Page 82 - Lok Sabha

Congress demands Supreme Court monitored probe on electoral bonds issue

Stepping up its attack on the government over the electoral bonds issue, the Congress on Saturday alleged that thousands of crores have been "extorted" from corporate India and asserted that the need for a Supreme Court-monitored independent probe is pressing. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP's four "corrupt tactics" -- "Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo (give donations, get business), Hafta Vasuli (extortion), Theka Lo-Rishvat Do (get contracts after paying bribe), Farzi Company - Dakait Sangni (loot through shell companies) -- emerged after a quick first analysis of the data on the "electoral bond scam". These four patterns of corruption that have emerged are of grave concern and the need for a Supreme Court-monitored independent probe is pressing, Ramesh said in a post on X. "In fact, since yesterday, we have seen dozens of examples of these kinds of corruption emerge. Thousands of crores have been extorted and extracted from corporate India, and thousands of crores of

CM Mamata's health is stable, undergoing fast recovery, say doctors

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's health condition is "fine", doctors treating her, said on Saturday morning. The 69-year-old is recovering well, they said. "The chief minister is fine and stable. She is recovering well. The pain due to the injuries has also subsided much. Still, she is prescribed to take rest," a senior official of the state-run SSKM Hospital told PTI. The Bengal CM also slept well in the night, he added. The Trinamool Congress supremo had a fall at her Kalighat residence on Thursday evening leading to severe injuries on her forehead and nose. Banerjee's nephew and TMC national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee rushed her to the SSKM Hospital where she underwent three stitches on her forehead and one on her nose. A three-member doctor team visited the Bengal CM at her Kalighat residence on Friday evening and conducted necessary check-ups on her. "Our doctors may conduct another round of check-ups on Banerjee today. It's still not decided whether sh

Before LS poll announcement, Andhra govt orders releasing DA to employees

Less than 24 hours before the announcement of the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections schedule, the state government issued orders for releasing dearness allowance (DA) to employees pertaining to multiple time periods. Special Chief Secretary (Finance) Shamsher Singh Rawat issued a government order (GO) on Friday night for the release of DA to government employees for the period from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021. He issued orders for the release of DA with effect from January 1, 2022 to eligible government employees. Also, the Special Chief Secretary said the government has issued orders to release DA raising it from 22.75 per cent to 26.39 per cent of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2022. Similarly, the state government issued orders to revise the DA for government employees from 26.39 per cent to 30.03 per cent of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023. The state government issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised

Rahul's Nyay Yatra closing to feature INDIA bloc leaders: Nana Patole

"A huge rally will be organised. Leaders of the INDIA bloc will be present here to welcome Rahul Gandhi," Patole said

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections, PM Modi to address rally in Telangana

Ahead of the announcement of the schedule for Lok Sabha elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a BJP rally at Nagarkurnool in Telangana on Saturday. Modi held a roadshow in the Malkajgiri Lok Sabha constituency here Friday evening. Modi would attend another rally at Jagtial in the state on March 18, Telangana BJP has said. The Prime Minister on March 5 inaugurated and laid the foundation for development projects worth more than Rs 7,200 crore at Sangareddy, about 60 km from Hyderabad. Addressing a BJP rally at Sangareddy, Modi had attacked the Congress, saying it was 'scared' to promote young leaders. He also said the "dynastic parties" were targeting him as he was exposing their "scams worth several thousands of crores of rupees." The BJP is trying to make significant electoral gains in the south. The party had won four out of the total 17 Lok Sabha seats in Telangana in 2019 general elections. The BJP has decided to go solo in Telangana in the coming Lok Sabha .

