Page 92 - Lok Sabha

BJP suggests amending laws to hold simultaneous LS and Assembly polls

BJP submits memorandum to Kovind panel on One Nation, One Poll

UP BJP set to hold meeting to chalk out Lok Sabha poll strategy today

Meanwhile, a two-day national convention of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), aimed at deliberating on the strategy for the Lok Sabha elections, commenced on Saturday in Delhi

Congress dismisses speculation of former MP CM Kamal Nath switching to BJP

The Congress on Monday dismissed as "misinformation" the speculation over party leader Kamal Nath's possible switch to the BJP and asserted that the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister will participate in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state. The assertion by Congress general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Jitendra Singh came amid speculation that Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath, a Lok Sabha MP, may cross over to the ruling BJP. "Kamal Nath ji is a senior leader of our party. All these speculations have been made by the BJP and the media. I spoke to him yesterday and the day before yesterday also and we discussed the preparations of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra," Singh told reporters at the Congress headquarters here. "I am going to Bhopal tomorrow and meetings are taking place with MLAs, various committees and MPs. Kamal Nath ji will also join those meetings and his suggestions for the yatra's passage will be taken note of. Kamal Nath will prominently .

Govt holds talks with Ladakh's 14-member delegation on key demands

A delegation of leaders from Ladakh held a meeting with the government's representatives here on Monday to press for their demands, including statehood for the high-altitude region, two Lok Sabha seats and bringing the area under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution. The 14-member delegation of the Apex Body Leh (ABL) and Kargil Democratic Alliance (KDA) met the High Powered Committee (HPC) for Ladakh headed by Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai. "The meeting discussed the Ladakh delegation's demands," a source privy to the deliberations said, without elaborating further. The demands of the delegation are statehood for Ladakh, two Lok Sabha seats (one for Kargil and one for Leh), job opportunities for the residents of the Union Territory and constitutional protection under the Sixth Schedule. Ladakh currently has one Lok Sabha constituency. Ladakh, which no longer has any Assembly constituency, was earlier part of the erstwhile state of Jammu and Kashmir. The ...

'One Nation, One Election' proposal likely to have German blueprint

Law Commission, in its 2015 report, proposed that a no-confidence motion, even if passed by a majority, shall remain ineffective unless a motion of confidence in a named individual is passed

Hold LS, assembly polls together but not with local body: JD(U) to panel

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) on Saturday supported holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies but not with local body polls. The party told the high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' that it supports holding Lok Sabha and state assembly polls together. It also said that all local body polls -- municipalities and panchayats -- should be held together. However, the local body polls should not be held alongside elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, it underlined. "... JD(U) would like to extend its support of having simultaneous elections in House of People (Lok Sabha), state legislature together and the election for the third tier, that is, Panchayats and Municipalities should be held simultaneously but separately and not with House of People and state legislature," the JD(U) told the panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind. Set up in September last year, the committee is mandated to examine and make recommendations for

Ghulam Nabi hints at not contesting LS polls, says will campaign for DPAP

Senior political leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday indicated that he would not be contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as he would be campaigning for the candidates of his newly formed Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) candidates. Azad, who has refrained from contesting Lok Sabha elections after his defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, asked his party men to gear up as 2024 would be the election year for Jammu and Kashmir. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Nagrota, Azad, who resigned from Congress after decades of association, also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the issues of agitating farmers "once for all" as the protest is neither good for the government nor the farmers. "Parliament election is 100 percent taking place on its time and I can only guess about the assembly polls (in J&K) as I have no contact with the Election Commission or government. But it (assembly elections) has to take place as the Supreme Court has set .

LS polls: Cong hopeful of winning in coastal K'taka region, says Shivakumar

Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar on Saturday said there are chances of his party winning this time in the coastal belt in the forthcoming Parliamentary elections. Addressing reporters, Shivakumar, who is here to participate in the state-level party convention of workers ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls, said there is potential for change in politics, and there are visible changes in the attitude of people in the coastal areas. "We are holding the state-level convention this time in Mangaluru as we perceive chances of winning from this region," Shivakumar, who is the Deputy Chief Minister of the state, said. He said that the issues of unemployment and business stagnation in coastal Karnataka will be addressed by the ruling Congress. Shivakumar said the BJP had failed to take up development works in the region though they have been representing the Dakshina Kannada constituency for a long period. Congress has plans to introduce innovative ideas

If there's any such thing, will inform you: Nath to media on switch to BJP

Amid speculation that he could cross over to the BJP, senior Congress leader and former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Kamal Nath arrived in the national capital Saturday afternoon and said if there would be any such thing, he would inform the media first. In his brief interaction with reporters, he asked them not to get excited. Asked if he is joining the BJP, Nath said, "If there would be any such thing, I would inform you first." When a reporter asked if he was not denying a possible switch, Nath said, "It is not about denying, you are saying this, you people are getting excited. I am not getting excited, this side or that side, but if there would be any such thing, I would inform you first." Over the past few days, Nath had been on a tour of his bastion Chhindwara, from where he had been an MP for nine terms. His son Nakul Nath won the seat in the 2019 polls, even as the BJP swept the remaining 28 seats in the state. Asked about the speculation that Nath could cross over to the

