Page 51 - Elections

The great big election: A non-Gandhi to head Congress after over 2 decades

The new president will be elected on October 17 and October 19 will bring the answer

Brazilians vote today in historic election with Lula against Bolsonaro

More than 120 million Brazilians will vote Sunday in a highly polarised election that could determine if the country returns a leftist to the helm of the world's fourth-largest democracy or keeps the far-right incumbent in office for another four years. With polls opening at 8 am Brasilia time, the race pits incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro against his political nemesis, former President Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. There are nine other candidates, but their support pales to that for Bolsonaro and da Silva. Recent opinion polls have given da Silva a commanding lead the last Datafolha survey published Saturday found that 50% of respondents who intend to vote for a candidate said they would vote for da Silva, against 36% for Bolsonaro. The polling institute interviewed 12,800 people, with a margin of error of plus or minus two percentage points. Bolsonaro's administration has been marked by incendiary speech, his testing of democratic institutions, his widely criticized handling of th

Congress president poll: As nominations close, here are 10 things to know

This is the first Congress president election in more than 20 years with no member of the Gandhi family in the contest

Israeli elections panel bars Arab party from running in upcoming polls

An Israeli-Arab party was disqualified from running in the country's November elections over allegations of promoting an anti-Israel agenda

Government approves 22nd tranche of electoral bonds; sale from October 1-10

Ahead of assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the government on Thursday approved issuance of 22nd tranche of electoral bonds that will open for sale on October 1. Electoral bonds have been pitched as an alternative to cash donations made to political parties as part of efforts to bring transparency in political funding. State Bank of India (SBI), in the 22nd phase of sale, has been authorised to issue and encash electoral bonds through its 29 authorised branches from October 1-10, the finance ministry said in a statement. The authorised SBI branches include those in Lucknow, Shimla, Dehradun, Kolkata, Guwahati, Chennai, Patna, New Delhi, Chandigarh, Srinagar, Gandhinagar, Bhopal, Raipur, and Mumbai. Assembly election dates for Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are likely to be announced in few weeks. The 21st tranche of bond sales took place from July 1-10, 2022. Sale of the first batch of electoral bonds happened from March 1-10, 2018. SBI is the only authorised bank

Polling underway for 46 local bodies across 18 districts in Madhya Pradesh

Polling was underway on Tuesday for 46 local bodies across 18 districts in Madhya Pradesh for which 3,397 candidates are in the fray. Results will be declared on September 30. The polling began at 7 am and will continue till 5 pm. State Election Commission (SEC) secretary Rakesh Singh on Monday said 3,397 candidates are in the fray for the elections to 46 urban bodies, including 17 municipal councils and 29 Nagar Parishads. Twenty five corporators have been elected unopposed in these urban bodies, while elections will be held for 814 posts of corporators, he said. The 46 urban bodies include six newly-constituted Nagar Parishads. A total of 8.42 lakh voters are eligible to exercise their franchise.

Voting for gram panchayats rescheduled from Oct 13 to 16 in Maharashtra

The State Election Commission on Monday rescheduled the voting for gram panchayats in Maharashtra to October 16. The voting was earlier scheduled on October 13. The counting of votes will be taken up on October 17 instead of October 14, the SEC said in a statement. The polling will be held for the 1,166 Gram Panchayats or village-level elected governing bodies, which also include the election of sarpanches directly by voters. The voting will begin at 7.30 am and end at 5.30 pm. In the villages where Naxalites could affect the votingthe polling will be concluded by 3 PM, the statement said.

Giorgia Meloni's right-wing bloc set wins big in Italian election

Giorgia Meloni won a clear majority in Italian election, setting herself up to become the country's first female prime minister at the head of the most right-wing government since World War II

Lalu-Nitish duo will be wiped out in 2024 general elections: Amit Shah

Bihar public gave you (CM Nitish) the benefit of doubt for long, now they know that neither Lalu's party nor your party will come this time. Only PM Modi's lotus will bloom in Bihar this time, he said

BJP firm on NDPP seat sharing deal for Nagaland polls: Party leader Kohli

The BJP is firm on its seat-sharing agreement with the ruling NDPP for next year's assembly elections, a senior leader of the saffron party has said. The BJP and the Nationalist Democratic Progressive Party (NDPP) have formulated a pre-poll seat-sharing agreement ahead of the elections to the 60-member House next year. As per the deal, the saffron party will contest 20 seats and the NDPP 40. "We (BJP and NDPP) are in the government and ours is a successful coalition. The seat-sharing agreement has been finalised. We hope to serve the people of Nagaland again," BJP national spokesperson and Nagaland in-charge Nalin Kohli told reporters here on Wednesday. Asked why the BJP did not consider contesting more seats, he said, "Our party has a history of continuing our alliance. While our partners may leave us, we do not have a history of leaving our partners." When reminded that the BJP had earlier come out of its alliance with the Naga People's Front (NPF) and joined hands with the NDPP