Election Commission set to announce Lok Sabha elections dates today

The dates for the polls will be announced at a press conference scheduled for Saturday at 3 pm

Senior Punjab Congress leader Raj Kumar Chabbewal quits party, joins AAP

In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, senior party leader from Punjab and MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal on Friday quit the party and joined the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. The 54-year-old Chabbewal quit as a legislator from the Chabbewal assembly constituency in the Hoshiarpur district. He was also the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly. The prominent Dalit leader joined the AAP here and was welcomed into the party fold by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Chabbewal is the second Congress leader from Punjab to join the AAP within a week. Gurpreet Singh GP, a former Congress MLA from Bassi Pathana, had recently joined the AAP. The AAP, which named its candidates for eight of the 13 Lok Sabha seats on Thursday, is likely to field him from the Hoshiarpur reserved parliamentary constituency. Speaking to reporters here in the presence of Punjab ministers Harpal Singh Cheema and Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer, Chabbewal said he is impressed with the pro-people policies

Ahead of LS polls, Chattisgarh announces 4% hike in DA for state employees

Hailing 'Modi Ki Guarantee' (Modi's guarantee), the chief minister said the promise of procuring 21 quintals of paddy at Rs 3,100 per quintal has been fulfilled

Electoral bonds was world's biggest extortion racket, says Rahul Gandhi

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday alleged that the electoral bonds scheme was the world's biggest extortion racket and a "brainchild" of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Speaking at a press conference here, Gandhi, who is on the last leg of his 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra', also claimed that the funds obtained through the scheme were used to split parties like the Shiv Sena and NCP, and topple governments. Congress' central election committee and party president Mallikarjun Kharge would decide if he should contest the Lok Sabha election from Amethi, he said in reply to a question. "Some years ago, the prime minister claimed to have designed the electoral bonds (scheme) to clean up the political finance system. It turns out that this was the way of extorting money from India's largest corporates. It was meant to intimidate corporates into giving money to the BJP....It is the largest extortion racket in the world....I hope investigation takes place," he said. To a question about some

Senior Punjab Cong legislator Raj Kumar Chabbewal quits party, joins AAP

In a setback to the Congress ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, senior party leader from Punjab and MLA Raj Kumar Chabbewal on Friday quit the party and joined the ruling Aam Aadmi Party. The 54-year-old Chabbewal said he has quit as a legislator from Chabbewal assembly constituency in Hoshiarpur district.The prominent Dalit leader was the Deputy Leader of Opposition in the Punjab Assembly. He joined the AAP here and was welcomed into the party fold by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Chabbewal is the second Congress leader from Punjab to join the AAP within a week. Gurpreet Singh GP, a former Congress MLA from Bassi Pathana, had recently joined the AAP. In a post in Punjabi on X, the AAP state unit said the party has been further strengthened with the joining of Chabbewal. Impressed by the pro-people policies of Bhagwant Mann, Chabbewal, who is an MLA, has joined AAP. Many many congratulations to him from the party, the AAP posted along with photos of Chabbewal being welcomed by the ...

AAP withdraws candidate from Guwahati, asks Cong to step back on 2 seats

The Assam unit of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Friday withdrew its candidate from the Guwahati Lok Sabha constituency "for the sake of opposition unity" to defeat the ruling BJP nominee. It challenged the Congress to return the gesture and withdraw its candidates from Dibrugarh and Sonitpur seats, for which the AAP has declared its nominees. Both the Congress and AAP are part of the 16-party United Opposition Forum, Assam (UOFA), formed to contest the general elections together, but a rift had emerged with members of the forum announcing candidates against each other in various constituencies of the state. The AAP, in a statement, expressed its grievance towards the Congress for naming its candidates for the three seats in which the former had also announced its nominees. The grand old party declared its candidate list for 12 seats on Tuesday, leaving Dibrugarh for UOFA partner Assam Jatiya Parishad (AJP) and still remaining undecided on the candidate for another seat, Lakhimpur. AJP

Lok Sabha polls: Lotus is going to bloom in Kerala this time, says PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said the BJP will win seats from Kerala in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls and said the people of the state were suffering from the corrupt and incompetent government. Addressing the public campaign here for candidates of the BJP-led NDA, he said, "Lotus is going to bloom in Kerala this time." Attacking the Left and the Congress in Kerala, Modi said the people of the state have endured hardship under governments plagued by corruption and incompetence. Modi said due to the corrupt and incompetent government in Kerala, people are suffering, and they will benefit only if the cycle of consecutive LDF and UDF governments is broken. "In the last elections, the people of Kerala made us the double-digit vote percentage party. And now, our destiny of double-digit seats here is not so far," Modi said. He said both the LDF and UDF governments have turned a blind eye to the struggles of rubber farmers. "Additionally, the state's law and order situation has

