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LS Polls: Rajnath To Lead BJP’s Election Manifesto Committee

By LokMarg 30th March 2024

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced the Election Manifesto Committee for the Lok Sabha elections 2024.

BJP president JP Nadda announced the 27-member committee which will be headed by defence minister and former BJP chief Rajnath Singh.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Union Minister Piyush Goyal will be convenor and co-convenors, respectively.

Arjun Munda, Bhupender Yadav, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Kiren Rijiju, Ashwini Vaishnaw, Dharmendra Pradhan, and Bhupender Patel are included as members in the committee.

Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma, Chhattisgarh CM Vishnu Deo Sai and Madhya Pradesh CM Mohan Yadav are also included in the list.

Along with them, Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Vasundhara Raje, Smriti Irani, Jual Oram, Ravishankar Prasad, Sushil Modi, Keshav Prasad Maurya, Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Vinod Tawde, Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, Manjinder Singh Sirsa, OP Dhankar, Anil Antony and Tariq Mansoor are also there.

Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday announced the candidates for the by-election to be held in the Gandey Assembly seat of Jharkhand and Bagidora Assembly seat in Rajasthan.

The party has fielded Dilip Kumar Verma from the Gandey Assembly, while Subhash Tamboliya has been given a ticket from the Bagidora Assembly in Rajasthan.

The bypoll will be held at Bagidora Assemby in Rajasthan on April 26, while the Gandey Assembly will undergo a bypoll on May 20.

Bypolls on 26 Assembly seats will also be held along with the Lok Sabha polls.

Meanwhile, Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning April 19.

Nearly 96.8 crore people are eligible to cast their votes in the upcoming polls at over 12 lakh polling stations.

The election for 543 Lok Sabha seats will be held in seven phases starting April 19.

The counting of votes will take place on June 4.

In the 2014 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 282 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) managed to get only 44 seats.

In the 2019 Lok Sabha election, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) won 303 seats, while the Indian National Congress (INC) managed to get only 52 seats. (ANI)

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One Nation One Election Committee Submits Report To Murmu

By LokMarg 14th March 2024

The High-Level Committee on ‘One Nation One Election’ chaired by former President Ram Nath Kovind met President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan and submitted its report on Thursday.

The Report comprises of 18,626 pages and is an outcome of extensive consultations with stakeholders, experts and research work over 191 days, since its constitution on September 2, 2023.

The committee submitted the report in the presence of all committee members including Union Home Minister Amit Shah, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal, Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) chief Gulam Nabi Azad and others.

Recently the High Level Committee also met and interacted with representatives of several Political parties including BJP, Trinamool Congress, Samajwadi Party, CPI, CPI(M), AIMIM, RPI, Apna Dal etc.

Representatives of these parties also handed over their suggestions in writing to the committee.

The High-Level Committee relating to the holding of simultaneous elections in the country has initiated a consultation process under the chairmanship of Ram Nath Kovind, former President of India.

The High-Level Committee recently also sought public opinion regarding the one nation, one election issue. The public notice issued stated, “Notice for inviting suggestions from members of the general public for making appropriate changes in the existing legal administrative framework to enable simultaneous elections in the country.”

The central government in September last year constituted a high-level Committee to examine the issue of ‘One Nation, One Election’ and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.

The central idea behind ‘One Nation One Election’ is to synchronize the timing of Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections across all States to reduce the frequency of polls throughout the country.

This concept was the practice till 1967, but it was disrupted due to various reasons such as defections, dismissals, and dissolutions of government. (ANI)

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We Welcome This Humbly: Ajit On EC Declaring His Faction Real NCP

By LokMarg 6th February 2024

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has welcomed the decision of the Election Commission that recognised the faction led by him as the “real NCP” in the dispute within the Nationalist Congress Party.

“The Election Commission has ruled in our favour after listening to the arguments of our lawyers. We welcome this humbly,” Ajit Pawar said.

In a big setback to the faction led by former Chief Minister Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission on Tuesday gave the Nationalist Congress Party name and symbol to the faction led by Ajit Pawar. The significant decision has a bearing on the forthcoming polls.

Sharad Pawar, a former union minister, is the founder of NCP and uncle of Ajit Pawar.

The Commission has provided the Sharad Pawar faction with an option to claim a name to its new political formation and provide three preferences to the Commission. The concession is to be utilised by 3 pm on February 7, 2024.

