Samajwadi Party (SP) president Akhilesh Yadav on Thursday reiterated his party's commitment to conducting a caste census if voted to power, asserting that it was crucial for ensuring social justice and securing rights for marginalised communities.
"Since the implementation of Other Backward Classes (OBC) reservations in 2006, there has been a rise in participation from OBC, Dalit, Adivasi, minority, and women students--challenging the status quo. In response, the regime has pushed to ban elections, fearing empowered student leadership
Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma urged voters to cast their votes in the ongoing Assam panchayat elections while stressing the importance of exercising voting rights.
Jan Suraaj party founder Prashant Kishor on Thursday, addressing the gathering, shared his journey from a political strategist to a leader dedicated to public welfare.
The first phase of the panchayat elections is being held in 14 districts of the state: Sonitpur, Biswanath, Dhemaji, Lakhimpur, Tinsukia, Dibrugarh, Sivasagar, Charaideo, Jorhat, Majuli, Golaghat, Cachar, Hailakandi, and Sribhumi.
Notably, Assam's Chief Minister recently said that women were compromised for jobs during the Congress regime. During a recent panchayat election rally, Sarma mentioned a witness statement from the Justice (retd) BK Sharma Commission report.
Azad Samaj Party-Kanshi Ram (ASP) president Chandrashekhar Azad claimed that the central government has decided to include a caste count in the upcoming census due to the Bihar elections, and it may change its stance after the elections.
Haryana BJP president Mohan Lal Badoli on Thursday accused Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) supremo of politicising the drinking water issue and instigating Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to deny more water to Haryana to avenge AAP's defeat in the Delhi elections.
On Wednesday, the Cabinet Committee on Political Affairs, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, decided to include caste enumeration in the upcoming census.
These measures are in line with the initiatives as envisaged by the Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) of India, Gyanesh Kumar, during the Conference of Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs), in the presence of Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi in March this year.
AIMIM Chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday announced that his party will contest the upcoming Bihar elections, with a strong focus on the Seemanchal region. Owaisi revealed that the party has already announced its candidate from the Bahadurganj constituency.