Polity Current Affairs

Indian Polity and Constitution Current Affairs, Important for competitive Exams.

National Panchayat Awards Week from 17 to 21st April 2023.

The Ministry of Panchayati Raj will celebrate National Panchayat Awards Week from 17 to 21st April 2023.

President Droupadi Murmu will inaugurate the National Panchayat Awards Week and confer the National Panchayat Awards at the ‘National Conference on Incentivisation of Panchayats-cum-Award Ceremony’ in New Delhi.

Thematic conferences based on the theme of “Panchayaton ke Sankalpon ki Siddhi ka Utsav” will be organized during the week celebrations.

Under the series, five National Conferences covering nine themes under Localisation of Sustainable Development Goals through Panchayati Raj Institutions and Way Forward for 2047 will be organized during the Week Celebrations.

Union Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Giriraj Singh, Union Minister of State for Panchayati Raj Kapil Moreshwar Patil, and Union Minister of State for Rural Development Faggan Singh Kulaste will attend the event.

Q: When will the Ministry of Panchayati Raj celebrate the National Panchayat Awards Week?
a) 21 to 24 April
b) 22 to 28 April
c) 17 to 21 April
d) 15 to 19 March

Ans : c) 17 to 21 April

New Data Protection Bill to be Introduced in Monsoon Session of Parliament

  • Centre government informs Supreme Court on 11th April 2023, that a new data protection bill is ready and will be introduced in the Monsoon session of Parliament.
  • Attorney General R Venkatramani informs a Constitution bench headed by Justice KM Joseph that the bill is ready.
  • The bench comprising justices Ajay Rastogi, Aniruddha Bose, Hrishikesh Roy, and C T Ravikumar takes note of the submission.
  • The matter is directed to be placed before Chief Justice DY Chandrachud so that a new bench can be constituted as Justice Joseph is set to retire on June 16.
  • The matter has been posted for hearing in the first week of August 2023.
  • Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioners, submits that the court should not link the court hearings to the legislative process.
  • Divan states that the legislative process is complex and it may be again referred to some committees.

Question : Presently, Who is the Attorney General of India ?
a) R Venkatramani
b) Soli Jehangir Sorabjee
c) Mukul Rohatgi
d) DY Chandrachud

Ans : a) R Venkatramani

“Election Commission announces dates for Karnataka Assembly Elections 2023 “

  1. Voting for the Karnataka assembly elections will be held on May 10, 2023, and the counting of votes will take place on May 13, 2023.
  2. The Election Commission is committed to holding free and fair elections in Karnataka and has given special focus to young voters, women, transgenders, and vulnerable tribal groups.
  3. The gazetted notification for the elections will be issued on April 13, 2023, and the last date of filing nominations is April 20, 2023.
  4. A total of 58,282 polling stations have been set up in Karnataka, with 24,063 stations in urban areas and 34,219 in rural areas.
  5. The total number of voters in Karnataka is 5.21 crore, of which 2.62 crore are male voters and 2.59 are female voters. The first-time voters in the state are over 9 lakh.
  6. The Bharatiya Janata Party won 104 seats, while the Congress got 80 seats and the JDS secured 37 in the previous Assembly elections held in 2018.

Question: What is the total number of polling stations set up in Karnataka for the 2023 Assembly Elections?
A) 58,263
B) 24,063
C) 34,219
D) 58,282

Answer: D) 58,282

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has been sentenced to two years in prison by a Gujarat court.

  • The difficulties of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi are increasing continuously. On 23 March the Surat court sentenced Rahul Gandhi to two years in a defamation case, after which he also got bail from the court.
  • The court granted bail to Rahul Gandhi and stayed the sentence for 30 days so that he could appeal in a higher court during this period.
  • Rahul was found guilty of defamation in the 2019 case, in which he made controversial remarks regarding ‘Modi surname’.
  • After this decision, Rahul Gandhi’s membership of Parliament can also go from Wayanad parliamentary constituency.
  • According to The Representation of the People Act, 1951 (Public Representation Law-1951), if any public representative is punished for two years or more, then his membership can be cancelled. Recently, the membership of Azam Khan’s son Abdullah Azam Khan was also canceled under this law.

