As polling ended for 15 Rajya Sabha seats across the States of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Karnataka, political parties reported several instances of cross-voting. As results trickled in, the ruling Congress in Karnataka won three seats and the BJP one in the Rajya Sabha elections in Karnataka. Those who were elected to the Upper House are Ajay Maken, G.C. Chandrasekhar and Syed Naseer Hussain, all belonging to the Congress, and Narayansa K. Bhandage of the BJP.
Meanwhile, Congress candidate Abhishek Singhvi lost the election for the lone Rajya Sabha seat to the Bharatiya Janta Party’s Harsh Mahajan, on the basis of a draw of lots, following a tie between both the candidates. Cross-voting by Congress MLAs helped the BJP to end up the battle to the Upper House in a draw.
After the win, Harsh Mahajan said it’s the win of the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. In Shimla, Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur said it’s an historic win of the BJP.
Five candidates were in the fray for the four seats in the elections, including JD(S) contestant D. Kupendra Reddy. The elections were marred by cross-voting. While one of the BJP MLAs, S T Somashekar, voted for the Congress’ Maken, the other, A Shivaram Hebbar, abstained. Meanwhile, in Himachal Pradesh, CM Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu alleged that some of his MLAs have been kidnapped and they have got the visuals. He also blamed the BJP of threatening the counting officers, which he said was not good for democracy.
Meanwhile in UP, with eight BJP candidates and three from the Samajwadi Party in the fray, Samajwadi Party MLA Manoj Kumar Pandey resigned from the post of party chief whip a day after he skipped a meeting called by party chief Akhilesh Yadav on the Rajya Sabha elections.
In Himachal Pradesh, Congress candidate Abhishek Singhvi lost the election for the lone Rajya Sabha seat to the BJP’s Harsh Mahajan, on the basis of a draw of lots, following a tie between both the candidates. Cross-voting by Congress MLAs helped the BJP to take the battle to the Upper House in a draw.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu accused BJP of threatening the counting officers, which he said was not good for the democracy. Sukhu alleged aid that five-six MLAs were taken away by the CRPF and Haryana Police convoy.
Supreme Court comes down heavily on Patanjali for prima facie violation of undertaking on claims, ads
The Supreme Court on February 27 came down heavily on yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurved for prima facie violation of the undertaking given by it in the court about its products and also about statements claiming their medicinal efficacy.
A bench of justices Hima Kohli and A Amanullah issued a notice to Patanjali Ayurved and its managing director asking why contempt proceedings should not be initiated against them.
The bench also cautioned Patanjali Ayurved and its officers from making any statements adverse to any system of medicine in the media, both print and electronic, in any form as they said in their undertaking before the court earlier.
On November 21, 2023, the counsel representing the company had assured the apex court that henceforth there shall not be any violation of law, especially relating to advertising or branding of products, and no casual statements claiming medicinal efficacy of Patanjali products or against any system of medicine will be released to the media in any form.
The apex court had then cautioned the company, co-founded by Ramdev and dealing in herbal products, against making “false” and “misleading” claims in advertisements about its medicines as cure of several diseases.
The top court is hearing a plea of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) alleging a smear campaign by Ramdev against the vaccination drive and modern medicines.
Gaganyaan astronaut designates announced
Group Captain Prasanth Balakrishnan Nair, Group Captain Ajit Krishnan, Group Captain Angad Pratap, and Wing Commander Shubhanshu Shukla – the four Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots are the ‘astronaut designates’ who have been undergoing training for India’s Gaganyaan human spaceflight mission, planned for 2025.
Their names were revealed for the first time in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit to the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre (VSSC) in Thiruvanathapuram on February 27 (Tuesday).
The final crew for the mission will be picked from among the four. Shortlisted through a rigorous selection process, they have been undergoing training in various aspects of space flight, initially in Russia, and later at the Astronaut Training Facility established by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) in Bengaluru.
Modi also presented the four with the ‘wings’ for the Gaganyaan programme on the occasion.
According to ISRO, the Gaganyaan programme is designed to demonstrate indigenous capability to undertake human space flight mission to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The mission is expected to pave way for a “sustained Indian human space exploration programme” in the long run.
In the run-up to the crewed mission to LEO, ISRO is in the process of conducting various tests. These include the Integrated Air Drop tests, Test Vehicle Missions, pad Abort Tests. There will be unmanned flights before the actual flight.
During his visit, Modi reviewed the progress on the Gaganyaan Mission and dedicated three technical facilities developed at a cost of about ₹1,800 crore to the nation. This includes a state-of-the-art Trisonic Wind Tunnel at the VSSC, integration facilities for the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) at the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, and the Semi-cryogenic Integrated Engine and Stage Test Facility (SIET) at the ISRO Propulsion Complex (IPRC) at Mahendragiri, Tamil Nadu.
