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The chances of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/GST-vs-IT-Act/articleshow/52969390.cms">GST bill</a> finally getting passed seem to have increased with the leading and opposition parties getting ready to engage in further consultations over the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/All-online-purchases-to-attract-GST-soon-Amit-Mitra-panel/articleshow/52750627.cms">long pending bill</a>. 
 
As per reports, the parliamentary affairs ministry has planned a five-hour debate in Rajya Sabha, the date of which is not confirmed yet, which could lead to both parties agreeing to a common ground for the passage of the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Indian-online-marketplaces-are-closely-monitoring-the-GST-bill-as-costs-may-rise-up/articleshow/52775995.cms">tax reform</a>. 
 
Also read: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/GST-bill-Monsoon-Session-2016/articleshow/52971760.cms">Govt hopes on passage of GST bill as Monsoon Session will begin from July 18</a> 
 
It was only after BJP expressed its hope for an agreement after lessening the differences it has with Congress that the BJP parliamentary party executive was asked to make efforts to reach out to other parties as well. 
 
A few days back, Samajwadi Party leader Naresh Agarwal had complained that the <a href="http://www.businessinsider.in/Nothing-is-going-to-come-for-free-after-GST-is-implemented-Heres-why/articleshow/52775662.cms">GST bill</a> seemed to be like a bilateral affair between the two parties, and warned that even his party could have some issues with the legislation, stalling it. CPM leader Sitaram Yechury had also asked for more consultations over the bill. 
 
<a href="http://www.newsx.com/sites/default/files/field/image/sonia-modi_0.jpg">Image source</a>

A five-hour debate in Rajya Sabha could pave the road for GST clearance

(Eds: With K'taka leaders' reax) New Delhi, Mar 8 () Former Union law minister and Congress veteran <keyword id="71054" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Hansraj-Bhardwaj">Hansraj Bhardwaj</keyword> died after a cardiac arrest at a hospital here on Sunday evening. He was 83. Bhardwaj breathed his last around 6.30 pm at Max Hospital, Saket, where he was admitted since Wednesday due to kidney-related ailments, his family told . The cremation will take place at <keyword id="8885939" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="nighambodh">Nighambodh</keyword> Ghat on Monday at 4 pm, his son Arun Bhardwaj said. He is survived by his wife, a son and two daughters. Bhardwaj celebrated his 60th wedding anniversary on February 29. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP leader and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury condoled Bhardwaj's death. "Anguished by the passing away of former minister Shri Hans Raj Bhardwaj," the Prime Minister's Office tweeted quoting Modi. "My thoughts are with his family and well-wishers in this hour of grief. Om Shanti," the tweet said. Prasad recalled his association with Bhardwaj in Parliament. "Deeply condole the sad demise of Shri Hansraj Bhardwaj who for long years served as the Law Minister of India. We were together in the Parliament. May his soul Rest In Peace," Prasad posted on Twitter. CPI(M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury remembered the leader as an "encyclopedia" on the Indian judicial system. "Sad news about Shri Hans Raj Bhardwaj ji's demise. Worked with him as an MP when he was a minister &amp; shared the urge to safeguard our constitutional values. He was an encyclopedia on the Indian judicial system. Will miss him," Yechury said in a tweet. Born in Garhi Sampla village in Rohtak district of Haryana, Bhardwaj was a Rajya Sabha member for five terms from April 1982 to June 2009. He was the law minister for 14 years and served under the prime ministership of Rajiv Gandhi, Narasimha Rao and <keyword id="6359397" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="manmohan-singh">Manmohan Singh</keyword>. During his stint as the governor of Karnataka between 2009 and 2014, he sternly dealt with the mining mafia active in the state. It was during Bhardwaj's tenure as law minister that Bofors-accused <keyword id="54989" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ottavio-Quattrocchi">Ottavio Quattrocchi</keyword> was given a clean chit by then UPA government in 2009. Sources said he fell out with Congress party leadership after he became the governor and criticised it. Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa, former prime minister H D Deve Gowda and opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah also mourned the demise of Bhardwaj. "In his death we lost a good legal expert and administrator. May his soul rest in peace and may God give strength to his family to bear the loss," Yediyurappa said in a condolence message. A tussle between Bhardwaj and Yediyurappa over mining and land scams drew everyone's attention during his second stint as chief minister. Gowda said Bhardwaj will always be remembered for his exceptional service to the nation, while Siddaramaiah recalled him as as a tough man against immoral practices during power struggle. "His contribution to Karnataka during his tenure shall always be remembered. He was tough against immoral practices of power struggle. My deepest condolences to his family members &amp; well-wishers," Siddaramaiah tweeted. Bhardwaj held a Doctor of Laws (Honoris Causa) degree and did his schooling from GBC High School, Rohtak, and college in BM College, Shimla. He also studied at Agra University and <keyword id="49466" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Panjab-University">Panjab University</keyword>.