Land given to Railways for commercial sites still undeveloped: Parl Panel

The Public Accounts Committee of Lok Sabha in its report has found that the Railway Land Development Authority (RLDA) failed in its objective to develop railway land sites for commercial use due to various reasons. In the report, presented to the Lok Sabha, the Committee said that it reviewed 17 sites out of 49 entrusted to RLDA by the Indian Railways in 2007 and noted that none of them were developed till 2017. It added that out of 49 sites, only 40 were commercially viable. The Committee, chaired by Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, selected the subject Development of Railway Land for Commercial use by Rail Land Development Authority which was based on the Comptroller of Auditor General's (CAG) report laid in the Lok Sabha on July 20, 2018. According to the report, Indian Railway has 43,000 hectares of vacant land out of which it entrusted 49 sites to RLDA from 2007 to 2017 for commercial development to generate revenue. The Committee observed that Audit reviewed the development of 17 sit

Revamped SEZ law unlikely before the upcoming Lok Sabha elections

The commerce department had sought the Union Cabinet's nod to bring amendments in the existing SEZ Act, 2005 late last year

Highlights: Paytm shifts nodal account to Axis Bank from Paytm Bank

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Looking forward to first LS battle; party will decide seat: Mos IT

Union minister Rajeev Chandrasekhar, who is among the ministers not renominated to the Rajya Sabha, on Friday said he is raring to contest his first Lok Sabha polls and looking forward to "an even more exciting phase" in his political career. One needs to be extremely responsible and a very grassroots politician to be a Lok Sabha member and "I am deeply fortunate" that the prime minister and the BJP leadership considered him worth of it, the technology entrepreneur-turned-politician said. He said the constituency or the state from where he will fight the elections, due in April-May, will be decided by the party. "...I'm certainly looking forward to what I believe will be an even more exciting phase in my political career," the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Skill Development and Entrepreneurship told PTI in an interview. "I'm deeply fortunate that our prime minister and my home minister and my party president have said that they think me worthy enough or qualified enough

President prorogues both Houses after Budget session of Parliament

Apart from the financial agenda of the government, the two Houses also passed bills related to Jammu and Kashmir

EC on tour of states to review preparations for Lok Sabha elections

The Election Commission (EC) will resume its review of states' preparedness for the Lok Sabha polls with a visit to Odisha later on Thursday and complete the process in Jammu and Kashmir on March 13, sources said. In January, the Commission reviewed the preparations in Andhra Pradesh, where Lok Sabha and assembly polls will be held together. The Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and comprising Election Commissioner Arun Goel will be in Odisha Thursday night, the sources said. Besides Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh will see simultaneous parliamentary and assembly polls. The panel will also be touring West Bengal, Bihar, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, besides other states. It will visit Jammu and Kashmir on March 13, the sources said. The Union territory of Jammu and Kashmir has a provision for a legislative assembly but is under central rule. The Supreme Court had last year asked the EC to hold assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir by Septem

NC in talks with Cong for 3 LS seats, is part of INDIA bloc: Omar Abdullah

The National Conference is a part of the INDIA grouping and will continue to be, party leader Omar Abdullah clarified on Thursday and said it is in talks with the Congress for an arrangement in three of the six Lok Sabha seats in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh. Omar Abdullah's statement came shortly after NC chief Farooq Abdullah told reporters that the party would contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections and possible assembly polls in the Union Territory on its own. "We were a part of the INDIA alliance and we still are. Things have been taken out of context. The main idea of the grouping is to defeat the BJP for there is no point in sailing in two boats," Omar Abdullah said with his father, Farooq Abdullah, by his side. Referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to the union territory next week, he said, "We will also get to know how much development has happened in Jammu and Kashmir." He said the prime minister should start his theory of one nation, one election from Ja

National Conference will contest Lok Sabha elections alone: Farooq Abdullah

Abdullah was earlier this month summoned by the ED in connection with a money laundering case about the Jammu and Kashmir Cricket Association

Sonia Gandhi to miss LS polls, sends emotional message to Rae Bareli voters

Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Thursday informed voters of her Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh that she will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls due to health and age issues. In an emotional message to the constituents of the segment she has represented since 2004, the 77-year-old also threw subtle hints of a possible entry of a member of her family from the Rae Bareli segment. "I am proud to say that whatever I am today, I am because of you and I have always done my best to honour your trust. Now on account of health and age issues, I will not contest the next Lok Sabha election," she said in the message. "After this decision, I will not have the opportunity to serve you directly but my heart and soul will always remain with you. I know that you will stand by me and my family in future, just as you have in the past," she said in the message written in Hindi. The message to the voters comes a day after the former Congress president filed her nomination for

Ex-min Baban Gholap resigns from Shiv Sena (UBT) ahead of LS, state polls

Former Maharashtra minister Baban Gholap resigned from the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday, ahead of the forthcoming Lok Sabha and state assembly polls. Gholap, who represented the Nashik Road-Deolali assembly constituency for five consecutive terms, had in September last year resigned as the deputy leader of the Shiv Sena (UBT) but it was not accepted. In a one-line letter to Thackeray on Thursday, Gholap said he has resigned from the post of 'Shiv Sainik'. He posted the letter on X. He has not yet disclosed plans about his future political journey. Gholap was apparently unhappy over being removed as the party's liaison chief for the Shirdi Lok Sabha constituency last year and former MP Bhausaheb Wakchaure joining the Sena (UBT). As the liaison chief for Shirdi Lok Sabha seat and an influential leader from the region, he was hopeful of getting a ticket from there in the upcoming general elections, but that might not materialise with Wakchaure's entry, according t

Electoral Bond Scheme: Rs 16,518 crore collected till date, Centre told LS

Electoral Bonds scheme verdict: On Thursday, the Supreme Court struck down the scheme and called it 'unconstitutional'