Page 719 - Politics
Vajpayee praised Indira for 1971 war victory: Rajnath to Oppn
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh Monday hit out at the opposition for not appreciating Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the surgical and air strikes on Pakistan and reminded them of the praise showered on Indira Gandhi by Atal Bihari Vajpayee after the victory in the 1971 war. Addressing a rally in Shamshabad, part of Sagar Lok Sabha seat, Singh also lambasted the Congress-led Madhya Pradesh government for "playing with people's emotions by making false promises". "When India defeated Pakistan in the 1971 war, our leader (Vajpayee), despite being in the opposition, praised then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. It showed Atalji was large-hearted," he said. "I want to ask Congressmen when (Indira) Gandhi can be praised for the 1971 victory, then why not Modi for giving a befitting reply to Pakistan," he said. There was a power outage during his speech, leading to Singh ridiculing the Congress, calling it an example of its governance in the state. Early in the day, MP Chief .
BJP demands repoll in entire Birbum, part of Asansol
The BJP on Monday approached the Chief Electoral Officer, West Bengal, demanding a repoll in the entire Birbhum Lok Sabha constituency and in a number of polling stations of Asansol, Krishnanagar and Ranaghat seats where Lok Sabha polls were held on Monday for the fourth phase.
63.77 per cent polling in 3 Lok Sabha seats in Jharkhand
An estimated 63.77 per cent of the 45.26 lakh electorate cast their votes on Monday in three Lok Sabha constituencies in Jharkhand, which passed off peacefully, an official said. Lohardaga (ST), Palamu (SC) and Chatra constituencies are among the states 14 Lok Sabha constituencies, which went to the polls on Monday. Prominent among those in the fray are Union Minister of State for Tribal Affairs and BJP's Lohardaga candidate Sudarshan Bhagat, who is pitted against Congress MLA and Mahagathbandhan' candidate Sukhdeo Bhagat "An estimated 63.77 per cent polling was recorded by 5 pm and it will increase," Chief Electoral Officer L Khiangte said at a press conference here after the end of the polling. The polling began at 7 am and ended at 4 pm. As per the instruction of the Election Commission voters, who entered polling stations before the scheduled time would be allowed to vote. The voting passed off peacefully, the CEO said. An FIR was lodged against a polling personnel at
Left parties to step up stir for fresh polling in Tripura West
Demanding fresh voting in the Tripura West parliamentary constituency, the Left parties would intensify their agitations until the Election Commission declares re-polling in the entire Lok Sabha seat, Left leaders said here on Monday.
57% polling recorded in Madhya Pradesh (3rd Lead)
Madhya Pradesh recorded a voter turnout of 57 per cent till 5.30 p.m. in six out of the 29 parliamentary seats which went to the polls in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections -- the first in the state -- on Monday, as per official data received here.
Cong's Deora thanks EC, cops for peaceful Mumbai LS poll
Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora Monday congratulated the Election Commission for peacefully conducting elections in the metropolis. In a statement, Deora, the Congress' Mumbai South Lok Sabha candidate, also appreciated the efforts of the Mumbai police and other security personnel deployed for poll duty. "The voters are the real heroes of this election and I thank them for strengthening our democracy today. On behalf of the Mumbai Congress, I congratulate the Election Commission for peacefully conducting elections in Mumbai," he said. "I also appreciate and thank Mumbai Police and other security personnel for maintaining law and order in the city," he added. He thanked party workers, stating they "demonstrated their commitment to the values of the Congress". He also said that the media kept a close vigil on the proceedings.
Cong delegation meets EC officials, demands ban on PM Modi from campaigning
A Congress delegation, led by Abhishek Manu Singhvi, met Election Commission officials here on Monday, demanding a ban on Prime Minister Narendra Modi from campaigning for 48 to 72 hours for allegedly violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) several times."Today, we raised three important issues with the EC. The main concern was the Prime Minister's speeches on armed forces, where he has been dragging the services into politics. This is unconstitutional. The Prime Minister is asking for votes in exchange for the 40 brave jawans who died in Pulwama and the airstrike by the IAF in Balakot," Singhvi told reporters here after the meeting with EC officials."He (Modi) also gave an interview to a channel where he was saying that the forces went deep inside Pakistan at his behest to kill terrorists and, therefore, people should vote for BJP," he said."We also filed a complaint against Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah over the same issue. But the EC did not take any action against ...