Congress veteran and former law minister Hansraj Bharadwaj passes away at 83

The Election Commission today assured that polled electronic voting machines (EVM) are ‘absolutely safe in strongrooms’-- reacting to videos on media and social media which show EVMs being transported in private vehicles. “The visuals seen viral on media do not pertain to any EVMs used during the polls,” said EC in a press statement. These series of videos show these machines being tampered in Bihar, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh (UP). Opposition Unites Leaders of several parties like Telugu Desam Party (TDP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) complained to the EC on these alleged movement of electronic voting machines (EVMs) to replace the polled machines in strongrooms. Chandrababu Naidu who is already doing the rounds and gathering steam against Bharatiya Janata Party, is one of the leaders along with Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Sitaram Yechury who is mobilizing parties to meet EC. “The EC is yet to come out with a procedure in case there is a mismatch between the VVPAT and the EVM tally. We want that even for a single mismatch in the VVPAT samples picked for counting and EVMs, all VVPATs in that assembly segment must be counted. This is important to maintain integrity of the electoral process,” Yechury said, according to a <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/lok-sabha-elections/oppn-parties-may-meet-ec-to-demand-evm-tracking/story-e6PJ9EOGW99ZuX7GGcvuRM.html">HT report</a>. EC however has been assuring that its procedures are in place. “The aspersions in clips being used in media merely pertain to the storage or movement of Reserve unused EVMs. However, any case of lapse even in handling of reserve EVMs is thoroughly investigated and disciplinary action taken against the officers responsible,” EC assured in a statement. Exit Poll Effect These allegations which came a day after exit polls, and mostly by opposition parties, could cast a shadow of doubt on Lok Sabha election results, which are to be announced on May 23. A poll of polls predicts a comfortable win for National Democratic Alliance (NDA) led by PM Narendra Modi. An aggregation of the various exit polls says that NDA would win more than 300 seats in the current Lok Sabha Election, leaving no option for many opposition parties to come together and form a front, in case of a fractured mandate. Former President of India Pranab Mukherjee, who had been a career Congress politician and Finance Minister for many years, was one of the many people who<a href="https://www.ndtv.com/india-news/elections-2019-pranab-mukherjee-says-concerned-at-reports-of-alleged-tampering-of-voters-verdict-ami-2040695"> </a>expressed concern over alleged ‘tampering of voters’ verdict’. <a href="https://twitter.com/CitiznMukherjee/status/1130767638508949504">https://twitter.com/CitiznMukherjee/status/1130767638508949504</a> SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-households-face-a-double-whammy-with-price-hikes-in-milk-and-fuel/articleshow/69424415.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">Indian households face a double whammy with price hikes in milk and fuel</a>

Conspiracy theories hound electronic voting machines two days before India’s election results

