Page 938 - Politics
Khader mocks BJP for seeking votes in Modi's name
Ridiculing the BJP for seeking votes in the name of Prime Minister after failing to address people's issues in Dakshina Kannada constituency, state Housing and Urban Development Minister U T Khader Thursday said there would not be the name or picture of Narendra Modi in the voting machine. Addressing reporters here, he said the people should cast their votes sensibly and send to New Delhi a person who was capable of taking up their issues in the Parliament. The sitting BJP MP who is seeking re-election was a total failure during his last two terms, he alleged. Disputing the claim of BJP that Modi had taken stringent action against terrorism, Khader said terrorist attacks had in fact increased since the NDA government came to power. On the soft Hindutva line allegedly being followed by Congress candidate Mithun M Rai in his campaign, Khader said Congress always believed in true Hinduism propagated by social reformers like Swami Vivekananda and Sri Narayana Guru. The party .
Congress finalises names of four LS candidates in Delhi: Sources
The Congress has finalised its nominees for four out of seven Lok Sabha seats in Delhi and an official announcement is likely to be made soon, sources said Thursday. The central election committee of the party discussed the names of two-three probable candidates for each seat and finalised its nominees for four seats, they said. "The names of all the seven candidates will be announced together on a later date," All India Congress Committee (AICC) in-charge for Delhi P C Chacko told PTI after the meeting. Earlier in the day, Chacko met Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee president Sheila Dikshit and discussed the matter. According to the sources, the party is yet to finalise its candidates for East Delhi, West Delhi and South Delhi constituencies. They said the party is likely to field former Union minister Kapil Sibal from Chandni Chowk, former Delhi minister Rajkumar Chouhan from North West seat, former state unit chief Ajay Maken from New Delhi and former MP J P Agarwal from North East
LS polls: Sisodia to campaign in Punjab's Sangrur on Apr 15
Delhi's Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia will campaign for Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann on April 15, a party leader said. Sisodia, who is AAP's in-charge of Punjab political affairs, will also address a meeting of party workers and volunteers on that day, said party MLA and campaign committee chairman Aman Arora here. He also announced formation of a five-member campaign committee which included Harchand Singh Barsat, Navdeep Singh Sangha, Neel Garg, Sukhraj Singh Gora Ferozeshah and Avtar Singh Eilwal. Arora said he will address meetings at Hoshiarpur and Jalandhar on April 16, Sri Anandpur Sahib and Patiala on April 17, Fatehgarh Sahib on April 18, Gurdaspur and Amritsar on April 19, Faridkot and Ferozepur on April 21. On the question of forging an alliance with other political parties, Arora said the core committee of the AAP had already conveyed its view to the high command against any poll pact with any party in the state. The AAP leader said compared to other leaders of the ...
Sukh Ram has put his son's political future at stake: HP CM
Former Union minister Sukh Ram has put the political future of his son and BJP minister Anil Sharma at stake by joining the Congress, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Thursday. Addressing a BJP workers' meeting at Anil Sharma's hometown in Siagaloo in Mandi district, Thakur said he had no idea where the power minister in the BJP government in the state was. Sukh Ram along with his grandson Aashray had recently joined the Congress after the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) refused to field the latter from the Mandi parliamentary seat. Soon after Aashray got a Congress ticket from the seat, his father and Mandi MLA Anil Sharma announced that he would not campaign against his son. Speaking at the rally, Thakur advised Anil Sharma to deal with his frustrations and stop issuing illogical statements in public. "I respect Sukh Ram as a veteran politician but now the circumstances have changed and he should have put his ambition to see his grandson as MP on hold for ..
Moon, Trump meet in wake of North Korea summit failure
South Korean President Moon Jae-in meets with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday to try and find a path forward from the debris of a failed nuclear summit between the US president and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Both Trump and Moon are heavily invested in bringing North Korea out of the cold but the unsuccessful summit in Vietnam at the end of February was a setback for the two allies that has yet to be resolved. Trump will give Moon and his wife Kim Jung-sook the red carpet treatment at the White House before talks in the Oval Office. Although trade and the role of the huge US troop presence in South Korea are hot topics, North Korea dominates. "The two leaders will have in-depth talks ... to coordinate their stance on setting up a peace regime on the Korean peninsula through complete denuclearisation," Yoon Do-han, the senior South Korean presidential press secretary said ahead of the visit. Trump has emerged as an unlikely peacemaker in the Korean peninsula, reversing
'Namo' food packs in minister's constituency trigger row
Several security personnel on election duty in Noida were served meals in packets labelled "Namo Foods", triggering criticism from the opposition even after the local police said the packs only displayed the name of a food shop. The Bahujan Samaj Party said it has complained to the Election Commission. "NaMo" are widely-recognised Hindi initials of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, previously seen on BJP merchandise and recently as the name of a TV channel. The Noida sector 20 police station had ordered 750 food packets from Namo Food Corner, which its manager said had opened 13 months back. Some of the packets were brought in the boot of a hatchback and distributed among police personnel in Noida's sector 15A around 9.30 am, while polling was on in the Gautam Buddh Nagar constituency under which the Delhi suburb falls. Union minister Mahesh Sharma is the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate seeking re-election there. The packets, coloured in a shade of saffron and with "Namo" emblazoned on ..
