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Election Campaign
The Supreme Court on Wednesday deprecated the practice of announcing freebies prior to elections, and said people were not willing to work as they were getting free ration and money. The observations came from a bench of Justices B R Gavai and Augustine George Masih which was hearing a matter concerning the right to shelter of homeless persons in urban areas. "Unfortunately, because of these freebies... the people are not willing to work. They are getting free rations. They are getting amount without doing any work," Justice Gavai observed. "We quite appreciate your concern for them but would it not be better to make them a part of the mainstream of society and permit them to contribute to the development of the nation," the bench said. Attorney General R Venkataramani told the bench that the Centre was in the process of finalising the urban poverty alleviation mission, which would address various issues, including the provision of shelter for the urban homeless. The bench asked t
The education level of 46 per cent of the 699 candidates contesting the assembly election in Delhi is between Class 5 and Class 12, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR. Another 46 per cent candidates attained higher education, with qualifications ranging from undergraduate degrees to doctorates. The Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) has released its report on the academic qualifications of the candidates contesting the February 5 election. The analysis provided insight into the academic diversity of the 699 candidates, showcasing a range of educational backgrounds represented in the electoral contest. According to the ADR analysis, 46 per cent or 324 candidates declared their academic qualification to be between Class 5 and Class 12, reflecting basic schooling. Of the 322 candidates who attained higher education, 126 are graduates, 84 graduate professionals, and 104 postgraduates. Eight candidates hold doctorate degrees. In addition, 18 candidates hold diploma
Ahead of Delhi Assembly Elections, experts have highlighted the growing focus on women-centric schemes signalling a deeper acknowledgment of women's critical role in shaping electoral outcomes. However, experts have also raised concerns about the sustainability and long-term consequences of relying on populist measures to secure their support. With women accounting for nearly half of Delhi's electorate, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), and Congress have prioritized women-focused promises in their campaigns. The BJP's Mahila Samridhi Yojana pledges Rs 2,500 per month to women voters, along with a Rs 21,000 maternity benefit and a Rs 500 subsidy on LPG cylinders. Similarly, AAP has promised Rs 2,100 per month for women, while Congress has floated its 'Pyari Didi Yojana' with Rs 2,500 monthly cash transfers. While these announcements align with a broader trend in Indian politics, reflected in schemes like Madhya Pradesh's 'Ladli Behna Yojana' and Maharashtra'
AAP senior leader Manish Sisodia on Monday said 100 students have joined an internship programme, where they will assist in the election war room in the upcoming Delhi assembly polls and support his campaign for the Jangpura constituency. According to a statement, around 1,000 students from across India applied for the internship and 100 were selected to manage various aspects of the election campaign, including war rooms, back rooms, research rooms, conducting field research, campaigning, and interacting with people. The internship programme, titled 'Internship with Manish Sisodia', was launched on December 21 to provide young people with a practical understanding of how elections are conducted, how leaders operate, and how democracy functions as a powerful tool. Sisodia said, "I had posted on social media that I am contesting elections from Jangpura and would love for the youth, especially college students, to join me and do an internship." "The aim is for them to understand how
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Sunday cancelled his rallies in poll-bound Maharashtra and is headed back to Delhi as the situation in Manipur continues to be volatile, according to sources. The home minister is likely to hold a meeting to review the situation in the northeastern state, the sources said. Irate mobs set fire to the residences of three more BJP legislators, one of whom is a senior minister, and a Congress MLA in various districts of Imphal Valley on Saturday night even as security forces foiled an attempt by agitators to storm the ancestral residence of Chief Minister N Biren Singh. Shah was supposed to attend a few election rallies as part of the BJP's campaign in Maharashtra but he has cancelled them and is returning to the national capital, the sources said. Though there was no official word on the reason behind the cancellation of the minister's rallies, the sources indicated that it could be due to the volatile situation in Manipur. The home minister is likely