Aam Aadmi Party leader Shelly Oberoi was elected 1st Mayor of the Unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

  • Aam Aadmi Party leader Shelly Oberoi was elected as the Mayor of Delhi on 22nd February 2023.
  • Shelly Oberoi secured 150 votes defeating BJP candidate Rekha Gupta by 34 votes.
  • AAP candidate Aale Mohammad Iqbal was elected the new Deputy Mayor of Delhi by defeating BJP’s Kamal Bagri by a margin of 31 votes. Iqbal got 147 votes against Bagri’s 116.
  • Ms. Shelly Oberoi, a Delhi University teacher, is the 1st Mayor of the Unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi.

Former Union Minister and RJD leader Sharad Yadav passed away at 75

Former Union Minister and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Sharad Yadav passed away on 12 January 2023. The 75-year-old veteran politician was ailing for sometime and breathed his last at a private hospital in Gurugram.

Sharad Yadav was a student leader of the seventies who fought for democratic values.

In his long years in public life, he distinguished himself as MP and Minister and he was greatly inspired by Dr. Lohia’s ideals.

Sharad Yadav served as a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in the late ’90s and the VP Singh government in 1989.

He was three-time member of Rajya Sabha, he was elected to the Lok Sabha seven times.

He was a founder-member of Bihar’s ruling Janata Dal United and also served as party president. He quit after Chief Minister Nitish Kumar ended the Grand Alliance and joined hands with the BJP.

In 2018, he launched his own party, the Loktantrik Janata Dal, but merged it with Lalu Yadav’s Rashtriya Janata Dal two years later.

BJP leader Bhupendra Patel became the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the 2nd time.

  • BJP leader Bhupendra Patel took oath as the Chief Minister of Gujarat for the 2nd consecutive term in Gandhinagar on 12th December in the presence of PM Narendra Modi & Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
  • Governor Acharya Devvrat administered the oath of office to Patel as the 18th chief minister of Gujarat at a ceremony held at the helipad ground inside the new secretariat complex in the state capital at 2 pm.
  • It may be recalled that the Bharatiya Janata Party registered a historic lead and 7th consecutive victory in the recently concluded Gujarat Assembly elections by winning 156 seats out of a total of 182 seats.

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu is the new Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh

Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu was sworn in as the 15th Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh. His oath taking ceremony was held at the iconic Ridge on Mall Road in the state capital Shimla on 11 December 2022. He is four time Congress party MLA.

He was administered the oath by Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar.

Former journalist and Congress Party MLA from Haroli assembly sear Mukesh Agnihotri was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

The Congress had won the state Assembly election with 40 of the 68 seats, the counting of which took place on December 8. The BJP has won 25 seats, while Independent candidates have bagged three seats.

BJP will form a new government on 12 Dec after a landslide victory in the assembly elections.

  • The ruling BJP in Gujarat will form a new government on 12 December. State BJP chief CR Patil said the state chief minister will take oath at 2 pm.
  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah are among the dignitaries who will attend the swearing-in ceremony.
  • The party received 52.5% of the vote, 3% more than the previous time, resulting in a landslide victory.
  • The Congress emerged as the biggest loser with 27.3% votes, up from 41% last time, and the Aam Aadmi Party was the biggest gainer with 12.9% vote share.

AAP wins Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) Election

  • The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) dislodged the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) from power in the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD).
  • The MCD election results was declared on 7 November 2022.
  • Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal’s party won 134 of 250 wards, while the BJP got 104, and the Congress came a distant third with just nine.
  • BJP completed three terms (15 years) in MCD.
  • AAP took control of the civic body for the first time in the national capital where it has a government.