The Trisonic Wind Tunnel produces a controlled uniform airflow over scale models of rockets and aircraft to assess their aerodynamic characteristics. It is designed to make ISRO self-reliant in the end-to-end design of upcoming launch vehicle projects. The PSLV Integration Facilities (PIF) at Sriharikota will give ISRO the capability to increase the number of PSLV missions in a year from 6 to 15. SIET will be used to test the SCE-2000 semi-cryogenic engine and stages which will increase the payload capability of the launch vehicles.
Three mahagathbandhan MLAs shift to NDA side in Bihar Assembly
At a time when Leader of the Opposition and Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav is on Jan Vishwas Yatra across Bihar slamming the BJP in public meetings, three mahagathbandhan legislators— two from the Congress and one from the RJD — on February 27 changed sides and sat with the NDA MLAs in the Assembly.
In another development, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the premises of RJD MLA Kiran Devi and her husband, who is a former party legislator, in a money laundering case.
In a sudden move, two Congress MLAs, Murari Prasad Gautam and Siddhrath Saurabh, along with RJD legislator Sangita Kumari refused to sit in their allotted seats in the Assembly and sat along with NDA legislators. Gautam, Congress MLA from Chenari in Rohtas district, was Panchayati Raj Minister in the previous mahagathbandhan government, while Saurabh is a young party MLA from Bikram constituency of Patna district. Sangita Kumari represents the Mohania (SC) seat in Kaimur district. The Congress has 19 MLAs in the Assembly. All the three legislators reached the Assembly on Tuesday along with State BJP president and Deputy Chief Minister Samrat Choudhary. The buzz in political circles is that they would contest the next Assembly polls in 2025 on BJP ticket.
Earlier, during the trust vote of the NDA government on February 12 in the Assembly, three RJD MLAs — Neelam Devi, Prahlad Yadav and Chetan Anand — changed sides and sat with NDA legislators to vote in favour of the government’s trust vote. The NDA had won the floor test with the support of 129 MLAs amid a walk-out by the Opposition mahagathbandhan legislators.
In the 243-member Assembly, the RJD has 79 members, BJP 78, JD(U) 45, Congress 19 and the three Left parties have 16 members. Former Chief Minister Jitan Ram Manjhi-led Hindustani Awam Morcha (Secular) has four MLAs and along with one Independent legislator Sumit Kumar there is one MLA from AIMIM (All Indian Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen) Akhtarul Iman.
Meanwhile, the ED on Tuesday conducted raids on the premises of RJD MLA from Sandesh Assembly constituency of Bhojpur district, Kiran Devi and her husband Arun Yadav, who is the former party MLA from the same constituency (2015—20), in a money laundering case linked to alleged possession of disproportionate assets. The agency conducted searches on the premises of the MLA at Agiaon in Bhojpur and Patna. The MLA was said to be not at her premises during the raid.
The RJD MLA and her husband are said to be close to the family of RJD chief Lalu Prasad. Arun Yadav and his wife are also being probed by the ED in connection with the illegal sand mining case and the agency had conducted raids on their premises in 2023 as part of its investigations.
In brief
Former Supreme Court judge A.M. Khanwilkar appointed Lokpal chairperson
Former Supreme Court judge A M Khanwilkar was appointed as the Lokpal chairperson on February 27, according to the Rashtrapati Bhavan. Justice Khanwilkar retired from the Supreme Court in July 2022. According to a communique from the Rashtrapati Bhavan, the President also appointed former High Court judges Lingappa Narayana Swamy, Sanjay Yadav and Ritu Raj Awasthi as judicial members of the Lokpal. Sushil Chandra, Pankaj Kumar and Ajay Tirkey were appointed as non-judicial members of the anti-corruption ombudsman.
Nirmala Sitharaman, Jaishankar to contest Lok Sabha polls: Pralhad Joshi
Union Minister Pralhad Joshi has said Union Ministers Nirmala Sitharaman and S. Jaishankar will contest the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. However, it has not been decided yet as to where they will contest from, he added. “It is appearing in the media. More or less it is final that they [Nirmala Sitharaman and Jaishankar] will contest the Lok Sabha elections. It has not been decided yet from where they will fight, whether it is in Karnataka or some other state,” Joshi, who holds the Coal and Mines portfolio, told reporters. Union Finance Minister Sitharaman and External Affairs Minister Jaishankar are Rajya Sabha members from Karnataka and Gujarat respectively.
Evening Wrap will return tomorrow.