RIL denies links with Qwik Supply the third largest electoral bond buyer

Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, a little-known company with registered address at Navi Mumbai's Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, was the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds. It bought Rs 410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24 but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity. Electoral bond purchases and donations by Qwik Supply were behind Rs 1,368 crore of Future Gaming and Hotel Services - another little-known lottery company - and Rs 966 crore of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra, according to information uploaded by the Election Commission on its website. Publicly available information describes Qwik Supply as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units. The unlisted private company was incorporated on November 9, 2000 with an authorised share capital of Rs 130.99 crore. Its paid-up capital is Rs 129.99 crore. The firm had a revenue .

LS elections 2024: PM Modi to address rally in TN as part of South push

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address a BJP rally here on Friday, as part of his southern outreach with the Lok Sabha polls around the corner. He is slated to address rallies next week as well, in the western region of the state. The BJP has not been able to make significant electoral gains in Tamil Nadu in the past but the saffron party is hopeful of reversing that trend, especially under an aggressive K Annamalai who is heading its state unit. Modi had made a number of visits to Tamil Nadu in the past, besides other southern states. Among others, he visited Hindu temples and places with religious significance. The BJP is attempting to a stitch up a non-DMK, non-AIADMK alliance in the state and has already roped in GK Vasan-led Tamil Maanila Congress, expelled AIADMK leader O Panneerselvam and AMMK, headed by TTV Dhinakaran. Tamil Nadu has a total of 39 Lok Sabha seats and the neighbouring Puducherry one.

Newly appointed ECs Gyanesh Kumar, Sukhbir Singh Sandhu assume charge

Newly appointed election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu assumed charge on Friday. The former bureaucrats were appointed as election commissioners on Thursday. They are the first ones to have been appointed as members of the poll panel after the new law on appointment of Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) and ECs came into force recently. Welcoming them, CEC Rajiv Kumar spoke about the significance of their joining at a historic point when the Election Commission is all set to conduct Lok Sabha elections, a spokesperson said. The vacancies had come up in the Election Commission after the retirement of Anup Chandra Pandey on February 14 and the sudden resignation of Arun Goel on March 8. Gyanesh Kumar and Sandhu, both 1988-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers, belonged to the Kerala and Uttarakhand cadres, respectively.

Lok Sabha elections 2024: PM Modi to hold roadshow, rallies in Hyderabad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will hold a roadshow in Hyderabad on Friday and address BJP rallies in Telangana on March 16 and March 18 ahead of the Lok Sabha polls. Modi's roadshow would be held from Mirjalguda to Malkajgiri Chowrasta here this evening, state BJP general secretary G Premender Reddy said in a release on Thursday. On March 16, the prime minister will address a public meeting at Nagarkurnool. Modi would attend a rally at Jagtial in the state on March 18, the release added. The prime minister on March 5 inaugurated and laid the foundation for development projects worth more than Rs 7,200 crore at Sangareddy, about 60 km from Hyderabad. Addressing a BJP rally at Sangareddy, Modi had attacked the Congress, saying it was 'scared' to promote young leaders. He also said the "dynastic parties" were targeting him as he was exposing their "scams worth several thousands of crores of rupees.

Hiding monetary exchange between capital & politics unhealthy for democracy

SBI, the institution that operated the six-year-old election funding mechanism, knows very well which political parties got money from whom in accounts specially opened for the purpose

In blow to TMC, Arjun Singh returns to BJP, shares PM Modi's image

Earlier on Wednesday, March 14, Singh hinted at his return to the BJP, saying that the TMC meted out 'injustice' to him

Petrol, diesel prices cut by Rs 2 across India, says oil minister

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said in a post on X that Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have informed that they have revised petrol and diesel prices across the country

LS polls highlights: Nitish elected unopposed to Bihar Legislative Council

Lok Sabha polls 2024 updates: Catch all the latest updates on the General Elections here