Rush Hour: BNP sweeps Bangladesh polls, Kharge demands restoration of expunged speech and more
Rush Hour: BNP sweeps Bangladesh polls, Kharge demands restoration of expunged speech and more
Scroll.in | News Desk
The Bangladesh Nationalist Party-led alliance has so far won 212 of the 299 constituencies that went to polls in Bangladesh's 13th national parliamentary election.
The alliance led by the Islamist party, Bangladesh Jamaat-e-Islami emerged as the main Opposition with 77 seats.
This was the first national election since former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina's government was ousted following widespread protests in 2024 and she fled to India.
Ties between New Delhi and Dhaka have been strained since then.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi was the first national leader to congratulate BNP chairperson Tarique Rahman on his party's victory.
In a social media post later, he said he had conveyed to Rahman that as "two close neighbours with deep-rooted historical and cultural ties, I reaffirmed India's continued commitment to the peace, progress and prosperity of both our peoples".
Read Scroll's coverage of the Bangladesh national elections here.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin announced that Rs 5,000 each has been credited to the bank accounts of 1.3 crore women under the Kalaignar Magalir Urimai Thogai scheme in the poll-bound state.
The amount includes the advance disbursal of the monthly entitlement of Rs 1,000 for February, March and April, along with a "special summer assistance" of Rs 2,000.
The elections for the 234-seat Assembly are likely to be held in April or May.
The chief minister also announced that the monthly entitlement would be increased to Rs 2,000 from Rs 1,000 if the ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam returns to power.
Tamil Nadu 2026 elections: Will the dawn of coalition politics end the era of Dravidian parties? Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mallikarjun Kharge claimed that portions of his February 4 speech in the Upper House of Parliament were "either expunged or removed" without justification.
The omitted portions were from his speech on the Motion of Thanks on the President's address and included comments on the Bharatiya Janata Party-led Union government's policies, said Kharge.
"I wish to respectfully request that [Rajya Sabha Chairperson CP Radhakrishnan] review the portions of my speech that have been removed and that contain nothing unparliamentary or defamatory," Kharge said.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman objected to Kharge's charge as "disrespectful" and "not appropriate".
The Supreme Court sought a status report from the Central Bureau of Investigation on the progress of the cases related to the violent clashes that took place in Manipur in 2023.
The bench proposed that the Gauhati and Manipur High Courts could monitor the conduct of trials in these cases.
It also expressed reservations about whether a remote committee would be adequately equipped to monitor these matters.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the High Court may be better suited to monitor the matter.