India election sees 45.6 mn tweets; national security most talked about: Twitter
Conversations around elections kept Twitter buzzing over the last one month with over 45 million tweets being shared, the microblogging platform said Thursday. Prime Minister Modi emerged as the "most mentioned figure" during this first phase of the #LokSabhaElections2019 conversations on Twitter, it said in a statement. Interestingly, national security ranked ahead of topics like religion, jobs, agriculture, and taxes and trade in the the election conversations. "Polling started on Thursday morning for 91 seats in 18 states and 2 union territories and the conversation on the platform reflected this. Twitter recorded 45.6 million tweets related to the Lok Sabha elections from March 11, 2019, the day elections were announced, until April 11, 2019," the statement said. Of the 45.6 million tweets recorded during this period, 1.2 million were tweeted on Thursday during phase one of the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, it added. Twitter said politicians and political parties have been using its ..
In 'report card' on BJP MP Harsh Vardhan, AAP slams him over pollution, sealing, statehood
The Aam Aadmi Party Thursday came out with a "report card" on the work of Chandni Chowk MP Harsh Vardhan and slammed the senior BJP leader over several issues including on statehood, sealing drive and the problem of pollution in the city. The "report card" has been brought out by the AAP as part of a campaign under which it is releasing such compilation on each MP who was elected from the national capital in 2014. Senior AAP leader Gopal Rai said the first promise made by Harsh Vardhan in 2014 was asking Prime Minister Narendra Modi to grant full statehood to Delhi, but it was not fulfilled. Rai also said the Union environment minister has been blaming the AAP for not being able to tackle the problem of pollution in Delhi. "But the fact remains that the steps taken by us (Delhi government) cannot be compared with any other state. We launched odd-even scheme and a comprehensive plan to tackle pollution," Rai said. Rai said the traders in Chandni Chowk are "very angry" with Harsh ...
Rajasthan: BJP still undecided on its nominee for Dausa
Suspense on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Dausa in Rajasthan continues as the party is yet to declare its nominee for the seat.
BJP's Cooch Behar candidate on sit-in to demand repoll
Accusing the ruling Trinamool Congress of rigging in the Cooch Behar Lok Sabha seat during the first phase of polling in West Bengal on Thursday, BJP candidate Nishit Pramanik held a protest in front of the District Magistrate's office, demanding re-poll in all booths where central force were not deployed.
Yechury, Congress allege vote rigging in Tripura
The Congress and the CPI-M have alleged poll malpractices by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the Centre and in Tripura during the voting for the Tripura West Lok Sabha seat on Thursday. But the BJP rejected the charges saying "opposition parties are making false allegations to cover up their defeats".
French envoy rejects reports of Pak pilots training on Rafale in France
French Ambassador Alexandre Ziegler on Thursday dismissed as "fake news" reports that a batch of Pakistani pilots was trained on Rafale fighter jets being procured by Qatari Air Force. American aviation industry website ainonline.com reported that the first batch of pilots trained on the Rafale fighter jet for Qatar in November 2017 were "Pakistani exchange officers". "I can confirm that it is fake news," Ziegler tweeted. French diplomatic sources said no Pakistani pilots ever trained on Rafale jets in France. There were concerns in the Indian military establishment over the report by the US-based website as India was also procuring 36 Rafale jets from France at a cost of Rs 58,000 crore. It is learnt that the government got in touch with the French government after the report and Paris conveyed to New Delhi that no Pakistani pilots were trained on Rafale jets in France. In 2015, Qatar sealed a USD 7 billion deal with French aerospace major Dassault Aviation to buy 24 Rafale jets, and
Congress using old manifesto to regain power: Malavika
The Congress has changed its old slogan of 'Garibi Hatao' in the seventies to 'NYAY' scheme in 2019 to fool the people by making promises that cannot be implemented, BJP spokesperson Malavika Avinash alleged Thursday. Addressing reporters here, she said the Congress has now openly admitted that they had "failed" to fulfilltheir promises made 40 years ago. The promise to repeal the sedition rule in the Congress manifesto shows its covert support to separatists and other elements who are working against the law and the constitution of the country, she claimed. On the Rafale deal, Avinash said the Congress was spreading falsehood on the issue to cover up the "failures" of its leader Rahul Gandhi. Gandhi is coming out with "baseless" charges after the Supreme Court decided to admit the petitions on Rafale, which did not mean that the court had endorsed the allegations, she said. Avinash also said the NDA rule should come back at the Centre to further improve the lot of the .
