Rae Bareli by-election on May 8

       New Delhi: The by-election for Congress president Sonia Gandhi's constituency Rae Bareli will be held on May 8, the Election Commission has announced. The seat became vacant when Sonia resigned following the 'office of profit' controversy. The notification will be issued on April 13. The last date for filing nominations is April 20, while the last date for nomination withdrawal is April 24. Scrutiny of nominations will take place on April 21. Counting of votes will be taken up on May 11. By-election for the Rajasthan Assembly's Deeg constituency will also take place on the same date. The EC announcement came a little after the Supreme Court rejected its plea for holding election to the 10 seats fell vacant following the expulsion of the MPs involved in the 'cash-for-query' scam.

SC no to LS polls for 10 vacant seats (Go To Top)

New Delhi: The Supreme Court today refused to grant permission to the Election Commission (EC) for holding polls in May for the 10 Lok Sabha seats fell vacant following the expulsion of the Members of Parliament (MPs) for their involvement in the 'cash-for-query' scam. A Bench headed by Chief Justice Y K Sabharwal and Justice CK Thakkar directed listing of the Election Commission's application in July. Eleven MPs were caught on camera accepting bribes for asking questions in the Lok Sabha during a sting operation, code-named "Operation Duryodhana." This operation was conducted jointly by Cobrapost.com and Aaj Tak news channel. Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee had appointed an inquiry panel led by Congress leader Pawan Kumar Bansal that recommended dismissal of the members. The move came after a Committee led by Pawan Kumar Bansal, investigating the scam, recommended the expulsion of all the 10 Lok Sabha members facing charges of corruption. In its recommendations, the Committee had said that it felt "that howsoever harsh it may sound; the continuance of these members of the Lok Sabha will be untenable. The Committee accordingly recommends that the House may consider expulsion of the 10 members from the membership of the 14th Lok Sabha". On December 23 the Lok Sabha expelled 10 MPs. They are: Annasaheb M K Patil, Y G Mahajan, Chandra Pratap Singh, Pradeep Gandhi and Suresh Chandel (all Bharatiya Janata Party), Rajaram Pal, Narendra Kumar Kushawaha and Lal Chandra Kol (all Bahujan Samajwadi Party), Ramsevak Singh (Congress) and Manoj Kumar (Rashtriya Janata Dal). The seats are Gwalior and Sidhi in Madhya Pradesh, Erandol and Jalgaon in Maharashtra, Rajnandgaon in Chhattisgarh, Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh, Palamu in Jharkhand and Robertsganj, Mirzapur and Bilhaur in Uttar Pradesh.

Bharti meets CEC on new party (Go To Top)

      New Delhi: Expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti today met Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) B B Tandon today and discussed strategies to launch her new political party. "I have had discussion with the Election Commission for registration and symbol for my party. I will meet them once again," she told reporters after meeting with Tandon at the Election Commission office here. Bharti, who plans to launch her party on April 30 in Chitrakoot, Varanasi, said the ideology of her new political party would focus on the 'true Hindutva'. She said her party would offer a common stage to all supporters of nationalist principles. "The official process began today. Mine will be a nationalist front open to all like-minded people, including from BJP where leaders are caught in an ideological feud," Uma added. On March 21 at a rally here, she said that the party never entertained the real mass leaders and allowed 'political managers' to occupy front seats. One by one, leaders having grass roots image were 'sidelined' in the BJP, she added. She said as Atal Bihari Vajpayee had formed the BJP in 1980 out of the Jan Sangh, similarly she would be forming a new party (which she is yet to christen) 'because the true leader of the masses were facing suffocated in the BJP'. Uma, who has been till recently attacking BJP leaders, described former Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani as the 'cleanest' politician she has ever seen. Bharti, who also described Vajpayee as a 'great soul', however, accused both the BJP stalwarts of their inability to're- establish' the party. Comparing herself with 'Yog Maya' the eighth daughter of Deviki whom Kansa could not eliminate, she said that the BJP leadership tried to clip her wings too, but she revolted and this led to her expulsion.

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