Latest news with #PoliticalScienceDepartment
Time of India
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad, grandson of Mahmudabad's last king who took Pakistani citizenship and fought to reclaim Hazratganj?
The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted interim bail to Ali Khan Mahmudabad, , Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University after his arrest over a social media post about Operation Sindoor . However, the investigation against him will continue. The bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotisar Singh granted bail on condition that Mahmudabad furnishes bail bonds to the satisfaction of the Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM) in Sonipat. They also directed him not to publish any online articles or speeches related to the posts under investigation. 'Why try to gain cheap popularity?' the Supreme Court asked Ali Khan Mahmudabad during the hearing of his case. Delhi Police arrested Ali Khan Mahmudabad, Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University, on May 18 over a social media post related to Operation Sindoor — India's military response to the recent Pahalgam terrorist attacks. The arrest followed a complaint filed by a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha. The Haryana State Commission for Women had also issued a notice to Mahmudabad in connection with his remarks. Complaint leads to police action The complaint, which led to Mahmudabad's arrest, cited his comments on a social media platform regarding the ongoing military operation. Authorities have not publicly disclosed the exact contents of the post. Following the complaint, Delhi Police took him into custody, and legal proceedings are currently underway. Play Video Pause Skip Backward Skip Forward Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:-:- Loaded : 0% 0:00:00 Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - -:-:- 1x Playback Rate Chapters Chapters Descriptions descriptions off , selected Captions captions settings , opens captions settings dialog captions off , selected Audio Track default , selected Picture-in-Picture Fullscreen This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Text Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Caption Area Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Opacity Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Drop shadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. In addition to the police action, the Haryana State Commission for Women sent a notice to Mahmudabad. The commission's move came amid public discussions surrounding the social media post, which had drawn reactions from political circles and civil society. Ali Khan Mahmudabad: Royal lineage and family history Ali Khan Mahmudabad belongs to the Mahmudabad royal family of Lucknow. His father, Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan — popularly known as Raja Sahab Mahmudabad — served as a Congress MLA from Mahmudabad and was known in the Awadh region. He led a long legal battle to reclaim properties that were taken under the Enemy Properties Act . These included Butler Palace, Halwasiya Market, big part of Lucknow's famous Hazratganj market, and Mahmudabad Qila in Lucknow, along with estates in Sitapur, Nainital, and other areas. Live Events His grandfather, Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, was the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad and supported the Muslim League financially before independence. His mother, Rani Vijay, is the daughter of Jagat Singh Mehta, who served as India's Foreign Secretary between 1976 and 1979. Mahmudabad is married to the daughter of Haseeb Drabu, who served as Finance Minister in Jammu and Kashmir during the PDP–BJP alliance from 2015 to 2018. Ali Khan Mahmudabad family's properties affected by Enemy Properties Act The properties of the Mahmudabad royal family came under government control following the enforcement of the Enemy Properties Act. The law was introduced after the 1962 India–China war, allowing the government to take over assets belonging to individuals considered enemies of the state. This included citizens who migrated to Pakistan after the Partition or to countries seen as hostile during wartime. The act was later extended during the 1965 India–Pakistan war. Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad and grandfather of Ali Khan Mahmudabad, left India in 1947 and settled in Iraq. He acquired Pakistani citizenship in 1957. His association with Mohammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League before independence is part of the family's political history. Following his naturalisation in Pakistan, his Indian properties — including estates in Lucknow, Sitapur, and Nainital — were classified as enemy properties and were taken over by the government. His son, Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan, later launched a long legal battle to reclaim these assets. Ali Khan Mahmudabad: Education and academic work Mahmudabad completed his early education at La Martiniere in Lucknow. He then studied at King's College School and Winchester College in the UK. He holds an MPhil and PhD in Historical Studies from the University of Cambridge and studied Arabic at the University of Damascus. He has travelled extensively in the Middle East and has contributed to publications such as National Geographic. At Ashoka University, Mahmudabad focused on the political identity of Muslims in North India between 1850 and 1950. His doctoral research examined concepts such as public poetry gatherings (mush'irah), the idea of homeland (watan), and Muslim identity. His book Poetry of Belonging: Muslim Imaginings of India 1850–1950 was published in 2020. He has also written about Sufis, Shias, and the cultural history of Awadh and Lucknow. Ali Khan Mahmudabad's Brief political involvement In 2018, Mahmudabad joined the Samajwadi Party and became its national spokesperson from 2019 to 2022. Though once seen as close to party leader Akhilesh Yadav, he has not held a formal party role since 2022.