Overall 56% turnout in Jammu, Baramulla LS seats: CEO
An overall 56 per cent of the votes were cast in Jammu and Kashmir's Jammu and Baramulla Lok Sabha constituencies on Thursday and the poll process ended peacefully, Chief Electoral Officer Shailendra Kumar said.
Election Commission's plight shows Modi's working: CPI-M
The present plight of the Election Commission is a warning of how the Narendra Modi government has been weakening the independence and credibility of various institutions, the CPI-M has said.
Soldiers posted at Siachen cast their votes
Army personnel posted at the world's highest battlefield, the Siachen Glacier in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, cast their votes as service voters on Thursday.
TMC 'goons' instigated violence in WB's Cooch Behar, didn't allow voting: BJP
The BJP Thursday alleged that Trinamool Congress "goons" had instigated violence in West Bengal's Cooch Behar Lok Sabha constituency and did not let people cast their votes. In the first-phase of the general elections on Thursday, polls were held in two Lok Sabha constituencies in the state -- Cooch Behar and Alipurduar. The BJP will approach the Election Commission and will lodge a complaint, senior leader and Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said at a press conference at the party office here. "TMC goons instigated violence in Cooch Behar in West Bengal to interrupt polling and also did not let voters cast their vote," he said. The BJP's state unit has already approached the chief electoral officer in the state in this matter, the Union minister said. Naqvi said the BJP has been urging the poll panel to take remedial measures for free and fair elections in West Bengal, as the TMC-led government could try to disturb the atmosphere during the polls. On a question on Congress's ...
61 per cent voting in LS poll in Telangana; Polling peaceful
An estimated 61 per cent of voters cast their ballot Thursday in Lok Sabha elections in Telangana, exercise passed off peacefully, officials said. All the 17 segments, including Nizamabad that saw over 170 farmers contesting demanding remunerative price for their produce, went to polls in the single phase and till 5 pm, 60.57 per cent voting was recorded. "I expect it (the poll percentage) to go a little bit higher", Telangana Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar told reporters. He said the final voting percentage would be given Friday. While the ruling TRS has exuded confidence in doing well in the Parliamentary elections on the back of its sweep in the recent assembly elections, the Congress and BJP look to make a dent in the largely three-cornered contest. Former Union minister Renuka Chowdhury, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, TRS President and Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao's daughter K Kavitha and State Congress Chief Uttam Kumar Reddy were among the key ...
Mexico names army general to lead new National Guard
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador named an army general Thursday to command Mexico's new National Guard, brushing aside critics who warn the move risks permanently militarising the country. Brigadier General Luis Rodriguez will be the first commander of the 80,000-strong National Guard, which is due to take over policing duties that Mexico gave to the military in 2006, when the government declared war on the country's powerful drug cartels. The National Guard is Lopez Obrador's key strategy to fight a wave of violence that has engulfed Mexico since the military deployment began. But opponents and rights activists warn it could make things worse. Lopez Obrador said the new force would focus on "guaranteeing public security where people live," rather than taking down cartel kingpins. "That is the change we want to make, defending human rights and the regulated use of force in the process," he said. The military has been accused of committing gross human-rights violations since being
Amid allegations of EMV malfunction, J&K records over 55% voter turnout
Jammu and Kashmir Thursday recorded an overall turnout of over 55 per cent in the Jammu and Baramulla constituencies in the first phase of the Lok Sabha elections, even as there were protests over defective EVMs in some areas. The two constituencies house over 33 lakh electorate. The overall turnout was 55-56 per cent, with the Jammu Lok Sabha constituency recording 72.19 per cent polling and Baramulla registering 35.01 per cent, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Electoral Officer Shaliendra Kumar told reporters here. Polling was largely peaceful, Kumar said, adding that there was, however, one incident of firing in Palhalan of Baramulla and it was being looked into. To a question on the complaints of EVM malfunctions, the official said, "We have rectified all of them." Congress candidate from Jammu, Raman Bhalla, who cast his vote in Jammu, had alleged large scale EVM malfunction in Poonch and Mendhar belt of the constituency. He said people protested over the issue. Another Congress spokesman