-The Hindu The hostility to the UPA's food security Bill from both its allies and the Opposition stems not from substantial objections to the draft law itself but from other political grouses The decision to bring an ordinance to provide food security to 67 per cent of the country's population was received with much hostility by the Opposition parties last week. The latter seemed surprised that the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) could...

-NDTV The Election Commission will call for an all-party meeting to frame guidelines for election manifestos after the Supreme Court last week directed the poll panel to regulate content of the promises made by political parties. "Freebies promised by political parties in their election manifestos shake the roots of free and fair polls," the Supreme Court had said on Friday. In a statement, the Election Commission today said a "meeting of all recognized national and...

-The Times of India LALGARH: After the State Election Commission, it was the judiciary's turn on Monday. Speaking at an election meeting in Lalgarh, chief minister Mamata Banerjee came down heavily on the judiciary for its "game plan" regarding the rural polls. "We were forced to submit before the game plan of the court and the State Election Commission to let the panchayat elections take place in the month of Ramzan as...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Any promise of freebies such as television sets or laptops by political parties affects the level playing field and "shakes the root of free and fair elections", the Supreme Court has held. The court, however, clarified that such promises cannot be labelled "corrupt practice" under the existing laws and dismissed a petition challenging the competitive distribution of freebies by the AIADMK and the DMK during elections in Tamil...

-NDTV A year and a half after Mamata Banerjee's government ordered the removal of most English-language newspapers from all state run libraries, the Calcutta High Court has undone the decision. The court today ruled that the most-circulated newspapers in West Bengal, which include The Telegraph and Anand Bazar Patrika, must be made available for readers. In March, the government had banned all English dailies and several other vernacular ones from more than 2000...