Opposition giving tickets to 'bahubalis' without realising UP has changed: Shah
BJP president Amit Shah Monday accused the Opposition of giving tickets to "bahubalis" (strongmen) in Uttar Pradesh, asserting that their presence will not have any impact as the Yogi Adityanath government has been acting tough against them. He also reiterated that the BJP government, after coming to power, will scrap Article 370 of the Constitution which grants special status to Jammu and Kashmir. Addressing an election meeting in Pratapgarh, Shah said, "We want to remove Article 370 from Kashmir, but Rahul Gandhi does not want this... when Modiji's government comes back in power, it (Article 370) will be abrogated." Attacking the Opposition on the issue of Kashmir, he said, "Omar Abdullah says there should be another PM for Kashmir... his friends are Mayawati, Akhilesh and Rahul Gandhi... all these together want to separate Kashmir from India." In Jaunpur, the BJP leader said his party will never indulge in vote bank politics nor compromise with the security of the country, "but ..
Pakistan Army warns Pashtun Tahafuz Movement
The Pakistani Army on Monday said that it wanted to make every effort to resolve the issues faced by the Pashtuns in tribal areas, but warned that the "manner" adopted by the Pashtun Tahafuz Movement (PTM) to voice such grievances would no longer be tolerated.
Centre extends tenure of CRPF IG in Kashmir by 6 months
The tenure of CRPF's Inspector General (operations) in the Kashmir valley, Zulfiquar Hasan, has been extended by another six months till September, a government order said Monday. Hasan is a 1988-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer of the West Bengal cadre. An order issued by the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said Hasan's deputation tenure has been extended by six months beyond March 11 this year "in relaxation of IPS tenure policy in public interest". The officer was given an extension of one year, beyond March 11, in 2018. Hasan heads the important operations sector of the force that has armed CRPF troops deployed from Kupwara in north Kashmir to Jawahar tunnel in south and Pahalgam in east to Shopian in the west. He was first appointed as IG (operations) Kashmir valley of CRPF in October, 2016. Hasan, who has also headed the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) formation in Chhattisgarh anti-Naxal operations, has been ...
64 per cent voter turnout in 4th phase of LS polls: EC
A voter turnout of 64 percent was recorded in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha polls on Monday, the Election Commission said. Voting was held in 72 parliamentary constituencies spread across nine states in this phase. Nearly 66 per cent turnout was recorded in the third phase of Lok Sabha polls in which voting was held in 116 seats. In the first two phases, polling was conducted in 91 and 95 seats on April 11 and April 18 respectively. Election to 543 seats across the country is being held in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on May 23.
Modi's return must for peace, progress: RSS leader
Senior Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) leader Indresh Kumar on Monday said that return of Prime Minister Narendra Modi is crucial for social and religious amity, and progress of the country.
Rafale case: Centre seeks deferment of Tuesday's hearing in SC
The Centre on Monday sought deferment of tomorrow's hearing on the pleas seeking review of the Rafale deal verdict of December 14 last year saying it needs time to file a detailed reply on these petitions. The Centre's prayer was made before a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi which did not say anything on the issue of adjournment of the scheduled hearing on Tuesday. The bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna, allowed senior advocate R Balasubramanian, appearing for the Centre, to circulate a letter of adjournment among the parties which include petitioners who have filed the review pleas. The Centre's letter said it needs time to file reply on merits on the review petitions. The review petitions filed by former Union ministers Yashwant Sinha, Arun Shourie and activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan is listed for hearing before a bench headed by the Chief Justice on Tuesday in the post lunch session. Two other review petitions -- filed by Aam Aadmi Party ...
First anniversary of Modi-Xi Wuhan summit celebrated with 'colours of India' week
India and China on Monday kicked off the first anniversary of the landmark "informal summit" between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Xi Jinping in Wuhan, which was largely credited to have improved the bilateral ties after the Doklam standoff, by holding a week-long India festival in the central Chinese city. To commemorate the first anniversary of the Modi-Xi talks held on April 27-28, 2018, India launched "Colours of India" week in Wuhan during which dance performances, movie screenings, photo exhibitions and other business and tourism promotion events will be organised. The programme was inaugurated by Indian Ambassador to China Vikram Misri and Deputy Mayor of Wuhan, Chen Xiexin. It is being jointly organised by Embassy of India, Beijing and Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR), New Delhi in association with the Hubei Provincial Government and Wuhan Municipal Government and supported by the China Arts Association, a statement from Indian Embassy here said. The ..
