Page 20 - Election

107 MPs, MLAs & 480 candidates have hate speech cases against them: ADR

A total of 107 MPs and MLAs have hate speech cases against them and 480 candidates with such cases have contested elections in the last five years, according to poll rights body Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The ADR and National Election Watch (NEW) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of all the incumbent MPs and MLAs, besides the unsuccessful candidates in the Assembly and Lok Sabha polls held in the country in the said period. The analysis reveals that many of the MPs and MLAs, who are designated lawmakers, have actually declared cases related to "hate speech" against themselves. The analysis is based on the affidavits submitted by the MPs and MLAs prior to the last election they contested. According to the analysis, 33 MPs have declared cases related to hate speech against themselves -- seven from Uttar Pradesh, four from Tamil Nadu, three each from Bihar, Karnataka and Telangana, two each from Assam, Gujarat, Maharashtra and West Bengal and one each from Jharkha

BJP Central Election Committee meets to finalise candidates, focus on Raj

The BJP's Central Election Committee members, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, met here on Sunday to finalise its candidates for the coming assembly polls as the party looks to conclude much of deliberations on the contestants before the election process formally begins. For the first time in the current round of CEC meetings, candidates for the Rajasthan polls were discussed as senior party leaders from the state, including former chief minister Vasundhara Raje, joined the national leadership in the meeting. With the party fielding three Union ministers, besides four other MPs, as candidates in the Madhya Pradesh assembly polls, it may continue with the strategy in Rajasthan. Union ministers Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Arjun Ram Meghwal and Kailash Choudhary are from the state where the BJP won all but one of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in 2019. Union ministers Rajnath Singh and Amit Shah, besides party president J P Nadda, are among the members of the CEC. Chhattisgarh BJP leader

No timeline for finalising simultaneous polls report: Law Commission chair

Work is still continuing on the issue of simultaneous polls and no timeline has been given for finalising a report on it, Law Commission Chairman Justice Ritu Raj Awasthi said on Wednesday. He also said the reports on the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act and online FIRs have been finalised and sent to the law ministry. "Still some work is going on on simultaneous elections. We have not finalised the report. There is no timeline for finalising it," Justice (retired) Awasthi, who was the chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, told reporters here. According to the procedure, all reports of the law panel are submitted to the Union law ministry, which then forwards those to the ministries concerned. The issue of simultaneous polls is pending with the law panel for years. The previous Law Commission had suggested three options to hold simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, but said several points remained to be addressed. In a public appeal issued along w

LIVE: Women's reservation is the victory of BJP's ideology, says PM Modi

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PM Modi to address mega meet of BJP workers in poll-bound MP on Monday

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a mega congregation of BJP workers here in poll-bound Madhya Pradesh on Monday. The 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh' is being organised on the birth anniversary of Jana Sangh co-founder Deendayal Upadhyaya to mark the formal culmination of the BJP's 'Jan Ashirwad Yatras' that crisscrossed the length and breadth of the state, party leaders said. This will be the third visit of the prime minister to Madhya Pradesh in the past 45 days where the ruling party is locked in a close contest with Congress. According to sources, the BJP has set an ambitious target of gathering 10 lakh people for the Monday event being projected as a show of strength by the saffron party. "Modiji is going to address 'Karyakarta Mahakumbh' at Jamboree Maidan in Bhopal on September 25, the birth anniversary of Deendayal Upadhyaya," MP BJP chief VD Sharma told PTI. The prime minister will arrive at the Maidan at around 11 am. He is expected to leave Bhopal at 1 pm, he added. "La

BJP cannot win more than 7 Lok Sabha seats in Assam this time: AIUDF

However, the All India United Democratic Front (AIUDF) has claimed that the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will not register a victory on more than 7 out of 14 Lok Sabha seats in Assam this time