Israel concludes registration of parties for election scheduled on Nov 1

Israel closed the registration for political parties intending to run in the upcoming parliamentary elections

The myth of the good dictator

It's hard to think of even one authoritarian leader who did a reasonable job

Supreme Court refuses to hear plea seeking to stop EVM usage in election

The petition has CR Jaya Sukin sought to stop the use of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) and the use of ballot paper in any forthcoming elections

Oppn should think about 2029 polls not 2024, says BJP leader Javadekar

Senior BJP leader Prakash Javadekar on Monday said the opposition should understand the personality of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the work being done by him for the people of the country and advised them not to worry about the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and instead think of the 2029 elections. He said after Modi became prime minister in 2014, the atmosphere in the country changed for good. The country got a prime minister who came up with different thinking and programmes, communicated directly with people and brought transparency in governance, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader said. The Rajya Sabha member was speaking at a function organized by the Thane city BJP here for the release of a book on Modi's 20 years in public office - 12 years as Chief Minister of Gujarat and eight years as PM. Javadekar, a former Union minister, asserted the BJP is getting electoral success repeatedly only because people like Modi's work. "The opposition should first understand the work of .

Meghalaya polls: NPP will not form alliance with any party, says CM Sangma

Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma on Saturday said the NPP will not forge an alliance with any party, including the BJP, for the upcoming assembly elections in the state. However, the National People's Party (NPP) will continue to remain in the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) at the Centre, Sangma said, adding that the two parties are ideologically not on the same page on various issues. Elections in Meghalaya are likely to be held early next year. "We are not going to contest next assembly elections in alliance with anyone, including the BJP," Sangma, who is the president of the NPP, told reporters here after the party's national conference. Sangma said the NPP has never had any pre-poll alliance with any party in any state, and underlined that the party would also contest the upcoming assembly polls in Odisha and Chhattisgarh on its own. However, he also maintained that NPP will remain focussed on the state election in Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and ..

Shah reviews BJP's preparations for Jammu-Kashmir poll in a party meeting

Union Home Minister Amit Shah in a party meeting on Friday reviewed preparations for forthcoming elections in Jammu and Kashmir and asked party leaders to be prepared for it.Shah headed a meeting with leaders of the core group of Jammu and Kashmir Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday at his residence in Delhi which lasted for three hours.The meeting was held on a day when veteran Congress leader from Jammu & Kashmir Ghulam Nabi Azad resigned from his party and announced his plans to form a new party in the UT.BJP leaders said the political situation and the party's organizational affairs following the delimitation exercise in J-K came up for discussion.J-K BJP president Ravinder Raina and other senior party leaders, including Union minister Jitendra Singh, Devendra Singh Rana, MP Jugal Kishore and Shakti Raj Parihar, attended the meeting. BJP general secretary Tarun Chugh, in charge of the party's affairs in the UT, and co-in-charge Ashish Sood, was also present.Shah asked the party

Will launch new party, first unit in J-K in view of impending polls: Azad

Veteran politician Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday said he would launch a new party soon and that its first unit would be set up in Jammu and Kashmir. "I am in no hurry as of now to launch a national party but keeping in mind that elections are likely to be held in Jammu and Kashmir, I have decided to launch a unit there soon," Azad, who resigned from the Congress earlier in the day, told PTI. Azad, who had served as Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, Union minister under various prime ministers and the chief minister of the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir, refused to divulge any further details on the formation of his new party. Refusing to be dragged into any discussion over his resignation, Azad said, "I have thought about this decision for long and there is no going back.

Rep vs Rep: Nadler defeats Maloney in battle of top House Democrats

US Rep. Jerry Nadler has defeated US Rep. Carolyn Maloney in a Democratic primary after a court forced the two veteran lawmakers into the same New York City congressional district. As the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, Nadler twice led fights to impeach former President Donald Trump. His victory ends a 30-year run in Congress for Maloney, who fought to get government aid for people sickened by clouds of toxic soot after the September 11 attacks. The unusual battle between incumbents resulted from a redistricting process that lumped Nadler's home base on the west side of Manhattan together with Maloney's on the east side.

Brazil's ex-President Lula plans to fight deforestation if re-elected

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva says he will pursue a new environmental and climate policy is he wins the country's presidential election in October

Malaysia's Mahathir sees 50-50 chance of Najib Razak getting 1MDB pardon

Mahathir Mohamad, who was prime minister twice, said Malaysia's king could extend a pardon to Najib in the same way current opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was given