India Today
19-05-2025
- Politics
- India Today
Who is Ali Khan Mahmudabad, Ashoka University professor held over Op Sindoor post?
Ali Khan Mahmudabad, Associate Professor and Head of the Political Science Department at Ashoka University in Haryana's Sonipat, was arrested on May 18 over a social media post about Operation Sindoor — India's military response to the Pahalgam terrorist Police arrested Ali after a member of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha filed a complaint against him. The Haryana State Commission for Women had also issued a notice to him regarding his SCIONAli Khan Mahmudabad is a renowned writer, poet, political scientist, and historian. Born on December 2, 1982, in Lucknow, he hails from the influential Mahmudabad royal family. His father, Mohammad Amir Mohammad Khan — also known as Raja Sahab Mahmudabad — was a two-time Congress MLA from Mahmudabad and a popular figure in Uttar Pradesh's Awadh region. He fought a four-decade legal battle to reclaim family properties seized under the Enemy Properties properties include the iconic Butler Palace, Halwasiya Market, Hazratganj market, and Mahmudabad Qila in Lucknow, along with assets in Sitapur, Nainital, and other parts of the grandfather, Mohammad Amir Ahmad Khan, was the last ruling Raja of Mahmudabad and a key financier of the Muslim League before India's independence. His mother, Rani Vijay, is the daughter of former Foreign Secretary Jagat Singh Mehta, who held office from 1976 to 1979 under External Affairs Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Ali is married to the daughter of Haseeb Drabu, who served as Jammu and Kashmir's Finance Minister during the 2015–2018 PDP–BJP AND CAREERadvertisementAli completed his schooling at La Martiniere in Lucknow and later moved to the UK, studying at King's College School and Winchester College. He earned his MPhil and PhD in Historical Studies from the University of Cambridge. He also studied Arabic at the University of Damascus in Syria. He has travelled widely across the Middle East, reporting from Syria and writing for international publications including National Ashoka University, his academic focus included the evolution of Muslim political identity in North India between 1850 and 1950. His doctoral thesis explored themes such as public poetry gatherings (mush'irah), homeland (watan), citizenship, and Muslim 2020, he released the book 'Poetry of Belonging: Muslim Imaginings of India 1850–1950'. His scholarly work also includes writings on Sufis, Shias, and the cultural history of Awadh and STINTMahmudabad briefly ventured into politics, joining the Samajwadi Party in 2018 and serving as its national spokesperson from 2019 to 2022. Though once considered close to party president Akhilesh Yadav, he has not held any formal position within the party since 2022. IN THIS STORY#Haryana#Delhi
New Straits Times
09-05-2025
- Politics
- New Straits Times
Philippine election holds key to future for foes Marcos, Duterte
MANILA: The Philippines votes on Monday in a ballot that will decide half the Senate's seats, thousands of local posts, and quite possibly the political future of impeached Vice-President Sara Duterte. More than 160,000 national police have been deployed to secure polling stations, escort election officials and guard checkpoints in a country where hotly contested provincial postings are known to erupt in violence. But it is the vice-president's feud with President Ferdinand Marcos that has dominated national politics heading into the mid-term election. The rift between the two former allies came to a head in the wake of the vice president's February impeachment and her father Rodrigo Duterte's subsequent arrest and transfer to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to face charges over his deadly drug war while he was president. The 12 senators elected on Monday, and 12 others already in office, will serve as jurors in an impeachment trial -- tentatively set for July -- that could see her permanently barred from public office. Seven currently polling in the top 12 have been endorsed by Marcos while four -- including the president's independent-minded sister Imee Marcos -- are publicly aligned with Duterte. Among the front-runners are a television host, a comedian and a former Duterte lieutenant who has publicly said he could be next on the ICC's warrant list. Former boxing champion Manny Pacquiao sits just outside the so-called Magic 12. The threat the Dutertes face is an existential one, Cleve Arguelles, president and CEO of WR