Cong dubs Women's Reservation Bill 'election jumla', huge betrayal of hopes

The Congress on Tuesday termed as "election jumla" and "huge betrayal of hopes of women" the women's reservation bill brought by the government, noting the Centre has stated that the reservation will be effective only after a Census and delimitation exercise is conducted post-enactment of the bill. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh wondered whether the Census and delimitation will be done before the 2024 elections, pointing out that the Narendra Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 decadal Census. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "In a season of election jumlas, this one is the biggest of them all! A huge betrayal of the hopes of crores of Indian women and girls." "As we had pointed out earlier, Modi government has not yet conducted the 2021 Decadal Census making India the only country in G20 that has failed to carry out the Census. Now it says that the reservation for women will come into effect only following the first decadal Census

Anurag Thakur slams 'INDIA' bloc for opposing 'one nation, one election'

Union Minister Anurag Thakur hit out at the opposition INDIA bloc on Sunday for opposing the "one nation, one election" concept and said it appears that the alliance neither has any ideology nor a leader. He described the alliance of opposition parties as an "amalgamation of egoists and opportunists" and alleged that it is "bent upon harming Sanatan Dharma". "Is it that the INDIA bloc does not want the time and money of the country to be saved by one nation, one election or is it afraid of facing the polls?" Thakur asked while talking to reporters here. The minister, who participated in various programmes organised by the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) here to mark Prime Minister Narendra Modi's birthday and distributed fruits among patients at the Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, said even after four meetings, the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) has not been able to project a leader or appoint a convenor. He said, "This amalgamation of egoists and ...

Centre to hold all-party meet on Parliament's session eve on Sunday

Ahead of the Parliament session, the government will hold a meeting with leaders of all parties on Sunday to brief them and hear their views, amid an intense buzz on whether it will have some surprise item up its sleeve during the five-day sitting. The unusual timing of the session, which begins on Monday, has left everyone wondering, even though the main standout feature on the listed agenda is a special discussion on Parliament's journey of 75 years starting from the "'Samvidhan Sabha" (Constituent Assembly). The government has also listed the bill on the appointment of the Chief Election Commissioner and other election commissioners to be taken up for consideration and passage during the session. The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha during the last Monsoon session. The government enjoys the prerogative of tabling in Parliament some new legislation or other items that might not have been part of the listed agenda. Though there is no official word on any probable new legislation,

Donald Trump hits back after prosecutors request gag order in election case

The "narrowly tailored" gas order has been requested to restrict Trump's continuous "near-daily" social media attacks on people involved in the case

Karnataka minister pitches for 3 more Dy Chief Ministers ahead of LS polls

Cooperation Minister K N Rajanna on Saturday floated the idea of having three more Deputy Chief Ministers in Karnataka, and said he will discuss it with the Congress high command, keeping in mind the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. He pitched for deputy chief minister posts to be given to leaders from Veerashaiva-Lingayat, SC/ST and minority communities. Currently, D K Shivakumar from the Vokkaliga community is the Deputy Chief Minister in the Siddaramaiah-led cabinet. He is also the state Congress President. "Lok Sabha elections are at our doorstep, we are seeing that all the parties are making preparations for the polls. It is our intention that the Congress should win the maximum number of seats in Karnataka, we are also confident that we will win," Rajanna told reporters here. "One post (DCM) should be given to a leader from the SC/ST community, second for a minority community leader and third for a Veerashaiva community leader as there is a feeling the community has gone away from the .

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Everything you need to know about Telangana before Assembly elections 2023

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Special drive in Delhi to add transgenders, sex workers in voters' list

The office of Delhi's Chief Electoral Officer has initiated the process to set up special camps to enrol transgenders, sex workers and vulnerable women in the voters' list, officials said on Saturday. With Lok Sabha polls scheduled next year, the CEO office recently recommended to district electoral officers to organise these special camps for including sex workers, destitute and homeless women in the voters list, they said. Currently, the transgender voters are referred to as "Third Gender" in the electoral roll, which is not in consonance with the Transgender Persons (Protection Right) Act, 2019. So, in tune with the Act, they may be referred to as "Transgender", the communication stated. To promote inclusiveness in the electoral process, the district election officers have also been recommended to start a process for mapping transgender in the city to identify and enrol those left out in the electoral rolls, said a senior officer. It has also been recommended that transgender n

