Parliament Monsoon Session Day 17 LIVE: Congress MP Randeep Surjewala moves motion in RS over electoral roll concerns
The Lok Sabha on Monday (August 11, 2025) passed the National Sports Governance Bill and the National Anti-Doping (Amendment) Bill, with barely any Opposition members present in the House. Meanwhile, the Rajya Sabha passed the Merchant Shipping Bill and The Readjustment of Representation of Scheduled Tribes in Assembly Constituencies of the State of Goa Bill.
Parliament Monsoon Session Day 16 highlights
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Mint
25 minutes ago
- Mint
BJP's counter to Rahul Gandhi's ‘Vote Chori' charge - ‘Sonia Gandhi was on electoral rolls before Indian citizenship'
The Bharatiya Janata Party launched a counterattack on the Congress party on Wednesday by claiming that the former Congress chief Sonia Gandhi had been illegally, though briefly, added to the voter list 45 years ago, before she was an Indian citizen. Former Union Minister Anurag Thakur claimed Gandhi—born Sonia Maino in Italy in 1946 — was added to the list from 1980 to 1982, a year before she became an Indian citizen, NDTV reported. The allegation comes amid 'vote chori' charges by Rahul Gandhi, accusing the Election Commission of India of colluding with the BJP Thakur's allegations were first shared by BJP IT Cell chief Amit Malviya, who had posted on X hours earlier. Sharing a 'photocopy of what appeared to be an extract from electoral rolls of 1980, indicating Sonia Gandhi was a voter when she did not yet acquire the citizenship of Bharat'. "If this isn't blatant electoral malpractice, what is?" Malviya claimed Gandhi, who married Rajiv Gandhi in 1968, had been added to the voter list while the Gandhi family lived at the official residence of then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. In response, Congress leader Tariq Anwar told NDTV that Sonia Gandhi had not asked for her name to be included in the voter roll. Anwar said that it was the poll body officials of the time who did so. "See... the Election Commission is responsible. Sonia Gandhi did not say 'my name should be included in the voter registration list'. In the end it was the Election Commission that included her...," he said. Anwar said, Gandhi never made a request to be added to the voter list. The BJP also alleged Congress defeated Bhimrao Ambedkar, regarded as the father of the Indian Constitution, in the 1952 general election through electoral fraud. If we start from 1952, Congress and CPI together defeated Dr. Bhimrao Ambedkar, a constitution maker and a saint-like leader, in the election. Congress laid the foundation of electoral corruption in the very first election of 1952," BJP MP Anurag Thakur said at a press conference held in the party's headquarters here. "Check the records: 74,333 votes were rejected, while Ambedkar ji lost by just 14,561 votes. Congress ensured that a constitution maker, a Dalit leader, was eliminated in the very first election. Imagine, the one who created the constitution was defeated by the Congress family through electoral fraud," he added. Sonia Gandhi did not say 'my name should be included in the voter registration list'. The BJP MP alleged that Rahul Gandhi and his family had a history of questioning the Election Commission when they lost elections. "This family and party have had a tradition from the beginning that if you lose an election, you raise questions about the Election Commission, the voters, or the functioning of the Election Commission. Indira Gandhi had said, Voters are a bunch of fools. When Rajiv Gandhi lost the election, he blamed the ballot paper. Rahul Gandhi's father used to say, conduct elections with voting machines, and Rahul Gandhi says, conduct elections with ballot papers," he said.
Hindustan Times
27 minutes ago
- Hindustan Times
Bill to form trust for Mathura's Banke Bihari temple introduced in UP Assembly
Lucknow, Three bills, including the Shri Banke Bihari Temple Trust Bill, 2025, were introduced in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly on the third day of the monsoon session on Wednesday. Bill to form trust for Mathura's Banke Bihari temple introduced in UP Assembly The Shri Banke Bihari Temple Trust Bill provides for the formation of a board of government-appointed trustees, including 11 nominated and seven ex-officio members. The nominated members will include three eminent persons related to Vaishnav traditions, sects or peeths, three eminent persons related to other traditions, sects and peeths of Sanatan Dharma, which may include seers, gurus, scholars, mahants, acharyas etc. Besides, three persons belonging to any branch or sect of Sanatan Dharma, who could be from any field, such as educationists, scholars, entrepreneurs, social workers etc. Two members will be nominated from the Sevayat Goswami tradition in the temple, who are descendants of Swami Shri Haridas Ji. There is a provision in the bill for ex-officio members, including the Mathura district magistrate and senior superintendent of police, the city commissioner, the chief executive officer of the Uttar Pradesh Braj Tirtha Vikas Parishad, an officer from the charitable department of the state government, the chief executive officer of the Shri Banke Bihari Ji Temple Trust and any other member appointed by the government. Highlighting the objectives and reasons of the proposed bill on behalf of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, Parliamentary Affairs Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna said the Banke Bihari temple in Vrindavan town of Mathura district is an ancient and world-famous shrine. Every year, a large number of devotees and tourists visit the temple that is spread