Page 115 - Lok Sabha

INDIA bloc will defeat NDA in 2024 Lok Sabha polls, says Ghulam Ahmad Mir

The opposition INDIA bloc will defeat the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the upcoming assembly elections in different states, Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said on Sunday. "It is evident that (the ruling) NDA is desperate as it faces upcoming defeat by the INDIA (alliance), which represents the aspirations of the 140 crore people of India," Mir told Congress workers in the Nagam area of Kokernag in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district. Mir, a Congress Working Committee member, also said "dictatorship and assault on parliamentary democracy" are unacceptable to the nation. He said the propaganda unleashed against the INDIA bloc will not change the reality or "hide the utter failures and anti-people policies of the NDA that are responsible for the extreme joblessness, loot of public money and the lust to empower some corporates linked to the NDA at the cost of the country's and the public's interest". He said the people have been pushed towards darkness by the ruling ...

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury to not be a part of 'One Nation, One Election' panel

Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Saturday declined to be a part of the high-level committee announced by the Centre to examine the possibility of simultaneous elections in the country. In a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Chowdhury said he has come to know that he has been appointed a member of the high-level committee on simultaneous polls to the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabhas. "I have no hesitation whatsoever in declining to serve on the Committee whose terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions. It is, I am afraid, a total eyewash," he said in his letter. "Moreover, the sudden attempt to thrust a constitutionally suspect, pragmatically non-feasible and logistically unimplementable idea on the nation, months before the general elections, raises serious concerns about ulterior motives of the government," he said. The Congress leader also lamented the exclusion of current Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun

LPG cylinder will cost Rs 3K if BJP wins 2024 LS polls: Abhishek Banerjee

Trinamool Congress national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee on Saturday urged people not to vote for the BJP in next year's Lok Sabha polls, claiming that the cost of one LPG cylinder will rise to Rs 3,000 if the saffron party wins. Banerjee asserted that if the opposition bloc INDIA comes to power in 2024, a cylinder would be priced at just Rs 500. "Do not cast a single vote for the BJP in 2024. If it wins the elections, the price of one gas cylinder will be hiked to Rs 3,000. However, if INDIA comes to power, the price will be slashed to Rs 500. This is our promise to you. We do not forget our promises," he said, speaking at a rally ahead of the Dhupguri bypoll in Jalpaiguri district on September 5. The central government had recently reduced the price of an LPG cylinder by Rs 200. A 14.2-kg cylinder in Kolkata earlier cost Rs 1,129. "I will urge you to vote for our candidate and ensure that the BJP nominee is defeated (in the bypoll) by a huge margin, so that he does not com

INDIA makes additional appointments in newly-formed panels for 2024 polls

Opposition bloc INDIA on Saturday made some additional appointments in some of the committees set up at its Mumbai meeting to get battle-ready for the Lok Sabha polls. The bloc had formed a 14-member coordination-cum-election strategy committee comprising members of various parties. The opposition alliance had also announced a campaign committee with Congress' Gurdeep Singh Sappal, JD(U)'s Sanjay Jha, Anil Desai (Shiv Sena), Sanjay Yadav (RJD), PC Chako (NCP), Champai Soren (JMM), Kiranmoy Nanda (Samajwadi Party), Sanjay Singh (AAP), Arun Kumar (CPI-M), Binoy Vishwam (CPI), Hasnain Masoodi (NC), Shahid Siddiqui (RLD), NK Premachandran (RSP), G Devarajan (AIFB), Ravi Rai (CPI-ML), Thirumavalan (VCK), KM Kadar Moidin (IUML) and Jose K Mani (KC-M) as its members. The TMC was to give a name for the committee later. In a statement released on Saturday, the names of Tiruchi Siva of the DMK and Mehboob Beg of the PDP were added to the campaign committee. While the names of Congress' Pawa

Diminishing world of Adhir Chowdhury

The MP from Behrampore has never wavered in his allegiance to the Congress. But now, it is his party that might have to give up on him

INDIA bloc resolves to contest 2024 LS polls together 'as far as possible'

It "resolved to organise public rallies at the earliest in different parts of the country on issues of public concern and importance"

Simultaneous polls good idea but legal framework, roadmap must: Former CECs

Two former chief election commissioners on Friday said the idea of having synchronised polls to Lok Sabha and state assemblies was good but a legal framework and roadmap are must to ensure a smooth conduct of the gigantic exercise. One of the former CECs said for the Election Commission, simultaneous elections are both convenient and logical. But many argue that frequent elections are not so bad after all. "The festival of democracy is the festival of the poor as the vote is arguably the only power they have," said S Y Quraishi, who headed the poll panel between July 30, 2010 and June 10, 2012. O P Rawat, who was the CEC between January 23, 2018 and December 1, 2018 said, "It is possible and could be done. All you need is to make a roadmap and work accordingly. All political parties should come on board on this as amendments won't be possible without their support." He said if all the parties are not on board, then it would send a wrong message to the people and they will be ...

