New Delhi: The Office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi, has issued a directive to all political parties ahead of the polls to the Legislative Assembly of Delhi.

The notice strictly prohibits certain election-related activities during the 48 hours preceding the conclusion of polling.

In the official communication addressed to all the recognised national and state political parties, R Alice Vaz, stated, “This is to inform you that aforesaid public notice was published by this office on 01/02/2025 in leading newspapers of Hindi, English, Punjabi and Urdu languages by informing political leaders, star campaigners and contesting candidates to not convene, hold or attend, join or address any public meeting or procession” in connection with the elections to Legislative Assembly of Delhi during the aforesaid period.

Notice Issued By Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Delhi

The notice further elaborates on restrictions related to political advertisements:

“It was also informed to not telecast or broadcast advertisements of political nature by means mentioned above (which may include electronic media like radio, television, cable channel, internet, website, social media and projector, live media etc.) during the aforesaid period.”

Additionally, it emphasises that leaders and candidates should refrain from engaging with the media during this period:

“It was also informed that during the aforesaid period, political leaders, star campaigners and contesting candidates should refrain from addressing the media by way of press conferences and giving interviews on election matters.”

The notice continues, “Therefore, I am directed to request you to aware the leaders of your party regarding aforesaid public notice.”

The CEO’s office has instructed all political parties to ensure compliance with these regulations to maintain a fair and impartial election process. Political parties have been urged to inform their leaders, candidates, and campaigners about these critical restrictions.

Monday marks the last day of campaigning for the Delhi Assembly elections. Delhi will go to the polls on Wednesday and the results of the election will be declared on February 8.

Mumbai, Feb 3: Shiv Sena (UBT) in an editorial in its mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ has taken a swipe at Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman about no tax on income up to Rs 12 lakh annually.

The ‘Saamna’ editorial states, “It is a complete lie that the budget is for the middle class.”

It has cautioned the middle class to be careful as it will start feeling the pinch as inflation and unemployment will not reduce despite the budget proposals.

“It is being said that by making income up to Rs 12 lakh tax-free, people will have more money in their hands and their purchasing power will increase, but there is not much truth in it.

“This budget will not reduce inflation and unemployment. So what is the use of this barren budget? This budget is nothing extraordinary. This is a political budget.

“There are Assembly elections in Delhi. Modi-Shah have already distributed freebies for them. Since elections are also on the horizon in Bihar, money and schemes have rained down on Bihar. Therefore, as usual, this budget is election-oriented. It is not for the country,” says the editorial.

“Basically, how many people pay income tax in the country? About three-and-a-half crore people. Out of these, two crore people have an income of less than Rs 7 lakh. That means they have already received exemption. Out of one-and-a-half crore, at most 80-85 lakh will be salaried or employed. Out of these, 50 lakh people have salaries of around Rs 12 lakh. So how many are left? At most 60 lakh. That means the new tax system will benefit only about 50 lakh people, but the drums are being played in such a way that 45 crore people will benefit,” it taunts.

“The Modi government had earlier brought a women-centric budget, but the majority of women in the country are still standing in queues for free ration and if ‘beloved sisters’ are being made happy by offering them Rs 1,000-1,500 per month in states like Goa, Maharashtra, Jharkhand and Madhya Pradesh, what can be termed development of women?

“Modi government had presented a farmer-oriented budget, but farmers have been going on hunger strike and agitation to get the minimum support price for their produce and even today farmers are on hunger strike in Punjab and Haryana.

“Modi government brought an employment-centric budget and PM had promised to provide two crore jobs a year. In reality, there is a job shortage in BJP ruled states.

“Competitive exam papers are being sold in the market. The unemployed have taken to the streets to protest in various states and police are lathi-charging the unemployed,” it said.

“The Centre has now presented a meandering budget that provides relief to the middle class. Therefore, the middle class should be careful. These people are skilled at cutting throats with a knife by putting honey on it,” it reiterates.

“Due to inflation and unemployment, people do not have money to spend. So how will purchasing power increase? It seems that special provisions have been made for Bihar in this budget, but Bihar leaders do not accept this claim.

“Even today, most people from Bihar go to other states for jobs. This is a result of the serious employment problem in Bihar. In terms of development and money, other states are not getting the same treatment that Gujarat is currently getting.

“Speaking about Bihar, since supporting PM Modi, Bihar received a financial package of Rs 60,000 crore in a year, but not even Rs 60 crore of this was spent on development, so what happened to that Rs 60,000 crore? Where did this money go?

“Ever since President Trump came to power again in the US, he has been trying to create an economic crisis in India. The Trump administration is adamant on sending back 1.7 million Indians from the US, which is threatening to create a bubble in the Indian economy,” the editorial stated.

New Delhi: Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi on Monday targeted the Narendra Modi government over the issue of unemployment. Gandhi also blamed the previous Congress-led United progressive Alliance (UPA) governments for not being able to tackle the problem of unemployment.

Gandhi stated that so far no government has been able to provide answers to youth. “Even though we have grown, we’ve grown fast, growing slightly slower now but we are growing. A universal problem that we have faced is that we have not been able to tackle the problem of unemployment. Neither the UPA govt nor today’s NDA government has given a clear-cut answer to the youth of this country about employment,” the Congress Mp said.

The Congress leader praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for proposing the “Make In India” initiative. However, he lashed out at the Centre for not being able to generate employment from the initiative. “PM Narendra Modi tried and conceptually ‘Make in India’ was a good idea but it is clear that he failed,” the Congress MP said.

“The Prime Minister proposed ‘Make in India’, a good initiative. We saw the statues, functions, and the so-called investors, and the result is right in front of me today. Manufacturing fell from 15.3 per cent of GDP in 2014 to 12.6 per cent of GDP today i.e. the lowest share of manufacturing in 60 years,” he stated in the Lok Sabha.

He alleged that the Modi government failed to organise production and “handed it over to the Chinese”. Gandhi claimed the reason China is sitting inside this country is because ‘Make in India’ has failed and India is refusing to produce. “I am worried that India is going to give up this revolution to the Chinese once again,” he said.

Gandhi On President’s Address:

While participating in a debate on the Motion of Thanks on the President’s address, said the address of the President to the two Houses was similar to the one made last year, and claimed that it was the same “laundry list” of things the government has done.