The decision was taken after more than 10 hearings spread over more than six months.

The poll panel said that the decision followed the laid-out tests of maintainability of the petition, which included tests of aims and objectives of the party constitution, the test of the party constitution and tests of a majority both organizational and legislative. (ANI)

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Rajasthan Records 55.63% Voter Turnout Till 3PM

By LokMarg 25th November 2023

Rajasthan recorded 55.63 per cent polling for 199 assembly constituencies till 3 pm, the Election Commission informed on Saturday.

As per the poll body, Tijara witnessed the highest voter turnout of 69.37 per cent till 3 pm. Tonk recorded 56.83 per cent.

The capital city- Jaipur, recorded 55.75 per cent of voter turnout, while Jaisalmer recorded 63.48 per cent, Jhalawar at 60.47 per cent, Hanumangarh at 61.64 per cent, and 52.23 per cent of electorates cast votes at Jalore till 3 pm.

Earlier Rajasthan recorded 40.27 per cent polling for 199 assembly constituencies till 1.30 pm.

Voting began in Rajasthan at 7 am after days of hectic campaigning by major political parties, including the ruling Congress and BJP.

However, polling for the Karanpur assembly constituency was adjourned following the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar.

Voters can cast their votes until 6 pm. Adequate security arrangements have been made to ensure peaceful and fair elections, the polling officials informed earlier.

A total of 1,02,290 security personnel have been deployed to ensure peaceful voting, an official said. As many as 69,114 police personnel, 32,876 Rajasthan Home Guard, Forest Guard, and RAC personnel, and 700 companies of CAPF have also been deployed to ensure free and fair polling, he added.

The ruling Congress is eyeing another term while the BJP is seeking to replace the Ashok Gehlot government, banking on the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Prominent candidates in the fray include Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot, former CM Vasundhara Raje, former Deputy CM Sachin Pilot, Congress national spokesperson Gourav Vallabh, Union Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore, Vishwaraj Singh Mewar, Rajasthan Assembly Speaker CP Joshi, and Rajasthan LoP Rajendra Rathore.

Many rebel candidates of the BJP and Congress withdrew their names after being persuaded to do so. But still, about 45 rebel candidates from both parties are in the fray. These also include MLAs, former MLAs, and party officials.

The counting of votes has been scheduled for December 3.

In 2018, the Congress won 99 seats while the BJP finished a close second at 73. Gehlot took oath as CM with the support of BSP MLAs and Independents. (ANI)

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INDIA, Is A Union of States: Rahul Slams Centre on ‘One Nation, One Election’

By LokMarg 3rd September 2023

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Central government for “toying’ with the idea of holding simultaneous Lok Sabha elections and state assembly elections in the country.

According to the Congress MP representing Wayanad in Kerala, the idea of One Nation, One Election is an attack on the “Bharat” which, as per him, is the “Union of States.

In a message on his social media post, X, formerly known as Twitter, Rahul Gandhi said, “INDIA, that is Bharat, is a Union of States. The idea of ‘one nation, one election’ is an attack on the Union and all its States.”

The Centre on Saturday constituted an eight-member committee to examine and make recommendations for holding simultaneous elections in the country.

The members of the committee, apart from former President Kovind, include Union Home Minister Amit Shah; Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury; former Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, Ghulam Nabi Azad; former Finance Commission chairman NK Singh, former Lok Sabha secretary general Subhash C Kashyap, senior advocate Harish Salve and former chief vigilance commissioner Sanjay Kothari.

The notification of the high-powered panel by the Centre came just days after it announced a special session of the Parliament from September 18 to 22, on the same day the two-day Mumbai conclave of the INDIA bloc was in progress.

However, the government remained tight-lipped on the issues to be taken up during the special session.

Opposition leaders slammed the BJP-led Centre for announcing a special session without holding prior consultations with them or informing the Business Advisory Committee.

According to the Centre, the high-level committee shall start functioning immediately and make recommendations at the earliest.

Further, according to the official notification, Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee.

Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, however, declined to serve on the panel, saying its “terms of reference have been prepared in a manner to guarantee its conclusions”.

Simultaneous elections for the state assemblies and the Lok Sabha were held till 1967. However, in 1968 and 1969 some legislative assemblies were dissolved prematurely followed by the dissolution of the Lok Sabha in 1970. This forced a change in electoral schedules for the states and the country. (ANI)