Congress leader Rahul Gandhi
| Photo Credit: PTI

Infosys, Biocon, JSW Steel, Shahi Exports donated to JD(S) via electoral bonds

On March 17, the Election Commission of India disclosed new documents listing the corporations and individuals who contributed to the Janata Dal (Secular) party in Karnataka before April 12, 2019, via the electoral bond route. The documents reveal that these donors contributed a total of ₹48.75 crore to the party through electoral bonds from March 8, 2018, to April 5, 2019.

Modi can’t win polls without EVMs, ED, CBI: Rahul Gandhi

Launching a fierce criticism against the Narendra Modi government, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Sunday said the battle transcended mere political rivalry, focusing instead on what he termed the encroachment of power, referring to it as “shakti”.

Electoral bonds | Biggest beneficiaries claim inability to reveal donor names

Most large recipients of funding via electoral bonds, including the Bharatiya Janata Party, the Congress, and the Trinamool Congress have not shared any details about their donors, in submissions made to the Election Commission of India (ECI) under the direction of the Supreme Court in May 2019 and November 2023.

BJP did not maintain names, particulars of electoral bond donors

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), in its letter to the Election Commission (EC) sharing other details of the donations received via electoral bonds till September 2023, had not disclosed the names of donors, pointing out that those particulars were not maintained as it was not required under the then existing legal provisions.

Mahadev App case | Former Chhattisgarh CM Baghel says move aimed at influencing Lok Sabha polls

Former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister and senior Congress leader Bhupesh Baghel has been named in a first information report (FIR) registered by the State’s Economic Offences Wing (EOW) in connection with the alleged Mahadev app online betting scam, officials said on March 17. 

Indian Navy’s 40-hour operation | Pirates shot down Navy’s drone, Marine Commandos airdropped

As destroyer INS Kolkata intercepted merchant vessel-turned pirate vessel Ruen in the morning of March 15 and confirmed the presence of armed pirates through a ship-launched drone, the drone was shot down, the Navy said on Sunday, sharing details on the over 40-hour operation that resulted in the surrender of 35 pirates and freeing of 17 crew of the hijacked vessel. An Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 transport aircraft executed a precision airborne drop of two Combat Rubberised Raiding Craft (CRRC) boats in a 10 hour round trip mission to an area 2600 km away from the Indian coast.

In Northeast, only Sikkim parties received funds through electoral bonds

Only two parties from the North-East – both from Sikkim – received funds through the electoral bonds scheme introduced in 2018, two data sets five years apart uploaded by the Election Commission of India (ECI) revealed. According to the data shared by the State Bank of India (SBI) last week, the Sikkim Democratic Front (SDF), which ruled the Himalayan State from December 1994 to May 2019, received ₹5.5 crore via bonds between April 2019 and February 2024.

Putin is poised to rule Russia for 6 more years after an election with no other real choices

Russian President Vladimir Putin is poised to extend nearly a quarter century of rule for six more years on Sunday after wrapping up an election that gave voters no real alternatives to an autocrat who has ruthlessly cracked down on dissent.

US military operations across the Sahel are at risk after Niger ends cooperation

The United States scrambled on March 17 to assess the future of its counterterrorism operations in the Sahel after Niger’s junta said it was ending its years-long military cooperation with Washington following a visit by top U.S. officials. The U.S. military has hundreds of troops stationed at a major airbase in northern Niger that deploys flights over the vast Sahel region — south of the Sahara Desert — where jihadi groups linked to al-Qaida and the Islamic State group operate.

Israeli PM Netanyahu vows to invade Gaza’s Rafah despite world ‘pressure’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed on March 17 to send ground forces into Gaza’s southern Rafah city despite growing international concern over the fate of Palestinian civilians sheltering there. Mr. Netanyahu, whose security and war Cabinets were later due to discuss latest international efforts towards a truce deal, stressed that “no amount of international pressure will stop us from realising all the goals of the war”.

RCB end 16-year wait for title; beat DC by 8 wickets to grab WPL title

A spirited women’s team washed away Royal Challengers Bangalore’s 16 years of hurt and disappointment, landing their maiden title which came through an eight-wicket win over Delhi Capitals in front of a cheering full house in the Women’s Premier League final here on Sunday.

