Indian Polls

Kolkata, May 26 (PTI) Soon after the Election Commission lifted the model code of conduct, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Sunday reinstated 11 IPS officers, including Rajeev Kumar, to their old posts.

Kumar, who was removed by the poll body from the post of Additional Director General of West Bengal CID, was reinstated by an order issued by the state home and hill affairs department.

Gangtok, May 27 (PTI) Sikkim Krantikari Morcha (SKM) president Prem Singh Tamang, popularly known as P S Golay, on Monday took oath as the chief minister of Sikkim.

Eleven SKM MLAs were also administered the oath by Governor Ganga Prasad at Paljor Stadium here.

Golay, who is not a member of the state assembly at present as he did not contest the polls, was elected as the SKM Legislature Party leader on Saturday.

New Delhi, May 27 (PTI) The 17th Lok Sabha's first session is likely to start from June 6 and go on till June 15, sources have said.

The dates of the first Parliament session are expected to be finalised during the first meeting of the new Cabinet on May 31, a day after Narendra Modi takes oath as prime minister of the country for a second term, they said.

Varanasi, May 27 (PTI) Chemistry has triumphed over poll arithmetic, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Monday, profusely thanking Varanasi voters for electing him by a huge margin in the Lok Sabha elections.

"Political analysts will have to accept that beyond poll arithmetic there is a chemistry," he told party workers on his first visit to his constituency after his resounding victory which was by a higher margin this time.

Amethi, May 26 (PTI) A close aide of Smriti Irani, the newly elected MP from Amethi Lok Sabha constituency in Uttar Pradesh, was shot dead by two men, with police not ruling out the possibility of it being a "political murder".

Surendra Singh (50), a former head of Baraulia village, was shot at around 11.30pm Saturday, said Additional Superintendent of Police Daya Ram.

He was referred to a Lucknow hospital but he succumbed during treatment, Ram said.

Two suspects have been detained for questioning, police said.

New Delhi, May 25 : A crucial meeting of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) on Saturday unanimously rejected Rahul Gandhi's offer to resign as party president after the Lok Sabha poll debacle and authorised him to overhaul and restructure the party at all levels.

The meeting deliberated on the reasons behind the Congress's defeat in the elections for four long hours with various leaders urging Rahul Gandhi to continue to provide leadership to the party.

Kolkata, May 25; PTI/GANASHAKTI: Violent incidents were reported from across West Bengal on Saturday in which one person died and many were injured, officials said, as a face-off brewed between the ruling Trinamool Congress and a surging BJP after the Lok Sabha results were declared.

TMC alleged that a number of its party offices have either been taken over or vandalised by BJP workers.

Thiruvananthapuram, May 25 (PTI) Coming out in support of the AICC chief, Congress leaders in Kerala said there was no need for Rahul Gandhi to resign in the wake of the party's poll debacle.

Gandhi had offered to resign as the Congress received a severe drubbing in the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress party had faced similar defeats earlier also and has bounced back, Opposition leader in the state ssembly Ramesh Chennithala told reporters here.

New Delhi, May 25 (PTI) President Ram Nath Kovind Saturday dissolved the 16th Lok Sabha with immediate effect on recommendation of the Union cabinet, the Rashtrapati Bhavan said in a statement.

A communique issued by the Rashtrapati Bhavan said the President dissolved the Lok Sabha after a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi made such a recommendation Friday.

"The President has accepted the advice of the Cabinet on 24.05.2019 and signed the Order dissolving the 16th Lok Sabha," it said.

Hyderabad, May 25 (PTI) The Governor of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana E S L Narasimhan Saturday invited YSR Congress president Y S Jagan mohan Reddy to form the government in AP.

The swearing-in ceremony would be held at Indira Gandhi Municipal Corporation stadium, Vijayawada on May 30 at 12.23 PM, a Raj Bhavan communique said here.

It said Botcha Satyanarayana and other YSR Congress elected members of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly called on the Governor and informed him about the election of Reddy as the leader of the YSR Congress Legislature Party.