinamool Congress will go it alone in next month's Assembly election in West Bengal, party supremo Mamata Banerjee on Friday said and declared the list of TMC candidates which included sports personalities, actors and journalists.
The recently concluded assembly polls in the four states -- Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and one Union Territory -- Puducherry saw a blatant use of money power. But interestingly, the newly elected members of Legislative have claimed in their expense statements submitted to the Election Commission that their expenditure was well below the prescribed limit.
The six week-wait for who will rule Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Puducherry, Assam and West Bengal will end on Friday as counting of votes for assembly elections begins.
The None of the Above option, like previous polls, had few takers in the assembly elections to West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Assam and Puducherry.
Modi's BJP has promised more revdis or freebies for these assembly elections than ever before, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
'What do you think the Congress is today?' 'Is it a political party heading for a life-and-death battle?' 'Or an NGO, just doing its thing and hoping it will improve the state of the world?' asks Shekhar Gupta.
While the term of 288-member Maharashtra assembly ends on November 9, that of the 90-member Haryana assembly expires on November 2.
'If he has not achieved 'Congress mukt Bharat' even now, the question of his creating a 'DMK mukt Tamil Nadu' does not arise,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
RS member Derek O'Brien said due to the polls, MPs of his party would not be able to attend the Parliament session.
The commission will tour Pondicherry on March 27 and Tamil Nadu on March 28 and 29 to review preparations.
The total income of national and regional parties from unknown sources for 2020-21 stands at Rs 690.67 crore.
Tamil Nadu topped the tally of total seizure of cash where a latest Election Commission data said the figure went up to Rs 112.89 crore.
On poll eve, both the BJP and the Congress claimed they were headed towards a majority and would form the government.
Acting on the suggestions of political parties, the Election Commission will conduct a field trial of paper backup in the EVMs in a "simulated election" at five locations on July 24. The field trial of 'Vote Verifiable Paper Audit Trail' would be held in Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala), Cherrapunjee (Meghalaya), East Delhi (Delhi) and Jaisalmer (Rajasthan). The decision to go in for a field trial has been taken by the EC.
The Election Commission will hold biennial elections on February 13 to seven Rajya Sabha seats, including those held by Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi and Saif-ud-Din Soz as also National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah. Elections would be held for four seats in Jammu and Kashmir and three in Kerala.
By keeping the Sanatana Dharma row alive and adding the Ayodhya temple consecration scheduled for January 22 and adding the free darshan promise from four polled states to the entire country, the BJP may have a self-fulfilling concoction, predicts N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Election Commission has decided to set up call centres across in the five poll-bound states -- Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry -- which will operate round the clock. These centres will receive complaints about the violation of the model code of conduct by the various candidates and their supporters.
The Madras high court on Monday came down hard on the Election Commission and called it the "the most irresponsible institution" for the alleged spread of the second wave of Covid-19 in the country.
Maharashtra is the BRS' first target.
Candidates or their agents who have received both the doses of Covid-19 vaccine can also enter the counting hall on May 2 when votes for Assam, West Bengal, Kerala, Puducherry and Tamil Nadu will be counted, according to the guidelines issued on Wednesday.
Polling to elect representatives to the 140-member Kerala assembly, 232-member Tamil Nadu assembly and the 30-member Puducherry territorial assembly began at 7 am on Monday.
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.
The Election Commission has a fight on its hand as candidates use ingenious methods to smuggle in money to Voters.
