‘Declaration of assets by NDA Ministers on Nitish Kumar's direction not enough' Dissident JD(U) leader to explain the source of his assets on February 2 Rebel Janata Dal (United) Rajya Sabha MP Upendra Prasad Kushwaha on Sunday asked the Ministers in Bihar's National Democratic Alliance government to explain the source of their assets. “The Ministers in the NDA government should try to come clean on their properties and assets by explaining the source,”...

The Election Commission feels that the situation in Bengal is “worse than anticipated” and that the ground realities necessitate “an exclusive plan of action” for conducting the Assembly elections this year, according to sources. The commission made the observations after going through a report submitted by a six-member team that visited the state last week. The “exclusive plan of action” will have a bearing on the number of phases for the elections,...

The Election Commission has started a sample survey in five poll-bound states to get an idea of voter attitudes and clear misconceptions to ensure greater turnout at booths. The exercise, being conducted by state chief electoral officers, will be completed within the next three or four weeks before elections are notified in Bengal, Assam, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. Commission official Akshay Rout said a similar survey had been conducted in the...

The Centre is mulling summary dismissal of public servants chargesheeted for corruption. The move will ensure that government will not have to wait for long-drawn court battle to sack officials found guilty of corruption. But it is to be seen if such a provision will extend to politicians who are classified as "public servants" in the anti-graft law. A GoM on tackling corruption will take a call on the issue while hammering...

A new politcal party has been floated by the Adivasi community in Assam with a sole agenda of demanding the scheduled tribe (ST) status for the Adivasis in Assam. Assembly elections in Assam are likely in to be held in the month of April-May along with Kerala, Puduchery, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The new political party christened as Assam Mukti Morcha (AMM) is reportedly backed by the Jarkhand Mukti...