Simultaneous polls: 10 state assemblies to end before or near LS polls

The constitution of a committee by the Centre to explore the feasibility of "one nation, one election" has opened up the possibility of Lok Sabha polls being advanced so that they could be held with a string of state assembly polls. Headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, the committee has been tasked with exploring how the country could go back to having simultaneous Lok Sabha and state assembly polls, as was the case till 1967. The terms of at least ten state Assemblies will end before or around the scheduled time for the general elections in 2024. While Assembly elections in five states -- Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Telangana, Mizoram and Chhattisgarh -- are due by the end of this year, polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Jharkhand are likely to be held along with the Lok Sabha elections. The tentative schedule of the completion of the terms for various states and Union Territories are listed below. 1. Mizoram: December 2023 2. Chhattisgarh, Madh

Opposition INDIA alliance announces 14-member coordination committee

The INDIA bloc also put together a resolution to "contest the Lok Sabha elections together as far as possible"

One nation, one election: All you need to know about simultaneous elections

Centre has constituted a committee headed by former President Ram Nath Kovind to explore the possibility of 'one nation, one election'

Opposition bloc INDIA resolves to jointly contest 2024 Lok Sabha elections

Opposition alliance INDIA passed a resolution on Friday in Mumbai, where the parties resolved to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections in 2024 together as far as possible

'One nation, one election needs five amendments but will yield savings'

Holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer, officials said on Friday. A parliamentary panel had examined the issue of simultaneous elections in consultation with various stakeholders, including the Election Commission. The committee made certain recommendations in this regard, the officials said. The matter now stands referred to the Law Commission for further examination to work out a "practicable road map and framework" for simultaneous elections, they said. Simultaneous elections, the officials noted, would result in huge savings for the public exchequer and avoid replication of effort on the part of administrative, and law and order machinery in holding repeated elections. It would bring considerable savings to political parties and candidate

Oppn 'INDIA' bloc holds crucial talks to strategise on 2024 Lok Sabha polls

Amid speculation of early polls and formation of a panel to explore the possibility of 'one nation, one election', top leaders of the Opposition bloc INDIA on Friday initiated crucial discussions to give structure to their cooperation and crystallise their plans about seat sharing and a common agenda to take on the NDA in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. During the formal talks in the third round of opposition meeting, the opposition leaders are likely to come out with a joint statement and announce the coordination panel besides some sub panels to give proper shape to their poll plans. Leaders, who have gathered here from across the country, will move forward on specific issues like setting up a coordination committee and form sub groups to work on their common agenda, media strategy, joint actions and programmes. During informal talks over dinner on Thursday night, the leaders stressed on the urgency to finalise seat sharing and come out with a joint agenda in a few weeks' time, ...

Hope PM will allow discussion on China: Owaisi on special session of parl

"We hope the PM will allow a discussion on China," AIMIM president and Lok Sabha MP Asaduddin Owaisi said after the Centre called for a "special session of Parliament" from September 18 to 22. All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) chief also demanded that ISRO scientists and World Champion Neeraj Chopra should be invited to the Parliament and honoured."We had been demanding a special session from the beginning because China has encroached upon 2000 square km of India's land. China is not giving up Depsang and Demchok. When they call a special session, we hope the PM will allow a discussion on China. Secondly, the Rohini Commission has given its report. So, we demand that the Modi Govt bring a Bill in the Special Session so that the 50 per cent reservation limit can be breached," Owaisi told ANI on Thursday."Thirdly, we demand that ISRO scientists and Neeraj Chopra be invited to the Parliament and honoured. Fourthly, the speculation whether there will be a One Nation, One ...

Meeting of Opposition alliance begins in Mumbai, top leaders in attendance

The third meeting of the Opposition's INDIA alliance started in Mumbai on Thursday evening with leaders of several prominent political parties coming together to discuss the strategy and agenda of the grouping which is seeking to take on the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party at the Centre. The meeting at Grand Hyatt hotel is being attended by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress parliamentary party leader Sonia Gandhi, party leader Rahul Gandhi, NCP chief Sharad pawar, Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray, among others. Rahul Gandhi was seen chatting with the NCP's Supriya Sule and Jayant Patil, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Aaditya Thackeray, Sanjay Raut, and the RJD's Manoj Jha before the meet began. Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M K Stalin, Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren, Delhi chief minister and AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal, Punjab chief minister Bhagwant Mann and Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar arrived here in the evening for the meeting. West Bengal chief minist

Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury's suspension from Lok Sabha revoked

Earlier in the day, Chowdhury appeared before the Privileges Committee of Lok Sabha and expressed regret over his conduct in the House

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Lok Sabha panel adopts resolution to revoke Adhir Chowdhury's suspension

The Privileges Committee of Lok Sabha on Wednesday unanimously adopted a resolution to revoke the suspension of Congress leader Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the lower house. The resolution was adopted after Chowdhury appeared before the Committee and expressed regret over certain remarks made by him in the House which had led to his suspension from the Lok Sabha on the last day of the monsoon session of Parliament on August 11. Chowdhury is learnt to have told the Committee, chaired by BJP member Sunil Kumar Singh, that it was never his intention to hurt anybody's feelings and expressed regret for certain remarks made by him. "The Committee has adopted a resolution to revoke the suspension of Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury from the Lok Sabha. The resolution will be sent to the Speaker as soon as possible," a committee member said. Chowdhury was named by Speaker Om Birla for "unruly conduct" on August 11, the last day of the monsoon session and was suspended from the membership of Lok Sabha

Congress MP to give statement to parl committee on LS suspension case

Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Pralhad Joshi had tabled a motion seeking Chowdhury's suspension citing disruptive behaviour

Parliamentary standing committees that scrutinise Bills get less to do

The 17th Lok Sabha has the worst record compared to the previous three Houses in referring legislation to the institution framework