Page 23 - Elections

PM Modi to address 2nd public meeting in Karnataka on Mon ahead of LS polls

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a public meeting for the Lok Sabha elections in Shivamogga on Monday, the BJP state unit said on Sunday. This comes two days after his first election meeting in Karnataka was held in Kalaburagi, the home turf of Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge. The party is expecting a turnout of 2.5 lakh people at the Allama Prabhu ground (Freedom Park). The second public meeting in Karnataka for the 2024 Lok Sabha election is happening in the home district of BJP stalwart Yediyurappa. His elder son B Y Raghavendra is BJP's candidate for the Shimoga Lok Sabha constituency, where party rebel and former deputy chief minister K S Eshwarappa says he will constest as an independent candidate. BJP state chief B Y Vijayendra, who is former chief minister B S Yediyurappa's second son, visited Allama Prabhu ground along with senior party functionaries to oversee the preparations and gave necessary directions to ensure that the meeting goes well. The saffron

EC advances counting date of Arunachal, Sikkim assembly polls to June 2

The decision was taken because the term of the two Assemblies is till June 2, which means elections have to be wrapped up on or before that date

Putin poised to rule Russia following election with no other real choices

Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to extend nearly a quarter century of rule for six more years on Sunday after wrapping up an election that gave voters no real alternatives to an autocrat who has ruthlessly cracked down on dissent. The three-day election that began Friday has taken place in a tightly controlled environment where no public criticism of Putin or his war in Ukraine is allowed. Putin's fiercest political foe, Alexei Navalny, died in an Arctic prison last month, and other critics are either in jail or in exile. The 71-year-old Russian leader faces three token rivals from Kremlin-friendly parties who have refrained from any criticism of his 24-year rule or his full-scale invasion of Ukraine two years ago. Putin has boasted of Russian battlefield successes in the run-up to the vote, but a massive Ukrainian drone attack across Russia early Sunday sent a reminder of challenges faced by Moscow. The Russian Defense Ministry reported downing 35 Ukrainian drones ...

Voting in Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will take place on May 25

Voting in Delhi's seven Lok Sabha seats will take place on May 25, the sixth phase of the general elections, with 1.47 crore people eligible for exercising their franchise, according to the poll schedule announced by the Election Commission on Saturday. The notification will be issued on April 29 and the last date for filing nominations is May 6. The last date for withdrawal of candidature is May 9. The city has 1.47 crore voters, including 79.98 lakh males and 67.42 lakh females. The Lok Sabha polls will be held across the country in seven phases beginning April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world's biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term. With the AAP and the Congress having entered a seat-sharing agreement for Delhi this time, the city is set to witness a direct contest between the alliance and the BJP which holds all the seven Lok Sabha seats of the national capital since 2014. The A

Singer Anuradha Paudwal joins BJP ahead of LS polls at party's headquarters

After joining the party, the singer expressed happiness saying, it was her fortune that she was becoming a part of the BJP

Simultaneous elections

The idea needs a political consensus

Lok Sabha elections 2024: Check what Congress is promising to women

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi announced 5 'Nari Nyay' guarantees before Lok Sabha elections 2024 during a women's rally in Maharashtra's Dhule district as part of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'

Lok Sabha polls: Modi's first NDA rally on Mar 17; Gandhi in Nasik. Updates

Lok Sabha polls: The BJP and the Congress have announced two initial lists of candidates on various seats as they gear up in election mode days ahead of the poll schedule announcement

Lok Sabha polls: BJP names 72 candidates; Thakur, Khattar among nominees

BJP chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Anil Baluni has been fielded from Garhwal in Uttarakhand

Google restricts Gemini's scope of response as India sets for election

It is also collaborating with ECI for seamless access to vital voting information

Rabri Devi files nomination for legislative council polls on last day

Former Bihar CM Rabri Devi on Monday filed nomination papers for election to the state legislative council, besides three other candidates of her RJD and one of alliance partner CPI(ML) Liberation. Three candidates of the BJP, including former minister and state unit chief Mangal Pandey, also filed their nomination papers. Rabri Devi reached the Vidhan Sabha secretariat along with her husband Lalu Prasad, the RJD president, and sons Tejashwi Yadav and Tej Pratap Yadav. The other RJD candidates who filed nomination papers were Abdul Bari Siddiqui, Syed Faisal Ali and Urmila Thakur. CPI(ML) Liberation's Shashi Yadav also filed nomination papers. Tejashwi Yadav, a former Deputy CM and the leader of multi-party Mahagathbandhan, told reporters, "It is a matter of delight that our coalition has fielded three women." While Yadav's mother is seeking re-election to the upper house for a third consecutive term, Siddiqui, a veteran leader, has had a three-year-long stint in the council in th

