Monday, 06 May 2024
Monday, 06 May 2024
MPs and MLAs taking bribes to vote or make a speech in the House are not immune from prosecution, the Supreme Court said in a landmark, unanimous verdict that overrules its 1998 judgment protecting such lawmakers. Prime Minister Narendra Modi welcomed the verdict in a post on X. "SWAGATAM! A great judgment by the Hon’ble Supreme Court which will ensure clean politics and deepen people’s faith in the system," he said.
Dealing a blow to the Mamata Banerjee-led Trinamul Congress, senior party leader Tapas Roy resigned as an MLA, ahead of the scheduled announcement of the Lok Sabha polls. Roy’s resignation gave rise to fervent speculations on whether the senior leader would quit the TMC altogether and join the BJP, or for that matter, any other opposition party in the state.
Senior BJP leaders, including Home Minister Amit Shah and party president J P Nadda, on Monday added 'Modi Ka Parivar' in their social media profile after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's assertion that the whole country is his family. The BJP's show of solidarity with its top leader came a day after RJD president Lalu Prasad Yadav had thrown barbs at the prime minister over his having no family.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who skipped the eighth Enforcement Directorate summons in connection with the excise policy case, has expressed readiness to appear before the agency through video-conferencing after March 12, government sources said. The probe agency might not allow Kejriwal's request for appearing virtually and might issue a ninth summons to him for questioning in the case, they said.
BJP's Kuljeet Singh Sandhu and Rajinder Sharma defeated their rivals from the Congress to win the posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor in the repolls in the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation. The Supreme Court on February 20 had overturned the January 30 results of the Chandigarh mayoral poll in which the BJP candidate had emerged a winner, and declared the defeated AAP-Congress alliance candidate Kuldeep Kumar as the city's new mayor.
The probe into the blast at a cafe in Bengaluru has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), sources said. This development comes a day after Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said his government may consider handing over the probe to the NIA if the need arises.
India has asked tech firms to seek its approval before the public release of artificial intelligence (AI) tools that are "unreliable" or under trial, noting they should also be labelled for the potential to return wrong answers for user queries. The advisory came a week after a top minister on Feb. 23 lambasted Google's Gemini AI tool for a response that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has been accused by some of implementing policies characterised as "fascist".
Supreme Court rebuked Tamil Nadu Minister Udhayanidhi Stalin over his "eradicate Sanatan dharma" remark and asked why he has moved the court with his plea for clubbing together the FIRs filed against him after abusing his right to freedom of speech and expression. Udhayanidhi Stalin, the minister of youth welfare and sports of Tamil Nadu, is a well known film actor and son of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and ruling DMK chief M K Stalin.
Delhi High Court dismissed an interim plea by TMC leader Mahua Moitra, who was expelled from the Lok Sabha recently, seeking to restrain BJP MP Nishikant Dubey and advocate Jai Anant Dehadrai from posting or circulating any "fake and defamatory" content against her. The high court had on December 20, 2023 reserved its order on the interim application after hearing the counsel for Moitra, Dubey and Dehadrai.
Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in the District of Columbia, notching her first victory of the 2024 campaign. Despite her early losses, Haley has said she would remain in the race at least through those contests, although she has declined to name any primary she felt confident she would win.
