Periscope: Grind begins for Prez election

In other news, SC will decide Advani's fate this week and the Indus Water Treaty will be discussed

Ahead of the election for President, all vacancies in the electoral college, which comprises members of legislative assemblies, legislative councils, and the Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha, have to be filled. Accordingly, the Election Commission has begun the process of doing so, resulting in a marathon round (another one) of by-elections.

Assam, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Rajasthan, West Bengal and Delhi will be holding elections for nine Assembly constituencies on April 9 and the counting will be on April 13. The last date of withdrawal of names of candidates is March 24. Three parliamentary constituencies, Malappuram (Kerala), Anantnag and Srinagar (Jammu & Kashmir), will see elections on April 9 and 12; the results will be out on April 17 and 15, respectively. In Sikkim and Tamil Nadu, which have one Assembly by election each, the poll will be on April 12 and counting on April 15. Thus, by April 15, all vacant seats will have been filled.  The Tamil Nadu election will see T T V Dinakaran contesting the vacancy for the RK Nagar constituency, represented by late chief minister Jayalalithaa. Dinakaran is nephew of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader V K Sasikala, currently in jail.

Fate of Advani hangs in balance

On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is likely to take a final decision on whether the charges against Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani and others will be revived. The decision of the Allahabad High Court to acquit Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Uma Bharati and others has been challenged by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Babri Masjid, a 16th century mosque in Ayodha, was demolished by a mob on December 6, 1992. Advani and Joshi were present when the mosque was pulled down.

Real job starts for Palaniswamy 

The Budget session of the Tamil Nadu legislative assembly, which began last week, will end on March 24. It was E Palaniswamy’s first Budget as chief minister.  

From March 20, the Assembly will take up debate on the Budget. It will continue till the final day and wind up with the reply. With this important issue out of the way, Palaniswamy will be free to address other issues of governance. His performance will be watched. Palaniswamy is yet to call on Sasikala in jail.

Parley on Indus treaty

The governments of India and Pakistan will hold talks on various aspects of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in Lahore on Monday and Tuesday.    

The meeting of the Permanent Indus Commission (PIC) will take place nearly six months after Delhi decided to suspend talks on the pact, in the wake of the Uri terrorist attack by Pakistan-based outfits.

The meeting is being held “as the IWT, 1960, makes it mandatory” to hold parleys under the pact at least once in a financial year.

India’s Indus water commissioner and ministry of external affairs officials will be part of the delegation for the annual meeting. The previous meeting of the PIC was in May 2015 in Delhi.

India had earlier downplayed its participation in an upcoming meeting in Pakistan to discuss sharing of Indus river water, saying it did not amount to resumption of government-level Indo-Pak talks. The dialogue was stalled following terrorist strikes by Pak-based groups. Declaring “blood and water cannot flow together”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had held a meeting in September to review the treaty. After the meeting, officials had announced the government could suspend further talks and increase the utilisation of rivers flowing through Jammu and Kashmir, to fully exercise India’s rights under the pact. 

   

The Commission, which has officials from both countries as members, was set up under the treaty to discuss and resolve issues relating to its implementation. It is mandated to meet alternately in India and Pakistan.