Kharge as PM candidate: A pre-election gambit

Umbrella parties with no fundamental commitment to OBC or Dalit politics are not known to have gained electorally from such opportunistic pivoting

Blues after the pink slip: BRS preparing to come back strongly in Telangana

But Congress and BJP are not giving it any breathing space. Aditi Phadnis reports from Hyderabad

Highlights of the day: Naidu-Pawan Kalyan seal alliance with BJP

From govt's decision to cut LPG cylinder prices to Rahul Gandhi's poll promises, catch all the latest news from around the world here

Cong expresses 'deep concern' over election commissioner Goel's resignation

The Congress on Saturday expressed "deep concern" over Election Commissioner Arun Goel's resignation, alleging that there is absolutely "no transparency" in how a constitutional institution like the Election Commission has been functioning and the manner in which the government "pressures" it. Goel resigned on Saturday, days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year. Congress general secretary organisation K C Venugopal said in a post on X, "It is deeply concerning for the health of the world's largest democracy that Election Commissioner Mr. Arun Goel has resigned on the cusp of the Lok Sabha elections." There is absolutely "no transparency" in how a constitutional institution like the ECI has been functioning and the manner in which the government pressures it, he said. During the 2019

Disqualified MLAs moved like they are being shepherded: Himachal CM Sukhu

Firing a fresh salvo at the six disqualified Congress MLAs, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday said they are being driven from one place to other like a shepherd herds a flock. Six Himachal Pradesh Congress MLAs who voted against party nominee Abhishek Manu Singhvi in the Rajya Sabha elections, along with three Independent lawmakers, have shifted to a hotel in BJP-ruled Uttarakhand amid an ongoing rebellion against Sukhu. Addressing a public meeting at in Mandi, Sukhu said the BJP is shepherding the six disqualified Congress MLAs, who betrayed the party, from one place to another, according to a statement. He also asked why the BJP kept the rebels MLAs in a hotel in Haryana's Panchkula before flying them to Dehradun in a chartered plane and lodging them in a seven-star hotel in Rishikesh. "These MLAs breached the trust of the people of their constituencies and the party by not listening to the call of conscience," he said. Sukhu added that the publi

Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigns weeks ahead of Lok Sabha polls

Election Commissioner Arun Goel resigned on Saturday, days before the expected announcement of the schedule for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. His tenure was till December 2027. According to a law ministry notification, Goel's resignation has been accepted by President Droupadi Murmu with effect from Saturday. It was not immediately known why he stepped down. Goel, a retired bureaucrat, was a 1985-batch IAS officer of the Punjab cadre. He had joined the Election Commission in November 2022. Following the retirement of Anup Pandey in February and Goel's resignation, the three-member EC panel has now only Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar.

Rahul should contest Lok Sabha polls from seat challenging BJP: D Raja

Communist Party of India (CPI) general secretary D Raja on Saturday said a leader of Rahul Gandhi's stature should contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls from a seat where he can directly challenge the ruling BJP, even as he said it is a political party's prerogative to decide who would it field from a seat. The remarks came a day after the Congress announced that Gandhi will contest the parliamentary polls, likely to be held in April-May, from Wayanad in Kerala, the seat he currently represents in the Lok Sabha. CPI's Annie Raja, wife of D Raja, has been fielded as the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate from Wayanad. Asked about the Congress's decision to field Gandhi from Wayanad, Raja said, "Within the LDF, the CPI has got four seats to contest and Wayanad is one of those, so we have announced our candidate. Secondly, it is the prerogative of any political party to choose its candidate from a constituency. In this case, it is the prerogative of the Congress." However, he pointe

What's stopping PM Modi from visiting strife-torn Manipur, asks Cong

As Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Assam's Kaziranga National Park, the Congress on Saturday attacked the Centre over the "increasingly disturbed" situation in different parts of the Northeast, and asked why the PM had not found time to visit the violence-hit Manipur yet. Prime Minister Modi took the elephant and jeep safari inside Assam's Kaziranga National Park and Tiger Reserve on Saturday morning In a swipe at Modi, Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh said, "We're glad that the Prime Minister has found time amidst his various travels to spend today morning in Kaziranga, an iconic national park which owes much to the great interest shown both by Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi." However, beyond Kaziranga, there are four questions for him on the "increasingly disturbed" situation in different parts of the Northeast of India, he said. "On June 19th, 2020, at the all-party meet on China, the Prime Minister declared that not a single Chinese ...

Mandates and swings

People in democracies need a sense of uncertainty in order to be convinced that their voice and their vote matter