Several opposition leaders on Sunday criticised the bill on the appointment and service conditions of the chief election commissioner and election commissioners at an all-party meeting as "anti-Constitution" and "anti-democratic", sources said.
West Bengal Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi will discharge the functions of the Governor of Bihar, in addition to his own duties.
The Bharatiya Janata Party has denied a Rajya Sabha ticket to popular actor Shatrughan Sinha. Instead, the party accommodated former health minister Dr C P Thakur. "The party has decided that popular leaders should be saved for the party campaign in the Lok Sabha elections," Anant Kumar told reporters when asked why Sinha was denied a nomination.
The first list has 10 Patel or Patidar faces, 11 tribals, 10 OBCs and five SCs.
The BJP on Sunday authorised its president J P Nadda and Union minister Rajnath Singh to hold consultations with different political parties, including those in the opposition, on the president's election, in what is being seen as an outreach by the ruling party to arrive at a consensus on the choice for the top constitutional post.
Political observers are keen to see if the BJP will now be guided by its more firmly entrenched ideological dominance in picking a face solidly identified with its core planks, or if it will choose a person tilted more to its electoral calculations. Or, whether its pick will be an ode to its core supporters or a outreach to relatively new groups of votaries.
While Amitabh owned properties worth Rs 190 crore, Jaya had Rs 37 crore in movable and immovable properties, according to an affidavit filed by her along with the nomination papers.
This was revealed in their affidavits filed along with the nominations for the June 15 Rajya Sabha elections.
According to an official source, Dr Singh will arrive in Guwahati on May 8 to file his nomination papers next day. A team of his Special Protection Group has already arrived here to look after the security arrangements for the PM's trip.
Sources said the process was stuck since Rahul Gandhi is not willing to contest the election for the post of Congress president, although all the efforts to convince him are still going on.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh does not own any land, agricultural or non-agricultural, but owns a 1996 model Maruti 800 car and has movable assets, including fixed deposits, of over Rs 3.87 crore.
Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh's Rajya Sabha term is ending next month. There is virtually no doubt that Manmohan would get re-nominated from Assam but a section of the Congress is said to be "hoping against hope" that he opts out.
There is rat race among Congress party leaders in Assam to secure nomination to contest in one of the two Rajya Sabha seats election to which will be held on May 30.
'Play safe and persist with an ailing Sonia Gandhi as interim chief and wait for an opportune moment to foist the crown prince yet again,' predicts Virendra Kapoor.
In a boost to the claims of two Congress candidates, the Election Commission directed the returning officer of the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh to consider afresh rejected nomination papers for scrutiny.
Manash Borah, the Congress candidate in Gauhati Lok Sabha constituency, has reasons to feel special for two reasons.
The affidavit goes on to inform that the BJP chief does not own a car.
God of Cricket Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar and ever-sensual actress Rekha are not the only celebrities nominated to the Rajya Sabha this time. The feat has also been achieved by Pune-based industrialist and social worker Anu Agha.
With a possible defeat staring at him, independent candidate Anshuman Mishra on Wednesday said he would withdraw on Thursday from the race for Rajya Sabha polls from Jharkhand after the Bharatiya Janata Party asked its members of Parliament not to vote for him.
"I have already said whatever I have had to say. Now the government has to decide. Mukul Roy will be our candidate for the Railway minister," Mamata said during the filing of nominations for Rajya Sabha elections by Roy, the Union minister of state for Shipping, and three others.
Wayanad will continue to support Rahul but not to the same extent as in 2019, when his margin of victory had been enormous. Articulate, to the point and speaking in fluent Malayalam, CPI's Annie Raja, had the people who gathered to see her, listening in rapt attention, notes Shyam G Menon.
The notice to Bachchan has been issued by the principal secretary of the Uttar Pradesh Vidhan Sabha.
Presidential secretariat seeks appropriate action on the issue
Leaders of a number of opposition parties on Tuesday met twice after which they decided to put up a united fight for the post.
Triggering a heated debate over her candidature, actress Hema Malini on Monday entered the fray from Karnataka for the lone Rajya Sabha seat, even as the opposition joined hands to support noted writer K Marulasiddappa for the position.
Seventeen members, including new and re-elected ones, took oath in Rajya Sabha, which reassembled after a month-long break, on Thursday.
Arun Jaitley, who is recovering from a kidney ailment, attended the proceedings after a long gap.
Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari reveal that Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar's name is now doing the rounds as President Kovind's likely successor.
The Joint Parliamentary Committee report on 2G spectrum scam, which was to have been tabled in Lok Sabha on September 30 is further delayed until the Winter Session of Parliament.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
Rajya Sabha on Monday witnessed two adjournments during the pre-lunch sitting following uproar over Centre sending a team of officials to West Bengal to assess the situation in the state after a spate of violence.
Major political parties in Uttar Pradesh on Saturday ensured victory for all their candidates despite cross voting in Rajya Sabha biennial polls in which senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal emerged triumphant against the Bharatiya Janata Party-backed Independent socialite Preeti Mahapatra.
Sitharaman's nomination is a surprise because since long many RS vacancies from Gujarat are filled by non-Gujaratis like Arun Jaitley and Venkaiah Naidu. A senior Congress leader from Gujarat told rediff.com, "Considering that Narendra Modi is one of the strongest chief ministers that Gujarat has ever seen, the frequent nomination of non-Gujaratis to the Rajya Sabha shows that even in the BJP the party high command of New Delhi dominates in certain issues."
Varun, by remaining silent on the BJP action against him but at the same time remaining unperturbed and active, has shown that he is no pushover, observe Sunil Gatade and Venkatesh Kesari.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
Ambani has bank deposits worth Rs 80.63 lakh and cash amounting to Rs 4.13 lakh, according to the declaration made by him at the time of filing his nomination in Lucknow.
Senior Congress leader and former sports minister Mani Shanker Aiyer has slammed the current United Progressive Alliance government under Dr Manmohan Singh for the huge amount of 'wasteful expenditure' being incurred on the Commonwealth games, saying that if a part of this money had been spent on the Bhopal Gas victims it would have brought the affected 'some relief'.
It would be a difficult task for the Indian economy to reach the $5-trillion mark a year before the International Monetary Fund (IMF) projection of 2026-27. Pankaj Chaudhary, minister of state for finance, said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that the government is taking steps to make the country a $5-trillion economy at a date earlier than the IMF's projection. In that context, it would not be difficult to meet the projection in the third quarter of FY27.
