In an unusually hard-hitting response to criticism against it in a United States government report on religious freedom, India on Friday described the findings as 'deeply biased', visibly driven by 'votebank' considerations and a mix of imputations and selective usage of facts.
Activist Manoj Jarange on Monday announced he was withdrawing his 17-day-old fast undertaken over the Maratha quota issue, but insisted he would continue his agitation until the Maharashtra government starts issuing Kunbi caste certificates to extended family members of people already having such documents, thereby allowing them to avail of reservation benefits.
Every trick in the trade is being tried unabashedly.
In simple arithmetical terms every possible 'arrangement' is being made to deny a majority to its rivals. A split verdict would hand a vital advantage to the BJP which is adept at extracting the best out of such a situation, notes Mohammad Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir affairs.
Announcing the decision at the party headquarters in Hyderabad on Tuesday, All India Congress Committee general secretary K C Venugopal said the swearing-in will take place on December 7 in Hyderabad.
he Punjab government had also sought a judicial declaration that the assembly session held on June 19 and 20 was "legal and that the business transacted by the House is valid".
The turbulent relations between Rajya Sabha Chairman Jagdeep Dhankhar and INDIA bloc parties came to a head on Friday with sources saying that the opposition is considering submitting a notice for moving a resolution to remove the vice president from his office.
The Congress' top leadership will deliberate on the Lok Sabha election results and chalk out its future strategy at a crucial meeting of the party's working committee on Saturday.
The parliamentary election result was also to prove that the Maldivians want "autonomy in choosing their future, without foreign coercion," President Muizzu said, without naming any country, according to the Sun.mv news portal.
He said the "switch" to the Sharad Pawar-led outfit has started in the form of ex-corporators, referring to the resignation of Ajit Pawar-led NCP's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit chief Ajit Gavhane and two former corporators.
Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) leader Lalduhoma was sworn in as the chief minister of Mizoram on Friday.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said on Friday that he would first speak with Nawab Malik to understand the former minister's position about his political affiliation before explaining his Nationalist Congress Party group's stand on the matter.
What is to be done to resist the twin thrusts of the BJP's ideology, majoritarian and a strong centripetal instinct against federalism? asks Aakar Patel.
The notice requested Rashid or a representative of his to appear before the district expenditure monitoring committee within two days to address the discrepancy and ensure timely submission of the expenditure report to the Election Commission of India.
Sources in the Raje camp said she would be meeting the party high command on Thursday.
Along with Sharma, Diya Kumari and Prem Chand Bairwa, who were named as deputy chief ministers in the recently held Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party meeting, will take oath.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
The judgment will impact a sizeable number of people in the state, according to a lawyer involved in the matter.
The minority judgment of the 1998 verdict has highlighted the prima facie absurdity in the paradox created by the majority judgment, it said.
According to police, Salian (28) allegedly committed suicide by jumping from a high-rise building in Malad area of Mumbai on June 8, 2020.
The newly elected Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs in Rajasthan will meet in Jaipur on Tuesday to formally pick the next chief minister of the state, ending days of suspense after the party won the assembly elections.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday picked first-time MLA Bhajan Lal Sharma as Rajasthan's new chief minister, ending days of speculation that followed its victory in the assembly polls.
The PDP looks a distant third in the race, observes Mohammed Sayeed Malik, the distinguished commentator on Kashmir politics.
There is a rise in the number of women elected to the state legislatures in 2023 compared to 2018, except in Rajasthan.
Mamata Banerjee was on Friday unanimously elected as the leader of the Trinamool Congress legislature party at its meeting in Kolkata.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
A day after his landslide victory in the Bihar assembly polls, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar was on Thursday elected as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance legislature party in the 15th Bihar assembly.
The assembly also witnessed a brief adjournment after the ruling alliance members pointed to remarks of Jarange and alleged there was a conspiracy to create unrest in the state.
Holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer, officials said on Friday.
'It is our right to not go there and pay a visit. It is the prerogative of every party on whether to visit a particular place or not'
The Cauvery Supervisory Committee had on September 19 asked Karnataka to release 3,000 cusecs per day but the Apex Court had on September 20 doubled the quantum.
'I had told Fadnavisji that I will be with the party till the Lok Sabha election and I will give my 100 per cent to campaign for the BJP. But ultimately I will have to take this decision (to quit the BJP).' 'When I requested him to see this from the point of view of an elder brother, he could not say anything more after that.'
The state government said these bills had been pending with the governor for as long as about two years and his action "subverted" the functioning of the state legislature, rendering its very existence "ineffective and otiose".
A Division Bench headed by Chief Justice K Vinod Chandran passed the order on a bunch of petitions which had opposed the legislations brought by the Nitish Kumar government in November 2023.
Somnath called the Court's action of sending notices as 'not called for'.
While the governor gave his assent to the significant public health bill, he has reserved seven bills, including the controversial University Amendment Bill, for presidential assent, Raj Bhavan said on Tuesday.
Jarange had also claimed that a poisoning attempt was made against him through saline, though he did not elaborate on it.
The announcement, made at the end of a speech of more than one hour in Antarwali Sarati in Jalna in which Jarange made several allegations against Fadnavis, took his supporters by surprise.
Climate activist Soman Wangchuk announced on Sunday that he will launch a 28-day fast on Independence Day if the government does not invite Ladakh authorities for talks on demands for statehood and constitutional protection for the union territory.
She said that if she asked to discuss it with Rahul Gandhi, he would not come. He would not be able to stand even in front of an ordinary worker of the BJP.
He also sought framing of a law to identify Kunbis as Marathas, and warned of fielding candidates from all 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra in the upcoming state polls if his demands were not approved.
