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☆ Rahul Gandhi to appeal jail sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-02 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MUMBAI, April 2 (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi will appeal a two-year jail sentence in a defamation case brought against him by lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), local media reported on Sunday. A lower court sentenced Gandhi on March 23 for two years in jail on charges of defamation. The opposition critics accuse Modi government of giving undue favours to a business group led by billionaire tycoon Adani. Shares of Adani group companies plunged after Hindenburg Research on Jan. 24 alleged that the Indian company had engaged in stock manipulation and used tax havens. A day after Gandhi's conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the Supreme Court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies.

The opposition has come together after this month's conviction of opposition leader Rahul Gandhi of the Congress party on a charge of defamation and his disqualification from parliament. Opposition politicians say Gandhi's shock disqualification, and possible jail time, is the latest evidence of the Modi government's strongarm tactics and follows investigations and legal troubles faced in recent months by other opposition parties. A day after Gandhi's conviction, 14 political parties jointly petitioned the Supreme Court, saying opposition groups were being selectively targeted by federal investigative agencies. "The Modi government's fascist steps have given a new chance for opposition parties to be united," Trinamool MP Sukhendu Sekhar Roy, told Reuters. "Anti Modi-ism or anti BJP-ism cannot be the glue that brings together disparate opposition parties with different aspirations and ambitions and positions," said Nalin Kohli, the BJP's national spokesperson.

☆ YouTube Looking Into Gandhi’s Claim Political Videos in India Suppressed
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Newley Purnell | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Two videos criticizing India’s government are alleged to be receiving far fewer views than YouTube analytics suggest they should. YouTube’s chief executive said in an email that the company is looking into a claim by Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi that the Alphabet Inc. unit is suppressing his videos criticizing India’s ruling party and a billionaire who controls a conglomerate accused of wide-ranging fraud. The March 25 email from YouTube’s Neal Mohan , which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, came in response to a letter sent two weeks earlier from the leader of a group of overseas Indians who support Mr. Gandhi’s Congress party.

☆ India's disqualified Gandhi says he will not stop asking Modi questions
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-25 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

NEW DELHI, March 25 (Reuters) - Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi said on Saturday he had been disqualified from parliament because he has been asking the prime minister tough questions about his relationship with Gautam Adani, founder of the embattled Adani conglomerate. Gandhi, who represented India’s main opposition Congress party in parliament, lost his seat on Friday, a day after a court in the western state of Gujarat convicted him in a defamation case and sentenced him to two years in jail. The defamation case was filed in connection with comments Gandhi made in a speech that many deemed insulting to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. India's next general election is due by mid-2024 and Gandhi has recently been trying to revive the fortunes of his party. Modi’s enormous popularity remains intact despite the accusations of undue favours to the Adani group, approval ratings have shown.

☆ Indian Opposition Leader Rahul Gandhi Expelled From Parliament
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Rajesh Roy | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi, in white shirt and beard, leaves Parliament in New Delhi on Friday. NEW DELHI—India’s Parliament disqualified opposition leader Rahul Gandhi as a lawmaker on Friday after a lower court convicted and sentenced him to two years in prison in a defamation case linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s surname. The move casts a shadow over Mr. Gandhi’s political future as elections approach next year. His Congress party plans to appeal the conviction soon, according to party leaders. If the appeal is accepted, Mr. Gandhi would be able to retake his seat in the legislature.

☆ India's Congress party to launch street protests against Gandhi's conviction
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( Rupam Jain | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/5] Supporters of the Youth Congress Party hold placards during a silent protest against the conviction of Rahul Gandhi, President of India's main opposition Congress party, in a 2019 Defamation case by a Surat court, on a street in Mumbai, India, March 23, 2023. REUTERS/Francis MascarenhasNEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - Members of India's main opposition Congress party will take to the streets on Friday to protest against leader Rahul Gandhi's conviction for defamation, party officials said a day after a magistrate's court sentenced Gandhi to a two-year jail term. Two senior Congress leaders told Reuters that Gandhi will respect the local court's verdict and will not attend parliament. Officials in the Congress party said they are also depending on regional opposition parties to galvanize political support against the verdict. The president's office confirmed that Congress leaders have sought a meeting with President Draupadi Murmu to lodge a protest against the conviction with the top constitutional executive.

☆ India's parliament disqualifies opposition leader Rahul Gandhi
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

NEW DELHI, March 24 (Reuters) - India's parliament on Friday disqualified opposition Congress party leader Rahul Gandhi as a lawmaker after a lower court found him guilty of defamation and sentenced him to two years in prison, according to a parliament notice. Gandhi, 52, a scion of the Nehru-Gandhi political dynasty, was convicted on Thursday for a 2019 speech in which he referred to thieves as having the surname Modi. The court granted him bail immediately and suspended the sentence for a month. Reporting by Shivam Patel; Editing by Andrew CawthorneOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Yet he remains at the centre of India's opposition politics and the main target of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Hindu- nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Gandhi entered politics and was first elected to parliament in 2004 from his family borough of Amethi in the northern heartland state of Uttar Pradesh. He repeated that victory in 2009 and 2014 but suffered a shock setback in 2019 when he lost the seat. However, he had also contested a seat in the Kerala state and won there to return to parliament. Outside parliament, he has often reminded his supporters of his family's commitment and sacrifices, talking about the assassinations of his grandmother, then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and his former prime minister father, Rajiv Gandhi.