Numero Research, told AFP. "If (Rodrigo) is cut off from power, if Sara is cut off from public office, then it's not far from imagining that it might also threaten their control of Davao," he said, referencing the capital of the family's southern stronghold Mindanao. Seeing the vice-president removed from the 2028 presidential equation is in the interest of more than just Marcos, who is constitutionally limited to one term, Arguelles added. "If she is out of the game, then it's anybody's ballgame." The Dutertes' woes, however, have done little to boost Marcos's popularity. A survey released last month showed a dramatic dip in his approval rating from nearly 50 per cent to 25 per cent in barely three months. "There's a view that the mid-term elections serve as a referendum for the incumbent president," said Dennis Coronacion of the University of Santo Tomas' Political Science Department. Marcos, however, has no signature achievement he can point to, said Jean Franco, assistant chair of the University of the Philippines' Political Science Department. "Since late 2023, his entire administration's narrative seems to be about Sara Duterte," she said. "I think Filipinos are souring on him." A bid to make the country's clashes with Beijing in the disputed South China Sea central to the campaign has also largely fizzled with voters. While surveys show Filipinos are broadly anti-China on the issue, it rates far behind bread-and-butter topics like inflation and jobs, said pollster Arguelles. In Manila on Monday, many will queue to cast their ballots inside air-conditioned malls. The spectre of violence, however, looms large the further you get from the capital. In 2022, shortly after polls opened in the presidential election, a trio of security guards were shot dead at a polling station in the far south's autonomous Muslim region in Mindanao. Hours before that, nine were wounded in a grenade attack. This year, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has taken the rare step of temporarily removing top police officials in two southern municipalities, accusing them of "gross negligence" after they failed to provide security for an election official who was later murdered. The body has officially recorded 81 acts of "politically related" violence between Jan 12 and May 7. Police said 16 of those have resulted in death. A top Comelec official said last month that the numbers were "very low compared to the past". No matter the election's outcome, Marcos's influence is certain to wane over the next three years, said Alicor Panao, an associate political science professor at the University of the Philippines. "The truth is, the... political capital of the president decreases in the second half of his term whatever happens... because he cannot promise anything anymore," he said. "The legislators and local officials will (start preparing) for the next presidential election. That's the reality of our politics."
Yahoo
12-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court dismisses Bolus appeal of getting booted off Scranton mayoral ballot
The state Commonwealth Court on Friday dismissed Bob Bolus' appeal of being removed as a Republican candidate for mayor of Scranton in the May 20 primary election. The court dismissed the appeal because Bolus missed a deadline of Tuesday to file a required legal brief to pursue the appeal. The court previously issued orders March 26 and April 4 directing Bolus to file a brief in support of his appeal. The April 4 order cautioned Bolus to file his brief no later than April 8 or the appeal would be dismissed. Scranton Republican Charlie Spano challenged Bolus' run for Scranton mayor in the GOP primary, arguing Bolus falsely claimed in candidate affidavits he was eligible to hold the office, but he was not eligible because of his past felony convictions. Charlie Spano during a debate of candidates for Scranton mayor hosted by the League of Women Voters of Lackawanna County and the Political Science Department at The University of Scranton, at the university on Oct. 15, 2019. (TIMES-TRIBUNE / FILE PHOTO) Lackawanna County Judge Terrence Nealon booted Bolus off the ballot last month, ruling that the lack of a valid candidate affidavit in his nomination petition rendered it 'fatally defective.' For Scranton's four-year mayoral term, incumbent Mayor Paige Gebhardt Cognetti and former Scranton School Board President Bob Sheridan will battle for the Democratic nomination, while on the Republican side newcomers Trish Beynon and Lynn Labrosky each seek the GOP nomination.