Ashwin didn’t allow challenges to check his progress: Kumble

Ravichandran Ashwin’s entry into the 500-wicket club has delighted the legendary Anil Kumble who said the off-spinner’s immense success over the last decade stems from his desire to learn and ability to rise above constant challenges. At 516 wickets currently, Ashwin is the second highest wicket-taker in Tests for India behind Kumble (619), and the former India leg-spinner wasn’t one bit surprised.

In this photo released by Official news Channel of the Administration of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky Urban District, A woman casts a ballot at a polling station during a presidential election in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the capital of Kamchatka Peninsula region, 6 797 km (4248 miles) east of Moscow, Russia, on March 15, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AP

Voters headed to the polls in Russia on March 15 for a three-day presidential election that is all but certain to extend President Vladimir Putin’s rule by six more years after he stifled dissent.

The election takes place against the backdrop of a ruthless crackdown that has crippled independent media and prominent rights groups and given Mr. Putin full control of the political system.

It also comes as Moscow’s war in Ukraine enters its third year. Russia has the advantage on the battlefield, where it is making small, if slow, gains. Ukraine, meanwhile, has made Moscow look vulnerable behind the front line: Long-range drone attacks have struck deep inside Russia, while high-tech drones have put its Black Sea fleet on the defensive.

Voters will cast their ballots Friday through Sunday at polling stations across the vast country’s 11 time zones, as well as in illegally annexed regions of Ukraine. The first polling stations opened in Russia’s easternmost regions, Chukotka and Kamchatka, at 8 a.m. local time.

The election holds little suspense since Mr. Putin (71) is running for his fifth term virtually unchallenged. His political opponents are either in jail or in exile abroad, and the fiercest of them, Alexei Navalny, died in a remote Arctic penal colony recently. The three other candidates on the ballot are low-profile politicians from token opposition parties that toe the Kremlin’s line.

Observers have little to no expectation that the election will be free and fair. Beyond the fact that voters have been presented with little choice, the possibilities for independent monitoring are very limited.

Only registered candidates or state-backed advisory bodies can assign observers to polling stations, decreasing the likelihood of independent watchdogs. With balloting over three days in nearly 1,00,000 polling stations in the country, any true monitoring is difficult anyway.

“The elections in Russia as a whole are a sham. The Kremlin controls who’s on the ballot. The Kremlin controls how they can campaign. To say nothing of being able to control every aspect of the voting and the vote-counting process,” said Sam Greene, director for Democratic Resilience at the Center for European Policy Analysis in Washington.

Ukraine and the West have also condemned Russia for holding the vote in Ukrainian regions that Moscow’s forces have seized and occupied.

In many ways, Ukraine is at the heart of this election, political analysts and opposition figures say. They say Mr. Putin wants to use his all-but-assured electoral victory as evidence that the war and his handling of it enjoys widespread support. The opposition, meanwhile, hopes to use the vote to demonstrate their discontent with both the war and the Kremlin.

The Kremlin banned two politicians from the ballot who sought to run on an antiwar agenda and attracted genuine — albeit not overwhelming — support, thus depriving the voters of any choice on the “main issue of Russia’s political agenda,” said political analyst Abbas Gallyamov, who used to work as Putin’s speechwriter.

Russia’s scattered opposition has urged those unhappy with Putin or the war to show up at the polls at noon on Sunday, the final day of voting, in protest. The strategy was endorsed by Navalny not long before his death.

“We need to use election day to show that we exist and there are many of us, we are actual, living, real people and we are against Putin. … What to do next is up to you. You can vote for any candidate except Putin. You could ruin your ballot,” his widow, Yulia Navalnaya, said.

How well this strategy will work remains unclear.

Golos, Russia’s renowned independent election observer group, said in a report this week that authorities were “doing everything so that the people don’t notice the very fact of the election happening.”

The watchdog described the campaign ahead of the vote as “practically unnoticeable” and “the most vapid” since 2000, when Golos was founded and started monitoring elections in Russia.

Mr. Putin’s campaigning was cloaked in Presidential activities, and other candidates were “demonstrably passive,” the report said.

