Congratulations to Sukhbir Sandhu and Gyanesh Kumar for their selection as Election Commissioners. Both have brilliant records. Wish them good luck in discharging tough responsibility.

How Mr Gyanesh Kumar Was Appointed The Chief Election Commissioner? “He was not even found fit for the Additional Secretary panel. Later he was also found unfit for the Secretary panel.” In a wide-ranging interview with me for the London Vārta podcast, former Chief Election Commissioner S.Y. Quraishi turns his attention to the man currently under fire from the opposition in India: Gyanesh Kumar, the serving CEC. So how did he get the job? Mr Quraishi does not mince his words. He says: “What is known about this gentleman is that he was very close to Amit Shah. Extremely close—he worked under him in the Home Ministry. He was one of the architects of the removal of Article 370 in Kashmir… Besides that, when the Ram Mandir Trust was being formed, he was the one who set it up.” “According to reports, he was not even found fit for the Additional Secretary panel. Later he was also found unfit for the Secretary panel. But because he had worked so closely with Amit Shah… pressure was applied… and he was made Secretary in the Ministry of Cooperation, of which Amit Shah was the minister.” On the formal selection process itself: “In 2023, the selection of the Chief Election Commissioner had to be made… under the new Act the government called three people to consider the names. One was Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He nominated Amit Shah—the person closest to him, his companion—and the Leader of the Opposition. And Gyanesh Kumar was selected.” The full conversation, covering the Election Commission, the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls, and much more, is on the London Vārta podcast. #cineinkpodcast #LondonVārta #syquraishi #GyaneshKumar #ElectionCommission

Yeah, because forces that should be protecting our borders are being deployed to stop citizens from protesting. Modi is putting national security at risk by using security forces against his own countrymen. The priority should be securing our borders, not turning Delhi into a fortress to suppress peaceful protests.

#WATCH | Delhi: Myanmar Training Camp case | Two foreign nationals from Ukraine and the US were released from Tihar Jail. The special NIA court at Rouse Avenue has granted permission to US National Matthew Aaron Vandyke and 6 Ukrainian nationals to travel to the USA and Ukraine to meet their families for one month, subject to certain conditions and formalities. The court directed the release of their passports to them. All 7 foreigners have been granted default bail by the court.

It was Modi who agreed to reduce tariffs on American goods to zero. It was Modi who committed to buying $500 billion worth of American goods. It was Modi who had agreed to stop buying Russian oil because Trump asked him to. But according to some it’s the opposition and CJP who are being controlled by foreign powers.🤦🏻‍♂️

This is Raihan Vadra's pics Look at them.. Below average pics just made it black and white to look creative. Photo-journalists click 100 times better pics and sell it for few hundred rupees. Just because he is Gandhi Family's kid, media hypes it. Raihan Vadra needed some Controversy to join politics so Congress might have staged the whole controversy. If not, only reason to cancel it can be that the exhibition hall owners thought people will stop coming there if they host such shitty exhibitions.

So much has changed in this country in the last few weeks of protests. Yet one thing remains untouched and unchallenged: the persecution of Muslims by the state. This is the bitter, heartbreaking truth 200 million Indian Muslims are forced to live with. Every single day.

The GRU hacked into Jared Kushner's iPhone. Dutch military intelligence (MIVD) then recruited a GRU spy who gave them access to the hacked phone. What MIVD discovered was that Kushner had access to two bank accounts --one Azerbaijani, the other Israeli --where Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Emirati ruler Mohammed bin Zayed deposited money. It sounds like a slightly far-fetched episode of "Slow Horses," but it's real. And it proves just how eye-poppingly corrupt this administration was and continues to be as its "special envoy" decides the fate of tens of millions in Europe in the Middle East. Simply incredible reporting by Matthew Cole, drawn from his new book on Kushner. vanityfair.com/story/jared-k…

Wishing Home Minister Shri @AmitShah ji a very happy birthday… May the year ahead bring you the best of health, happiness and strength to continue all that you do for the nation. My warmest wishes and prayers for a wonderful year ahead.

As a follow up to @IndianExpress story on ‘CEC vs ECs’, official documents accessed by RTI Activist Commodore Lokesh Batra (Retd) sheds more light on the issue. Election Commissioners Dr Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi wrote to Union Cabinet Secretary individually on the issue of change in ‘work allocation order’ by Maneesh Garg, Sr Deputy Election Commissioner on July 29. Cabinet Secretariat decided to seek the opinion of the CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Aug 3. (No information on whether CEC responded to the Cabinet Secretariat). Union Cabinet Secretary, TV Somanathan acknowledged the letters of the two ECs Dr SS Sandhu and Dr Vivek Joshi on Aug 5. On Aug 24, Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Election Commissioner was moved out of ECI while the two Election Commissioners complained against Maneesh Garg. Importantly, Sanjay Kumar was handling the ‘Electoral Roll’ division in ECI before he was moved out of ECI. The officer handling the ‘Electoral Roll’ division was moved out of ECI in the middle of SIR’ exercise.

Times Now reshares whatever CJP members share on their own handles. Check all quoted posts.

BREAKING || Delhi Police Refuses Permit to Diljit's Show - CJP's Abhijeet Dipke asks: Scared of concerts too?

The reason.