<ul><li>Intense violence has tainted Kerala' politics in recent years.</li><li>Simmering tensions between the UDF, LDF, and the BJP may affect voter turnout.</li><li>If people decide to avoid voting to stay safe, it may skew the results.</li></ul>The southern state of Kerala, famous for its scenic backwaters and high literacy rate, has seen one of the most violent election campaigns in the country. If people decide to sit at home to avoid getting caught in any sort of violence, it may skew the results in favour of one party or the other. <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019/kerala/news/violent-end-to-vibrant-poll-campaign/articleshow/68987461.cms">More than 30 people</a>, including a policeman, were injured at Thiruvalla where the activists of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Left Democratic Front (LDF) clashed on the last day of the campaign (April 21). That was only one of the many violent clashes that have caught headlines in the state that boasts of 94% literacy, according to the 2011 census. Sitaram Yechury, the general secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), better known by its acronym CPI(M), said that the party had 13 workers in the last one year. However, police <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/kerala-news/kerala-rss-workers-murder-data-reveals-record-of-political-killings-1733728">records verified by NDTV</a> showed that 14 people from the RSS, BJP, and the left parties have been murdered for political reasons since February 2018. The count of similar deaths between 2000 and 2017 escalates to over 170, according to the same report. The increasingly restive political air in Kerala only shows how tight the fight is going to be. 26 million voters are enlisted for voting on April 23, the <keyword id="2211307" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Third-phase-of-polling">third phase of polling</keyword> in the ongoing elections for the Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Indian Parliament. The voter turnout in the state was a record 73.6% in 2014, <a href="https://www.ndtv.com/elections-news/election-2014-kerala-records-73-6-per-cent-voter-turnout-highest-since-1991-556911" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">the highest since 1991</a>. The United Democratic Front led by the Indian National Congress bagged 12 seats while the remaining eight went to the LDF led by the communist party-led coalition. However, the BJP is expected to be a strong contender this time around, more than it has been ever before. The threat from the BJP is seen as the strongest in some regions that have strong Hindu majority, where people are peeved by a 2018 Supreme Court verdict that allowed <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/supreme-court-allows-women-to-enter-sabarimala-temple/articleshow/65989807.cms">women into the Sabarimala Temple</a>. Tradition did not allow women of menstruating age into the temple until the court verdict. The <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/elections/lok-sabha-elections-2019/kerala/news/will-do-everything-to-protect-sabarimala-shah/articleshow/68971697.cms">BJP and its ideological parent, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh</a> (RSS), milked the issue and kept the anger alive to turn it against the incumbent Parliamentarians. Hindus make up for only 54% of the state’s population, according to the 2011 Census, compared to 80% nationally. 26% of Kerala’s population are Muslims and 18% are Christians. However, the RSS has had a strong support base in Kerala for years but the <a href="https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/thiruvananthapuram/rss-strengthening-base-in-kerala-number-of-shakhas-rising/articleshow/57147070.cms">hindu natioanlist organisation</a> is now stronger in the state than ever before. The odds of BJP getting more votes than before are higher but <a href="https://www.timesnownews.com/elections/article/opinion-poll-for-lok-sabha-election-2019-live-times-now-vmr-survey-for-bjp-congress-narendra-modi-rahul-gandhi/384850">most opinion polls</a> have still pegged it as a two-way fight between the UDF and the LDF in the state. A big factor working in favour of the LDF is the <a href="https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/kerala-will-set-an-example-in-rebuilding-rehabilitation-pinarayi-vijayan/articleshow/65481744.cms">elevated reputation of state Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan</a>. He won accolades for effectively managing a devastating flood in the state in 2018. The state also has a long history of leftists dominating state politics. Kerala’s first chief minister in 1957, EMS Namboodiripad, was one of the world’s first communist leaders to head an elected government. On the other hand, UDF led by Congress is trying to squeeze the BJP out by supporting the protests against the entry of women into the Sabarimala Temple. “Well, you cannot afford to write off the votes of the majority in times of political interest,” <a href="https://qz.com/india/1601119/election-2019-congresss-tharoor-battles-modis-bjp-in-kerala/">Congress leader Shashi Tharoor</a> fighting to defend the state capital Thriuvananthapuram told Quartz. The margin for error has shrunk significantly for Tharoor who swept the seat with 100,000 more votes than the second candidate in 2009. By 2014, it had shrunk to 14,000 and this time it is expected to be even tighter. Given that tensions are running high, voter turnout may become a deciding factor. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/lok-sabha-election-2019-3rd-phase-polling-live-updates/liveblog/68999100.cms" data-type="tilCustomLink" target="_blank">LIVE BLOG: Voting in 117 constituencies underway</a>

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A five-hour debate in Rajya Sabha could pave the road for GST clearance

BI India Bureau

Congress veteran and former law minister Hansraj Bharadwaj passes away at 83

PTI

Conspiracy theories hound electronic voting machines two days before India’s election results

Katya Naidu

Voter turnout may be tested in India’s most literate state that has seen one of the most violent election campaigns

Sriram Iyer

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