The case for decoupled elections

Both the EU and India follow a similar practice of separating elections and there are good reasons to keep it that way

Arrogance of 'ghamandia' alliance broken: BJP after bypoll victories

The BJP hailed its victory in the bypolls to the Dhanpur and Boxanagar Assembly seats in Tripura on Friday and said it is the end of the road for the communists in the northeastern state, which was once known as a Left bastion. The saffron party gave the credit for its victory in the Tripura bypolls to the "strong and widely recognised" leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his mantra of "Sabka Sath, Sabka Vikas", and said the results show the people's "approval" to the developmental work carried out by the party's "double-engine" government in the state. "I extend my heartfelt gratitude to the people of Tripura for making the BJP victorious in the Boxanagar and Dhanpur assembly bye-elections," Home Minister Amit Shah said in a post on X. The victory in the bypolls will further strengthen "our determination" to transform Tripura into a prosperous state under the leadership of the prime minister, he added. Shah also congratulated Tripura Chief Minister Manik Saha, state BJP

U'khand bypoll: BJP maintains lead in Bageshwar, Dhami congratulates people

The counting of votes for the Bageshwar assembly by-election started today at 8 am in the presence of Election Observer Rajesh Kumar at Degree College Bageshwar

Results for bypolls to seven assembly seats will be declared on Friday

The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition alliance INDIA against the BJP-led NDA ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024. The counting of votes is scheduled to begin at 8 am at centres set up in the respective states. The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5. The by-election saw the INDIA alliance putting up a united front in the Ghosi constituency in Uttar Pradesh, where the voting was moderate at around 50.77 per cent, and in Jharkhand's Dumri where a total of 64.84 per cent of 2.98 lakh voters exercised their franchise. Out of the seven seats, three (Dhanpur, Bageshwar and Dhupguri) were held by the BJP and one each by the SP (Ghosi), CPI(M) (Boxanagar), JMM (Dumri) and the

Over 49% electorate till 5 pm in Uttar Pradesh's Ghosi assembly bypoll

More than 49 per cent of the electorate in Uttar Pradesh's Ghosi assembly constituency cast their votes till 5 pm for the bypoll on Tuesday, the first electoral showdown in the state after the formation of the opposition INDIA bloc. Officials said voting being held at 455 polling stations was supposed to conclude at 6 pm but voters present at the polling centres till 6 pm were allowed to cast their votes. The bypoll was necessitated following the resignation of Dara Singh Chauhan, who had won the seat in the 2022 UP Assembly polls, from the Samajwadi Party in July. He returned to the BJP and was selected by the party to contest the bypoll. The SP has fielded Sudhakar Singh for the by-election. The Akhilesh Yadav-led party has alleged misuse of official machinery in the bypoll and has written to the Election Commission on the matter. It was alleged that Muslim voters were being prevented from exercising their franchise in some places. Till 5.00 pm, 49.42 per cent of votes polled, t

Tripura bypolls: 76% voter turnout till 3 pm, 6 injured in stray violence

An average voter turnout of 76 per cent was recorded till 3 pm of polling in the by-elections to Dhanpur and Boxanagar assembly seats in Tripura's Sepahijala district on Tuesday, an official said. Voting began at 7 am in 59 booths in Dhanpur assembly constituency and 51 in Boxanagar, and was scheduled to continue till 4 pm. "I urge the people to maintain peace during the polling and repeat the precedent of peaceful voting like of last assembly elections," Chief Minister Manik Saha said in a Facebook post. BJP's Tafajjal Hussain, who unsuccessfully contested the last assembly election from Boxanagar, is contesting against CPI(M) nominee Mizan Hussain from there. The Boxanagar assembly segment has 66 per cent minority voters of a total of 43,087 electors. In the last assembly elections in February, the CPI(M) retained the seat. The Dhanpur assembly constituency, once considered a stronghold of the Left, witnesses a fight between the BJP's Bindu Debnath and Kaushik Debnath of the CP