LF takes out rallies demanding fresh election in West Tripura
The opposition Left Front in Tripura Monday took out protest rallies in different parts of the West Tripura constituency demanding that the Election Commission orders fresh election in the Lok Sabha seat. The Left Front alleged that large scale rigging and violence took place during the April 11 election in the West Tripura constituency. "We are organising protest rallies, in different parts of West Tripura constituency areas ... But this is not our protest and struggle alone. It is a struggle of all peace loving, democratic citizens whose democratic rights were snatched by large scale rigging", Left Front convener Bijan Dhar told a gathering here. Dhar alleged that the BJP-IPFT government in Tripura was "responsible" for overall breakdown of law and order which led to massive rigging on the poll day on April 11. He said that when a CPI(M) delegation met Election Commission in Delhi before the elections, the EC had assured to take all measures for free and fair ...
Ajai Rai of Cong files nomination from Varanasi
Congress candidate for varanasi Lok Sabha seat, Ajai Rai, filed his nomination paper Monday. Pitted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Rai reached Varanasi collectorate at Kutchery in a roadshow led by party's state unit president Raj Babbar. The procession, comprising a large number of party supporters besides leaders and workers, started from Azad Park at Peelikothi and reached the collectorate meandering its way through various places in the city. The Samajwadi Party meanwhile declared dismissed BSF constable Tej Bahadur Yadav as its candidate against Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Varanasi. The party, which had earlier nominated Shalini Yadav as the candidate for the SP-BSP-RLD alliance, extended its support to the former constable, who was dismissed from the the BSF on disciplinary grounds. He had criticised the quality of food for the soldiers of the paramilitary forces in a video which had gone viral. The ex-BSF constable had already filed his nomination paper. Two more ..
Cyclone 'Fani' forces IAF to postpone BrahMos testfiring
In view of the cyclone storm 'Fani,' the Indian Air Force (IAF) and BrahMos Aerospace have put on hold the testfire of the air-launched version of supersonic cruise missile from a Sukhoi-30 combat aircraft.The air-launched version of the BrahMos was to be testfired by the Air Force over southern India this week for giving a homegrown weapon system to the force for carrying out Balakot-type air strikes."The testfire has been postponed due to the cyclone storm 'Fani' for the moment but we will be doing it soon," government sources said here.The cyclonic storm 'Fani' on Monday morning was located at 880 km of South-East of Chennai and it will continue to move North-West and change its path to North-East from Wednesday.The cyclone is expected to intensify into a very severe cyclonic storm by Tuesday.Seeking to further bolster its ability to destroy major ground targets, the IAF and DRDO are planning to testfire the air-launched version of the world's fastest supersonic cruise missile ...
Stop interfering in Hong Kong affairs, China tells US
China on Monday urged the US to respect China's sovereignty and stop interfering in Hong Kong's affairs.
67.78 pc voter turnout recorded in Raj
A voter turnout of 67.78 per cent was recorded in Rajasthan's 13 Lok Sabha seats which went to the polls Monday, an election official said. The percentage, recorded at the close of polling, is expected to increase when a final count is released. According to a tentative break-up made available earlier, the tribal dominated seat of Banswara recorded the highest voting percentage at 72.34, followed by Barmer which recorded 72.21 per cent voting. Chittorgarh and Jhalwar-Baran also recorded 71.29 and 70.95 per cent voting. Voters are still lined up in front of several polling booths and the final figure will be known later. Total voter turnout in the 2014 general election was 63.11 per cent. The voting began at 7 am in the 13 constituencies of Tonk-Sawaimadhopur, Ajmer, Pali, Jodhpur, Barmer, Jalore, Udaipur, Banswara, Chittorgarh, Rajsamand, Bhilwara, Kota and Jhalawar-Baran, according to the office of the chief electoral officer. About 2.57 crore people were eligible to vote at 28,182 .
Pastor, 5 others killed in Burkina Faso church attack
A Burkina Faso government spokesman says six people, including a pastor, have been killed in an attack on a Christian church in the country's north. The violence took place Sunday in the village of Silgadji, not far from the volatile border with Mali. Urbain Kabore, the communications director for the Sahel region of Burkina Faso, said Monday that the six people were slain after Sunday services. There was no immediate claim of responsibility though violent Islamic extremism has been increasingly destabilizing the country. A number of jihadist groups are known to operate the area. Authorities said that in a separate incident in the east of Burkina Faso, five teachers were shot to death Friday. The Islamic extremists also have targeted foreigners, abducting and killing a Canadian geologist earlier this year.