over around 870 square metres, including a scenic courtyard that covers about 365 square metres. The House was informed that devotees and visitors face great inconvenience due to the very narrow path leading up to the temple. On August 20, 2022, two devotees died due to an excessive crowd in the temple and there is an urgent need for efficient crowd management, the Assembly was told. Thus, it has been decided that a trust called "Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir Nyas" will be constituted for the all-round development of the temple and to look after pilgrimage, religious, cultural, spiritual and establishment-related aspects. It was clarified that since the state legislature was not in session and immediate legislative action was required for this work, the Uttar Pradesh Shri Banke Bihari Ji Mandir Nyas, 2025 was issued by the governor on May 26. This bill has been introduced to replace the ordinance. Apart from this, the Uttar Pradesh Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Bill, 2025 and Uttar Pradesh State Public Service Commission Bill, 2025 were also introduced in the House. This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
Indian Express
27 minutes ago
- Indian Express
In much-delayed Haryana revamp, Congress gives equal share to Hooda, Selja factions
The Haryana Congress has taken the first step to set its house in order, announcing a list of presidents for 32 districts late on Tuesday, in what is the party's first organisational revamp at the block- and district-level in over a decade. Through the appointments, which were announced by AICC general secretary K C Venugopal after two earlier deadlines were put off in June and July, the Congress has attempted to balance two rival party factions – the one led by former Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda and the other by Sirsa MP Kumari Selja. The party has also tried to balance caste equations by attempting to shun its pro-Jat image, and to sharpen its focus on rural and urban outreach. 'I want to convey my best wishes to all the new appointees. The new district chiefs will ensure that the Congress is rejuvenated and has a new-found strength on the ground,' Hooda said. Around 15 of the new district chiefs are said to be from the Hooda camp while 12 are seen to be close to Selja. A known detractor of the former CM, Shamsher Singh Gogi, who is seen to be close to Selja, said the appointments were made 'purely on the basis of merit'. 'The new chiefs have been appointed on the basis of the workers' performance. They will give immense strength to the party at the grassroots-level. We are all party workers and will work together,' he said. In a bid to counter Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini's influence, who belongs to the OBC community, the party has picked 10 OBC faces as district chiefs. Six others are Jats and five each belong to the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Brahmin communities. The Punjabi, Rajput, Muslim and Sikh communities are represented by one member each. In cities like Ambala, the party has appointed three district chiefs – city, rural and urban – while it has gone for two district presidents (urban and rural) in nine districts. Three Congress candidates – Parvinder Pari (Ambala Cantt), Anirudh Chaudhary (Bhiwani Rural) and Vardhan Yadav (Gurugram Rural) – who lost last year's Assembly polls also made the cut. While Pari lost the Ambala Cantt seat, Chaudhary and Vardhan lost the Tosham and Badshahpur seats respectively. Others leaders who have been elevated include Pawan Agarwal (Ambala City), Dushyant Chauhan (Ambala rural), Pradeep Gulia (Bhiwani Urban), Sushil Dhanak (Charkhi Dadri), Baljeet Kaushik (Faridabad), Arvind Sharma (Fatehabad), Pankaj Dawar (Gurugram Urban), Brij Lal Khoval (Hisar Rural), Bajrang Das Garg (Hisar Urban), Sanjay Yadav (Jhajjar), Rishi Pal (Jind), Ramchander Gujjar (Kaithal), Rajesh Vaid (Karnal Rural), Parag Gaba (Karnal Urban), Mewa Singh (Kurukshetra), Satyavir Yadav (Mahendragarh), Shahida Khan (Mewat, Nuh), Netrapal Adhana (Palwal), Sanjay Chauhan (Panchkula), Ramesh Malik (Panipat Rural), Subhash Chand Chawri (Rewari Rural), Praveen Chaudhary (Rewari Urban), Balwan Singh Ranga (Rohtak Rural), Kuldeep Singh (Rohtak Urban), Santosh Beniwal (Sirsa), Sanjeev Kumar Dahiya (Sonipat Rural), Kamal Dewan (Sonipat Urban), Nar Pal Singh (Yamunanagar Rural) and Devendra Singh (Yamunanagar Urban). The appointments come two months after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi met the state leadership in Chandigarh, where he said candidates who work for the party and 'not a particular leader' must be identified and shortlisted for the posts of district presidents. Following the meeting, held as a part of the party's nationwide Sangathan Srijan Abhiyan, AICC Haryana in-charge B K Hariprasad announced a list of 69 observers, who were tasked with building the party's organisational cadre across the state. Since it first lost power to the BJP in 2014, the party's state unit has been riven with fissures, with five AICC in-charges appointed in the last six years. Senior BJP leader and minister Anil Vij said little seems to have changed. Likening the process of appointing district presidents in the Congress to 'distribution of ghee agency rights', Vij said, 'In democratic parties, elections are first held at the block level, then at the district, state, and finally the national-level. However, in the Congress, the process starts from appointing a national (ghee) distributor, then state-level distributors, and finally district-level distributors. Now, it has appointed its district presidents. They will appoint office-bearers at the local level now,' he said.
