June 11, 1985, Forty Years Ago: Peacocks Poisoned
Around 100 peacocks — the protected national bird — died en masse due to suspected pesticide poisoning in a tribal village in Jhabua district in western Madhya Pradesh recently. The birds met with a tragic end after feeding on a vegetable farm that had just been sprinkled with a heavy dose of pesticide. The police have arrested three farmers under the Wildlife Protection Act because they suspect it to be a case of deliberate poisoning.
Police Forces Clash
At least 25 police personnel were killed and several injured in a continuous exchange of fire for the past three days between Assam and Nagaland police at Merapani on the inter-state border. Assam Chief Minister Hiteswar Saikia has rushed to Dimapur to meet his Nagaland counterpart in a bid to end the worst-ever border clash between the two states.
Progress On Punjab
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi said there were signs of the Akali Dal wanting a political solution to the Punjab tangle within the framework of the Indian Constitution. 'We have extended our hand in friendship and acceded to the Akali Dal's demands of removing the ban on the All India Sikh Students' Federation, releasing those detained and instituting an inquiry into the November Delhi riots,' he said.
Indira Murder Case
Chief public prosecutor K L Arora submitted before additional sessions judge Mahesh Chandra that there was sufficient material on court record to charge Satwant Singh, Balbir Singh and Kehar Singh with the murder of Indira Gandhi. In his 90-minute presentation of the prosecution case, Arora said there was direct evidence against Satwant Singh, who, along with Beant Singh (since deceased) had fired several shots at Indira Gandhi.
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First Post
3 hours ago
- First Post
How Allahabad High Court's verdict against Indira Gandhi 50 years ago resulted in Emergency
On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli void, sparking a domino effect that led to the imposition of Emergency. Here's how it all happened read more It has been 50 years since a High Court's judgement against India's prime minister changed the country's trajectory. On June 12, 1975, the Allahabad High Court declared then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's Lok Sabha election void, sparking a domino effect that led to the imposition of Emergency a few days later. The verdict caused a political storm and had ramifications for the entire country. But why was Indira Gandhi's election set aside? We take a relook. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Petition against Indira Gandhi In the 1971 Lok Sabha polls, Indira Gandhi, who had floated the Congress (R) — the breakaway faction of the Congress — after being expelled from the parent party in 1969, defeated her opponent Raj Narain by 1,10,000 votes from the Rae Bareli constituency in Uttar Pradesh. Her party also registered a landslide victory in the elections, winning 352 out of the 518 Lok Sabha seats. Raj Narain, the Samyukta Socialist Party candidate, however, challenged Gandhi's election from Rae Bareli on April 24, 1971. He approached the Allahabad High Court alleging electoral malpractices and misuse of government machinery by the then Prime Minister. Giving no weightage to the petition, people did not anticipate what would come next. The petition was first listed before Justice William Broome, the last British judge of the Allahabad High Court. However, he retired in December 1971 and the petition reached two different benches — one of Justice BN Lokur and of Justice KN Srivastava. Due to their retirements, the petition went before the bench of Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha in early 1975. The verdict that changed India The recording of oral evidence began on February 12, 1975. Several big names appeared as witnesses — PN Haksar, then vice chairman of the Planning Commission, appeared for Gandhi. While LK Advani, the then president of the Bharatiya Jana Sangh, former Bihar Chief Minister Karpoori Thakur and Congress-O president S Nijalingappa deposed for Raj Narain. The Prime Minister was also cross-examined for two straight days — a first in the history of independent India. As Gandhi appeared before the court on March 18, 1975, she was given a chair on an elevated platform so she was sitting on the same level as the judge, as per the Indian Express report. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Then-PM Indira Gandhi was cross-examined for two days at the Allahabad High Court. After the arguments concluded, the High Court shut down for summer vacations on May 23, 1975. Now, it was time to wait for Justice Sinha's verdict. Under immense pressure, he is said to have locked himself up at home, with visitors being told that he is in Ujjain to see his elder brother. Justice Vipin Sinha, Justice Sinha's son, recalled the pressure on his family at the time. 'I was in Class 11 then and those days were very hard for us. We got a lot of very abusive calls, so much so that we did not allow our father to answer the phone,' he was quoted as saying by Indian Express. Then came the judgement day. Announcing his ruling on June 12, 1975, in Courtroom No 24 of the Allahabad High Court, Justice Sinha said, 'This petition is allowed and the election of Smt. Indira Nehru Gandhi, Respondent No. 1, to the Lok Sabha is declared void… (Indira Gandhi) accordingly stands disqualified for a period of six years from the date of this order.' STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD Justice Sinha found Gandhi guilty on two counts — for using a gazetted officer, her personal secretary Yashpal Kapoor, as her election agent, and for employing Uttar Pradesh government officers to arrange rostrums, loudspeakers and barricades for her election speeches. The court ruled in her favour on other charges –– for using choppers of the Indian Air Force to go to Rae Bareli for her election campaigning and file nominations, invoking religion to influence electors and distributing quilts, blankets, dhotis and liquor to get votes, and so on. Justice Sinha's final 258-page ruling meant immediate disqualification for Indira Gandhi as an MP and her dismissal as Prime Minister. However, after her lawyers argued that her removal would create a political vacuum in the country, the court granted a 20-day stay on the verdict. Meanwhile, Gandhi moved the Supreme Court on appeal. The case was heard by a single-judge vacation bench of Justice VR Krishna Iyer. On June 24, 1975, the apex court granted a 'conditional stay' against the Allahabad High Court ruling. While Indira Gandhi could continue as PM, her rights as an MP were restricted. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD She could not vote in Parliament, take part in proceedings of the House, or get a salary as an MP until the SC finally decides the appeal. Indira Gandhi imposes Emergency Days after the HC's ruling, Indira Gandhi invoked Article 352 of the Constitution to impose an internal Emergency . This period lasted for 21 months, during which people's fundamental rights were suppressed and dissent curbed across the country. The media were gagged and opposition leaders jailed. Seen as the Constitution's darkest chapter, the Emergency was a real test for the Indian democracy. With inputs from agencies