The retail market for election campaign materials in Maharashtra is experiencing a significant slowdown, with many long-standing shops struggling to stay afloat. The shift in procurement practices by political parties, which now source materials directly from wholesalers in Surat and Ahmedabad, has left many retailers grappling with reduced demand and shrinking profit margins. "Political parties now procure campaign materials in bulk, well in advance for elections, directly from wholesalers in Gujarat, and distribute them to candidates. This has led to a significant decline in retail demand," said Yogesh Parekh of Parekh Brothers who runs a shop in Lalbaug area of Mumbai. Parekh brothers have been operating the shop selling poll merchandise in Mumbai's Lalbaug over the last 75 years. He explained that the landscape of the business has changed drastically in the past 5-6 years. Campaign materials such as flags, scarves, caps, wristbands, and turbansonce popular among political work
President Anura Kumara Dissanayake concluded his campaigning for Thursday's parliamentary election by pledging economic consolidation under his new government. The snap parliamentary elections was called by President Dissanayake after he won polls in September on a promise to combat corruption and improve the country's economic situation. The ex Marxist group, National People's Power (NPP) seeks a fully powered assembly to carry out mainly their anti-corruption policies where they allege that all politicians from major political parties who had ruled the country from 1948 were responsible. Since being elected the government has reopened some of the past cases. However, the government has faced criticism for its failure to reverse some of the hard-hit economic reforms of the previous administration of President Ranil Wickremesinghe. Dissanayake addressing his final campaign rally on Monday said in the new government budget to be presented in March there will be drastic cuts of the
As tens of millions of Americans cast their votes in the presidential election, the Kamala Harris Campaign said it felt good about early voting in the Keystone state of Pennsylvania and other battleground states. With Pennsylvania emerging as the most critical of the seven swing states with 19 electoral college votes, Harris spent the final few hours of her canvassing in the state and even went door-knocking in some residential areas. Vice President Harris, whose mother is from India, is locked in a historically tight electoral contest with Republican leader Donald Trump in the race for the White House to succeed President Joe Biden. Listen, we feel good about what we're seeing in Pennsylvania and across the battleground states, Harris' communications director Michael Tyler said. I think when you look at the early vote data, yes, there has been a mode shift because Republicans they used to disparage early voting and claim it was fraud, Tyler told Fox News. They have now embraced
Donald Trump has spent nearly a decade bragging about his crowds. Lately, he's been making the same boasts to swaths of empty seats. In his third presidential bid, Trump for the first time is facing an opponent who stages her own massive rallies, calling further attention to the fact that his crowds, however enthusiastic they are, sometimes have failed to fill large venues and often thinned out as he spoke. In North Carolina this weekend, the former president and Republican nominee spoke at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, where the lower level of the 22,000-seat arena remained unfilled, with the upper level blocked off altogether. We've had the biggest rallies in history of any country. Every rally's full," he falsely claimed anyway. You don't have any seats that are empty. He began Monday, the eve of the election, in Raleigh, North Carolina, where a late-arriving crowd came close to filling the venue but left a smattering of empty seats. In Reading, Pennsylvania, Trump took
Donald Trump said Thursday that China's leader would handle Vice President Kamala Harris like a baby if she's elected to the White House, as the former president and his top allies increasingly have moved to infantilise the Democratic nominee. If somehow Kamala wins, she'd have to deal with Xi Jinping," conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt said of the Chinese president. How would he handle her? Trump replied, Like a baby. He'd take all the candy away very quickly, Trump continued. She wouldn't have any idea what happened. It would be like a grand chess master playing a beginner. Trump has built his political career around name-calling, inventing jeers for his opponents going back to his first run for president in 2016, when he slammed Republican primary rivals like Low Energy Jeb Bush, the former governor of Florida, and Little" Marco Rubio, the Florida senator. The former president also has a long history of belittling women. But Trump has unleashed a special array of personal of
The Election Commission has updated its mobile application to allow candidates and parties seek permission for rallies and other campaign-related activities. Candidates and parties, the poll body said, can now apply for campaign-related permissions also in the new and upgraded Suvidha 2.0 mobile application. So far, candidates and parties could only track the status and download approvals on the app and applications for seeking permission could only be done through offline mode or a web-based portal. The platform works on a 'first in, first out' principle and ensures transparent permissions, thereby removing any discretion. The Election Commission constantly endeavours to leverage technology to provide a level-playing field for candidates and parties in elections and the launch of Suvidha 2.0 is yet another step towards technologically empowered elections as candidates who are always on the move during polls can now easily apply and track permissions from their mobile phones, Chief