| Opinion/Commentary |
Lokayukta indicts Sheila in advertisement campaign case -
Gaurav Vivek Bhatnagar, Hindu
Delhi Lokayukta Manmohan Sarin on Wednesday recommended to President Pranab Mukherjee that Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit be administered a caution for misusing public funds in government advertisements to further her campaign strategy, as revealed in an article “Sheila Ki Campaign Ranniti” for the party’s political purposes, ahead of the 2008 Assembly elections. Justice Sarin has also recommended that the President advise the Chief Minister to “to reimburse either herself or through her party a sum of Rs. 11 crore as half of the cost of the advertisements in election year, used for party political purposes.” |
Brahmin vote bank’s growing relevance in UP politics -
Nistula Hebbar, Economic Times
It seems the climax of two decades of Backward Class politics in Uttar Pradesh is the search for a Brahmin vote bank. In the last month or so, BSP and SP have been quite vocal in their pursuit of the significant Brahmin vote, said to be 12% of voters in Uttar Pradesh. "Brahmins have always been important in UP politics, because of numerical strength in at least 20 Lok Sabha seats and important positions held in society. |
For lack of leadership, a battle was lost -
Anita Joshua, Hindu
The Awami National Party (ANP), the political legacy of “Frontier Gandhi” or Khan Abdul Gaffar Khan, entered Elections 2013 with a huge anti-incumbency factor and corruption allegations, that were matching in scale, if not more, with its coalition partner of five years, the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP). So, when the ANP began to get specifically targeted by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) on the campaign trail, people, rather cynically, began to think the party might be able to tap into the sympathy the attacks appeared to generate and salvage something out of a hopeless situation. |
India under a Eurosceptic lens -
Dipankar De Sarkar, Hindustan Times
Name-calling is never a good idea, not even in politics. Jyoti Basu discovered it after calling the BJP “barbaric,” Narendra Modi seems to have quietened down, and British Prime Minister David Cameron’s learning the lesson now with the UK Independence Party (UKIP). For some reason, India figures large in the imagination of the brash new kids of British politics. For years now, the UKIP has been hammering on about India, some of the noises positive, some negative and some plain confused. Now the UKIP’s lived up to everyone’s expectations and done very well in recent local government elections, which are being billed as a test for the 2015 general election. |
Polls expose Pak fault lines -
Karamatullah K Ghori, NewIndianExpress
Pakistan has traversed many a mile in the past weeks since election fever took hold over it. Some would say it has matured in more senses than one in a flash. The elections are over and done with. But they have left behind bittersweet memories and legacies that may linger on and impact Pakistan’s national discourse for years to come. There are victors and vanquished aplenty, with the electoral landscape littered, in spades the morning after with scalps of dozens of heavyweights who had hung on to president Zardari’s coat-tails for five long years and tormented the people of Pakistan with their chicanery and shenanigans. Outgoing PM Raja “Rental” Ashraf lost ignominiously to his little-known nemesis. |
UPA losing ground, PM's image taking beating, say opinion polls -
Pioneer
On the eve of the fourth anniversary of UPA-II, opinion polls have not brought any cheer to the government, predicting slide in the ruling alliance's tally amid rising dissatisfaction among large sections of urban voters over its performance. Headlines Today-CVoter opinion poll predicted that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA)'s tally was set to crash by 95 in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. However, it said the biggest surprise was that the UPA's loss is not automatically translating to big gains for the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). |
AAP picks candidates: Filmmaker, homemaker and loyalists -
Danish Raza, FirstPost
Rajnish Tiwary, a Bhojpuri filmmaker, is trying to script a new career for himself. A day after he wrapped up the shoot of his latest film ‘Sejiya bhayil ajor’ (I have got back my husband) in Nepal, Tiwary is ensconced in Aam Aadmi Party’s office on Delhi-Ghaziabad border. As the party prepares to contest 2013 Delhi assembly polls, the 26-year-old is one of the ticket aspirants from Vikaspuri assembly constituency. |
Kanimozhi to Raja: the RS elections will hold the key to future alliances in TN -
G Pramod Kumar, FirstPost
Poll alliances are hard to predict in Tamil Nadu, where the situation is still amorphous except for the gravitation of some small parties towards the DMK. But, by mid-July, there will be clear indications on the main formations because that’s when DMK’s Kanimozhi and CPI’s D Raja would need the support of the MLAs of other parties for their re-election to Rajya Sabha. Both their terms expire on 24 July. |
Gujarat connection in UP: Gambit may pay -
Rajesh Singh, Pioneer
There are many ways to analyse the appointment of former Gujarat Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Amit Shah as the party’s prabhari (in-charge) of Uttar Pradesh. But all of them will point to one holistic view: The party has decided to ‘Look North’ in the run-up to the Lok Sabha election. |
Only NaMo can swing it for BJP: Poll -
Mail Today
The Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) is set to be ousted from power at the next general election, according a new opinion poll. And so is the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), unless it projects Narendra Modi as the leader of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). An India Today Group-CVoter National Opinion Poll has predicted that the UPA is set to lose 95 seats from its 2009 tally of 227 in next year's Lok Sabha elections, ending up with just 132 seats. |
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Election Calendar 2012
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By-Elections June 2
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Assembly Constituencies
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Neyyanttinkara
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Kerala
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Cortalim
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Goa
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By-Elections June 12
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Parliamentary
Constituency
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Nellore
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Andhra Pradesh
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Assembly Constituencies
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Maheshwar (SC)
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Madhya Pradesh
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Nalchar (SC)
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Tripura
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Daspur
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West Bengal
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Bankura
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West Bengal
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Mant
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Uttar Pradesh
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Pudukkottai
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Tamil Nadu
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Tirupati
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Andhra Pradesh
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Allagadda
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Andhra Pradesh
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Rajampet
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Andhra Pradesh
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Rayachoti
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Andhra Pradesh
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Parkal
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Andhra Pradesh
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Ongole
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Andhra Pradesh
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Narasannapeta
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Andhra Pradesh
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Payakaraopet (SC)
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Andhra Pradesh
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Anantapur Urban
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Andhra Pradesh
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Yemmiganur
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Andhra Pradesh
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Rayadurg
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Andhra Pradesh
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Kodur (SC)
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Andhra Pradesh
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Udayagiri
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Andhra Pradesh
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Narasapuram
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Andhra Pradesh
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Prathipadu (SC)
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Andhra Pradesh
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Ramachandrapuram
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Andhra Pradesh
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Macherla
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Andhra Pradesh
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Polavaram (ST)
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Andhra Pradesh
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Kaij (SC)
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Maharashtra
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Hatia
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Jharkhand
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Presidential Election:
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To be held before July
24
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Vice- Presidential
Election:
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To be held before August
10
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International Elections
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Egypt
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Presidential 1st Round
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23-May
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Presidential 2nd Round
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16-Jun
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Mexico
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Presidential
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1-Jul
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Venezuela
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Presidential
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7-Oct
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United States
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Presidential
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6-Nov
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South Korea
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Presidential
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Dec
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