Heena Sharma Blog

On the penultimate day of campaigning for the Delhi polls on Wednesday, the AAP, the Congress and the BJP slugged it out over issues ranging from citizenship law, appeasement politics and unemployment. The Congress fielded its leaders Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra to attack the AAP and the BJP, even as war of words escalated between the BJP and the AAP which traded barbs over the Shaheen Bagh shooter. On Tuesday, police had said that Kapil Baisala, the man who opened fire at Shaheen Bagh protest site last week, was an AAP worker. Addressing a press conference, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that if Baisala was even remotely connected to the his party then he should be given a "double punishment". "I am not aware of his (Baisala's ties) with the any political party. If he is even remotely connected to the AAP, he should be given double punishment. There should be no compromise on national security," he said. Read More

The Election Commission will announce schedule for the Jharkhand Assembly polls on Friday evening, an official statement said. The term of the 81-seat Jharkhand Assembly ends on January 5 next year. There were speculations that the EC would announce schedule for the Delhi Assembly elections along with that of the Jharkhand, but the EC invite only refers to poll schedule for the eastern state. Article Source -> Business Standard

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP’s) less than satisfactory performance in the Assembly elections of Haryana and Maharashtra has once again raised questions on its inept handling of the economy, triggering calls for more focus on it, particularly the rural sector. The sector seems to have played a decisive role in several seats in both the states. Its showing has indicated the continuing slowdown in demand, wages, and consumption in rural areas has started affecting politics. In Haryana, the ruling BJP was marginally short of a majority, just months after it won all the 10 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, riding on the Modi wave, while in Maharashtra, the BJP-Shiv Sena saw its seat count go down by 27 from the Assembly elections in 2014. Sources in the ruling party, its ideological fountainhead Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, and sister organisations admitted voters had started raising questions on the government’s handling of economic issues, particularly thos...

Few parties manage to stay relevant through a generational change. Shiv Sena is the exception. When it was formed, its founder Bal Thackeray saw it as forum to arouse the Maharashtrian-ness of those who lived in the state, making the Mangalorean, the North Indian, the Tamil, Telugu, and the Malayali the ‘other’. The Communists and the Congress were also targets of Marmik, a cartoon magazine Thackeray founded that poked fun at the outsiders and the meek Maharashtrians. It also gave an ideological cover for breaking the Communist-dominated trade unions in and around Mumbai's textile mills. But he soon found that the ‘Maharashtra for Maharashtrians’ slogan had limited appeal outside Mumbai where non-Maharashtrians were seen as performing an economic service and not necessarily as a threat. A change of track followed with Sena supporters becoming the vanguard of the Hindu movement, speeding ahead of the BJP. Later, owing to the efforts of BJP leader Pramod Mahajan, an agreeme...

The US has welcomed the post-election statement of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on inclusivity, saying his re-election was a "clear" mandate for his vision of a strong, inclusive and prosperous India that plays a leading role on the global stage. Modi last week said that his government will now begin "a new journey to build a new India with new energy" and reached out to minorities, saying the ruling alliance must win their trust and work without any discrimination. "We certainly welcome Prime Minister Modi's post-election statements that have emphasised inclusivity that no one should be left behind, that there should be no distinction between Indian citizens, that the government should rule with the trust of everyone," a senior State Department official told a group of reporters hours after Modi was sworn in for the second five-year term in office. Prime Minister Modi was on Thursday administered the oath of office and secrecy by President...

Before the final countdown to the Lok Sabha elections 2019 , the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has managed to placate its sulking allies in the high prized state of Uttar Pradesh, which is heading for a massive showdown during voting in April and May. Its principal allies in UP viz. Suheldev Bharatiya Samaj Party (SBSP) and Apna Dal (S) had been unhappy over the ‘high-handed’ approach adopted by the party towards them. While SBSP president and UP cabinet minister Om Prakash Rajbhar had been openly giving statements against BJP leadership and even challenging the Yogi Adityanath government to sack him, Apna Dal (S) patron and union minister Anupriya Patel had also recently expressed dismay over the treatment meted out to her party by the BJP. There were reports of Patel holding parleys with top Congress leadership in New Delhi over a possible pre-poll understanding. In 2014 elections, Apna Dal had won 2 seats (Pratapgarh and Mirzapur), while BJP emerged victorious on 7...

The Election Commission (EC) of India on March 10 announced the Lok Sabha Elections 2019 schedule. Polling will take place in seven phases from April 11 to May 19. With elections around the corner, you might like to check if your name figures in the voters list and verify your voter information, such as name, father’s name, address, constituency, booth and polling station. This information can be checked online on a computer or on a mobile phone. In case of information mismatch, you can also raise a request for changes from the comfort of your home. Here are the steps for checking voter information online: On a computer Step 1: Open your internet browser and go to the National Voters’ Services Portal’s electoral search page ( https://electoralsearch.in/ ). Step 2: On the welcome page, the portal shows the facilities that you can avail of using the portal. These include searching your name in the National Electoral Roll. Click on the continue button at the bottom to go to...