The specter of how the Munambam issue was exploited during the November by-elections is proof of the price Kerala is paying for its emergent politics. Controversies become the stuff of slow-burn and brinkmanship. The former promises mileage; the latter searches for an advantage, notes Shyam G Menon.
Banerjee had on Wednesday said an amendment to existing laws will be passed in the state assembly next week to ensure capital punishment to convicted rapists.
A two-day special session of the West Bengal assembly was convened by the government on September 2 to table and pass a Bill which would provide for capital punishment to convicted rapists, Parliamentary Affairs minister Sovandeb Chattopadhyay said. The Bill would be tabled for discussion and passage on Tuesday, the second day of the special session, Speaker Biman Banerjee said.
Senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is expected to visit Wayanad in Kerala on June 12, party sources said on Monday.
In 2019, an all-party meeting was held in Delhi and it was attended by 19 political parties to discuss critical reforms in governance. One of the subjects of the discussions was simultaneous elections
All eyes are now on the Sena factions, led by CM Shinde, backed by the BJP, and his predecessor Uddhav Thackeray, and their performance in the coastal belt in the November 20 polls.
The Raj Thackeray-led MNS senses an opportunity after the Shiv Sena-UBT candidate's lead fell to less than 7,000 votes in the Worli assembly segment during the recent Lok Sabha polls.
The governor has also started using a bullet-proof car since Tuesday morning, the sources told PTI.
The deputy chief minister called for the "strictest of strict" action against perpetrators of such crimes.
The ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra is heavily banking upon a six to 10 per cent shift in voters -- mostly women -- in its favour to return to power with anywhere between 160 and 170 assembly seats, say four MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena.
'Nitish Kumar may take a decision to dump the BJP alliance by November.'
The family members of Badlapur sexual assault case accused Akshay Shinde have challenged the police claim that he fired at a policeman first following which cops fired in self-defence which led to his death.
An official said Akshay Shinde, who worked as a cleaner at the school, was being taken to Badlapur from Taloja jail for investigation.
The T20 World Cup-winning Indian team returned to New Delhi from Barbados on Thursday morning to a euphoric reception.
Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said his party will throw more weight behind its Mahayuti partners Nationalist Congress Party and Shiv Sena in the upcoming state polls and denied reports of a 'friendly fight' proposal for seats where there is a tussle among allies.
One should not allow politics to enter home, Pawar, who is currently on a statewide 'Jan Samman Yatra', told Marathi news channel Jai Maharashtra.
The Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray on Tuesday fielded Milind Narvekar, a close aide of party chief Uddhav Thackeray, in the biennial elections to 11 seats from the legislative council, taking the number of candidates in the fray to 12.
'We are not secessionists, we want to coexist with our countrymen but not on the terms that will strip us off our dignity and a right to peaceful existence.'
Bucking anti-incumbency, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pulled off a hat-trick of wins in Haryana to retain power and halt Congress' comeback attempt in the assembly elections, results of which were announced on Tuesday.
A migrant worker from West Bengal was allegedly beaten to death in Haryana's Charkhi Dadri district over suspicion that he had eaten beef, police said on Saturday, adding they have arrested five members of a cow vigilante group for the attack.
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
Abdullah said they are claiming that terrorism is over but the ground situation shows that it has increased in otherwise peaceful Jammu region.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
'Leave aside the negative fallouts of phraseology like 'urban Naxals' and 'terrorists', both the BJP and the Congress have to re-discover themselves in the context of the 2024 election results, including those of the upcoming ones for Maharashtra and Jharkhand,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Haryana is witnessing a multi-cornered contest this time, with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party facing anti-incumbency and a resurgent Congress.
The Election Commission is considering advancing the polls by a month to avoid the May heat, reports R Rajagopalan.
Voicing his support for the farmers' protest in India, the Speaker of Wisconsin State Assembly has urged the Indian government to reconsider its decision on the three farm laws and listen to the concerns of the affected farmers.
The NCP chief has not concealed his ambition to occupy the top post in the state in the past.
Congress leaders, on their part, are confident that the mobilisation of voters away from the BJP will gain more momentum in the state elections, scheduled for October 1, in the absence of national issues and the 'Modi factor'.
Pawar also said it is the moral responsibility of the major Opposition parties in Maharashtra to protect in the state assembly polls the interests of smaller allies, which were part of the coalition in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
'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.
'Every Haryana assembly seat has its own unique problems to earn victory for a political party and you as a politician need to know what are those issues and tackle it.'
Malik used to criticise the BJP-led Central government and the then opposition leader in Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, when he was a cabinet minister in the erstwhile MVA government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Fadnavis also conceded that issues of coordination exist with the Shiv Sena and the NCP.
Under the Eknath Shinde government's flagship 'Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana', eligible women in the state will be given Rs 1,500 per month.
Amid deepening schisms within the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Haryana over poll ticket distribution, party leader Karan Dev Kamboj on Wednesday indicated that the rebellion could have been prevented if Chief Minister Nayab Saini had a 'say' on the allocation process.
Kangana Ranaut, the BJP candidate for Mandi, held a roadshow in the constituency on Sunday, April 21, 2024.
The Badlapur school, where two young girls were allegedly sexually abused, preferred to cover up the crime instead of helping their parents file a police complaint, said Susieben Shah, chairperson of Maharashtra State Commission for Protection of Child Rights, on Wednesday.
On a day a sexual abuse case was registered against actor Siddique based on a complaint by a woman actor, the Left government appears to have adopted a cautious approach in the case of MLA Mukesh, with two ministers indicating that further action hinges on the findings of the probe by the special police team.
'There was a time when a movie star could win an election just by stepping into politics. That era is over.'
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