State media dedicated less airtime to the election than in 2018, when Putin was last elected, according to Golos. Instead of promoting the vote to ensure a desired turnout, authorities appear to be betting on pressuring voters they can control — for instance, Russians who work in state-run companies or institutions — to show up at the polls, the group said.

The watchdog itself has also been swept up in the crackdown: Its co-chair, Grigory Melkonyants, is in jail awaiting trial on charges widely seen as an attempt to pressure the group ahead of the election.

“The current elections will not be able to reflect the real mood of the people,” Golos said in the report. “The distance between citizens and decision-making about the fate of the country has become greater than ever.”

Thiruvananthapuram:

Russian citizens residing in Kerala cast their votes for the Russian presidential elections at the booth specifically arranged at the Honorary Consulate of the Russian Federation, Russian House, in Thiruvananthapuram.

Ratheesh Nair, Honorary Consul of Russia and Director of the Russian House in Thiruvananthapuram, said, that they arranged polling for the Russian presidential elections for the third time. He expressed gratitude to Russian citizens in Kerala for their cooperation in the polling process.

In an interview with ANI, Ratheesh Nair said, “This is the third time the Consulate of Russian Federation is hosting polling for the Russian presidential elections. This is actually for Russian nationalists staying here and also for the tourists. We are happy to associate with the Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation. I am very grateful to the Russian citizens in Kerala for their cooperation and enthusiasm to cast votes in the process of electing their new president.”

Sergey Azurov, Senior Consul General in Chennai, said, “We are organizing preliminary voting in the framework of presidential elections. We are here to provide an opportunity for the citizens of Russian federations living in India.”

Ulia, a Russian citizen, said fellow natives in Kerala are thankful to the Russian house and consulate general in India for providing them the opportunity to cast votes in the Presidential polls.

Speaking to ANI, Ulia said, “Everyone who came today is Russian citizens either residing permanently in India or are visiting tourists. Everybody is thankful and happy to come here and participate in the election, which is very important for every citizen. This is our responsibility. So, we are thankful to the Russian house and the consulate general in India from Chennai for providing this chance.”

Russia is all set to hold presidential elections from March 15-17. Russian citizens will vote from Friday until Sunday across the 11 time zones of the country. Russia’s Central Election Commission (CEC) approved only three candidates to oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin, CNN reported.

The three candidates standing against Putin are Leonid Slutsky of the Liberal Democratic Party, Vladislav Davankov of the New People Party and Nikolay Kharitonov of the Communist Party. All three men are thought to be satisfactorily pro-Kremlin and none is against Russia’s military action against Ukraine.

As the majority of opposition candidates are either dead, jailed, exiled, barred from running or simply token figures, a victory for Putin is all but guaranteed, according to a CNN report.

Putin’s reelection would extend his rule until at least 2030. Following constitutional changes in 2020, he would then be able to run again and potentially stay in power until 2036.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the country would be ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty was threatened. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Russia remains in a state of combat readiness and is fully ready for a nuclear war, but not “everything is rushing to it” at present, President Vladimir Putin said in remarks published on March 13.

In an interview with state media, Mr. Putin, who launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and is nearly certain to win the March 15 to 17 presidential election, said Russia would be ready to use nuclear weapons if its sovereignty was threatened. “From a military-technical point of view, we are, of course, ready,” Mr. Putin told Rossiya-1 television and news agency RIA in response to a question on whether the country was ready for a nuclear war.

He said the United States understands that if it deploys American troops on Russian territory — or to Ukraine — Russia would treat the move as an intervention. “(In the United States) there are enough specialists in the field of Russian-American relations and in the field of strategic restraint,” Mr. Putin said, adding, “Therefore, I don’t think that here everything is rushing to it (nuclear confrontation), but we are ready for this.”

Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine

Mr. Putin reiterated that the use of nuclear weapons was spelt out in the Kremlin’s nuclear doctrine, its policy setting out the circumstances in which Russia might use its weapons. “Weapons exist in order to use them,” Putin said. “We have our own principles.”

If the United States conducted nuclear tests, Russia might do the same, he added in the wide-ranging interview. “It’s not necessary … we still need to think about it, but I don’t rule out that we can do the same.”

However, Mr. Putin said Russia had never faced a need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, where the conflict has raged since February 2022. “Why do we need to use weapons of mass destruction? There has never been such a need.”