Politics

Thackeray met Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and demanded that the Assembly polls in the state, due later this year, be conducted through paper ballots instead of Electronic Voting Machines.

This decision was taken at a breakfast meeting of Congress ministers at Deputy Chief Minister G Parameshwara's residence which was attended by CLP leader Siddaramaiah and AICC general secretary K C Venugopal among others.

Terming the proposal as "completely unjustified," state Congress chief Uttam Kumar Reddy said neither the Chief Minister nor anybody on behalf of the government has given any justification and the reasons for shifting it.

Addressing the media on Sunday, Gowda alleged that the 14 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who had resigned the day before were supporters of Siddaramaiah.

The development comes as the Congress top brass is looking for a leader to step into the shoes of Rahul Gandhi, who recently resigned as Congress president.

"Ours is a national party, after discussing with the national leadership, we will take a decision," Yeddyurappa said

The notification for the August 5 election will be issued on July 11. The nomination process will begin the same day and the last date for filing papers is July 18.

The move comes amid controversy regarding the alleged practice of taking ‘cut money’ or illegal commission to facilitate government schemes in West Bengal.

TMC sources said Mamata Banerjee wants to rename West Bengal as it will help the state move up the alphabetical order in any official circular list prepared by the Centre.

During the one-and-a-half-hour-long meeting, they discussed the need to simplify the process to get caste certificates and the problem of land encroachment.

The party has been given seven days to produce the relevant documents and failure to do so will result in the property being demolished.

This move is expected to create goodwill in the larger OBC community, which will now have somewhat fewer claimants to various benefits while undercutting the caste-based support that is the mainstay of parties like the BSP and the SP in the state.

After the event, the labour minister shared a video of the protest on Twitter and sought to know "why the BJP is scared of opening of a mohalla clinic".

Gandhi hit out at the Yogi Adityanath government for the detereorating law and order situation in the state and asked if the state has 'surrendered before criminals'.

The government has directed District Magistrates to issue SC certificates to MBCs till the high court takes a final call on the issue.

According to party sources, the party leaders also discussed the preparations for the Assembly elections due in Delhi early next year.