NDTV
6 hours ago
- NDTV
When A Court Ruling Against A Sitting PM Changed India's Political History
On a sweltering summer morning 50 years ago, anticipation gripped Courtroom No 24 of the Allahabad High Court. The stakes couldn't have been higher. At 10 am, Justice Jagmohan Lal Sinha delivered a landmark verdict that would alter the course of Indian politics. On June 12, 1975, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi's 1971 Lok Sabha election from Rae Bareli was declared void on grounds of electoral malpractice. It was a political thunderclap. The ruling didn't only unseat a leader, it triggered a chain of events that led to the imposition of the Emergency, a 21-month period often described as the darkest chapter in India's democratic history. The Unmaking Of A Mandate Indira Gandhi's troubles began after the 1971 general elections. Riding high on her popularity after the Bangladesh war, she defeated socialist leader Raj Narain by over one lakh votes. But Narain wasn't done. He filed a petition in the Allahabad High Court, alleging that Gandhi used the government machinery for her campaign. The court upheld only two charges: the illegal use of loudspeakers, stages, and security forces, arranged by officials on government duty, and the employment of Yashpal Kapur, her aide who hadn't officially resigned from government service before becoming her election agent. Everything else, claims of distributing liquor and blankets, misusing the Air Force, and overspending, was dismissed for lack of evidence. The two violations were enough. Indira Gandhi was disqualified from holding elected office for six years. A serving Prime Minister was told: You cannot be a Member of Parliament. The judgment stunned her party and followers. The opposition, meanwhile, smelled political change. Crowds gathered across cities. Protests erupted. The media covered every angle. All eyes turned to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court And The Midnight Decision On June 24, the Supreme Court gave a partial stay, allowing Gandhi to remain Prime Minister but restricted her rights as an MP. She could attend Parliament, but not vote or receive a salary as a lawmaker. Thirteen days later, on the night of June 25, Indira Gandhi invoked Article 352 of the Constitution. The Emergency was declared. The country would not be the same for the next 21 months. The Emergency Of 1975 The Emergency suspended fundamental rights. Political opponents were jailed. Newspapers and the Press were gagged. Student movements were crushed. The Constitution itself was amended to retroactively shield Indira Gandhi's election from judicial scrutiny through the 39th Constitutional Amendment. The move was widely condemned, both domestically and internationally. Many saw it as an attempt by Gandhi to protect her political power at any cost. Indira Gandhi Assassinated India eventually voted her out in 1977, but the Janata Party government didn't last long. In 1980, the country reposed faith in Indira Gandhi again. On October 31, 1984, Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her own bodyguards at her Delhi residence. She was 66. The attack, a retaliation for Operation Blue Star, plunged India into an abyss. Thousands of Sikhs were killed in riots that followed. Operation Blue Star, ordered by Indira Gandhi on June 1, 1984, was a military operation carried out by the Indian Army in June 1984 to remove Sikh militants who had taken refuge in the Golden Temple complex in Amritsar, Punjab. A Grandson Faces A Familiar Fall Nearly five decades later, the Gandhi name returned to the headlines for eerily similar reasons. On March 23, 2023, Rahul Gandhi, her grandson and a sitting MP from Wayanad, was disqualified from Parliament. His offence: a criminal defamation case over a comment linking the "Modi" surname to corruption. "Why do all thieves have Modi in their names?" he said at a 2019 rally. The Lok Sabha Secretariat issued a notice: Rahul Gandhi stands disqualified as a Member of Parliament. He, too, appealed. And like his grandmother, he received relief from the Supreme Court, which stayed the conviction and reinstated his parliamentary status in August 2023.
Mint
8 hours ago
- Mint
Women's quota in India's Parliament likely from 2029 Lok Sabha Elections: Report
Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government is planning to roll out reservation of seats for women in Parliament and state assemblies in the 2029 Lok Sabha elections, according to a report in The Indian Express. The Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam, or the Women's Reservation Bill, reserves one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and Assemblies. The women's reservation bill is linked to the delimitation process. We are aiming to roll it out in the next election. "The Census has been announced. Other steps will follow. The women's reservation bill is linked to the delimitation process. We are aiming to roll it out in the next election," the report said, quoting a source. As per the provisions in the Act, passed in the Parliament in 2023, the reservation of one-third of seats for women in the Lok Sabha and the Assemblies shall come into effect after the delimitation exercise is taken based on the figures from the first Census conducted after the enactment of the Act. The Union government said on 4 June that India's next census—the exercise to count the population and conduct caste enumeration in the world's most populated country — will be held across India by 1 March 2027. So to roll out the women's quota in the next Lok Sabha election, the delimitation has to be completed before the announcement of dates for general elections. Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of assembly and Lok Sabha constituencies in a country. The delimitation depends on Census data. Linking delimitation with the census has triggered political controversies in the past. The Census date announcement earlier this month reopened the debate on the delimitation with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin accusing the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government at the centre of planning to reduce Tamil Nadu's parliamentary seats. Stalin, the DMK chief, demanded an answer from the Union government over the timing for conducting a caste census, highlighting the constitutional mandate that delimitation must follow the census after 2026. "The Indian Constitution mandates that delimitation must follow the first census after 2026. The BJP has now delayed the census to 2027, making their plan clear to reduce Tamil Nadu's Parliamentary representation," Stalin posted on X.