☆ Indian court convicts Rahul Gandhi of defamation, gives two-year sentence
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Gandhi was present at the court in Surat, a city in Gujarat, which is Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state. Gandhi would appeal against the verdict in a higher court, the president of his Congress party said on Twitter, calling Modi's government "cowardly and dictatorial". "The court has found Rahul Gandhi’s comment to be defamatory. Gandhi said in court that he had made the comment to highlight corruption and not against any community. Reporting by Sumit Khanna in Ahmedabad, writing by Shilpa Jamkhandikar; Editing by Raju GopalakrishnanOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Why Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi may lose his parliament seat
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-23 | by ( Arpan Chaturvedi | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

A formal disqualification order will, however, have to be passed by the secretariat of the lower house of parliament of which Gandhi is a member. CAN GANDHI CONTEST ELECTIONS? The law also mandates that a convicted lawmaker cannot contest elections for six years after the end of their jail sentence. To avoid disqualification, a convicted lawmaker has to secure an order from a higher court suspending the conviction, lawyers said. He can secure bail extensions during the appeal period but cannot contest elections until the conviction is stayed or he is acquitted in the case.

☆ Nepal’s Dahal set to face parliamentary confidence vote
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-20 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KATHMANDU, March 20 (Reuters) - Nepal’s Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal was set to face a vote of confidence in parliament on Monday after his old coalition allies pulled out of the government over the choice of a new president, one of his aides said. Paudel has since been elected as the third president of the republic of 30 million people nestled between China and India. It is mandatory for the prime minister to face a vote of confidence in parliament after any ally withdraws support. Manahari Timilsina, an aide to Dahal, said the leader had the support of 10 groups and was expected to win the vote in the 275-member parliament. Nepal has had 11 governments since it abolished its 239-year-old monarchy in 2008 and became a republic.

☆ Fact Check-Video circulated alongside claim of vote rigging in Nigeria is from at least 2015
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Reuters Fact Check | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Social media users sharing the clip present it as if it relates to Nigeria’s most recent vote, held on Feb. 25 (bit.ly/3Z6SPIQ). One account posting the video here wrote: “INEC Staff Seen On Camera Rigging The Presidential Election In Favour Of APC.” APC refers to the ruling All Progressives Congress party. However, the video is old and does not relate to events associated with the 2023 election. The 2023 presidential election has been disputed by opposition parties and the public as votes have been tallied (here and here). Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts here .

☆ Partial results of disputed Nigeria election show Tinubu in lead
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

LAGOS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Provisional results from Nigeria's disputed presidential election over the weekend showed Bola Tinubu from the ruling party in the lead, a Reuters tally of votes in 25 of the country's 36 states showed on Tuesday. Electoral commission results from the states showed Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress party (APC) was ahead with about 36% or 7 million of valid votes counted, with Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) trailing close behind with 30% or nearly 6 million valid votes. Peter Obi of the smaller Labour Party got 20% or about 3.8 million votes. More results were expected to show the winner later on Tuesday. INEC had promised to upload results directly from each polling unit to its website in the election to replace outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari, but most were unable to do so immediately.

☆ Nigeria's Tinubu has unassailable lead in provisional election results - Reuters tally
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LAGOS, Feb 28 (Reuters) - Nigeria's ruling party candidate Bola Tinubu has an unassailable lead in the presidential election held over the weekend, a Reuters tally of provisional results from all 36 states and the federal capital Abuja showed on Tuesday. Tinubu of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC) of outgoing president Muhammadu Buhari got about 35% of the vote, trailed by Atiku Abubakar of the main opposition People's Democratic Party (PDP) with 30%. Peter Obi of the Labour Party, an outsider popular with the youth and educated voters, got 26%. Tinubu's potential victory extends the All Progressives Congress party's (APC) grip on power in Africa's top oil producer and most populous nation, though he inherits a litany of problems from outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari. Reporting by Hamza Ibrahim in Kano, Ahmed Kingimi in Maiduguri, Anamesere Igboeroteonwu in Onitsha Tife Owolabi in Yenagoa, Tim Cocks and Macdonald Dzirutwe in Lagos; Writing by Tim CocksOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Communist rift plunges Nepal's ruling coalition into crisis
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Splits within Nepal's communist-dominated ruling coalition plunged the Himalayan nation into crisis on Monday as a Marxist-Leninist party said it would withdraw support after the Maoist prime minister backed an opposition candidate for the presidency. Current prime minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal, a former Maoist guerrilla leader in the mountainous nation sandwiched between China and India, has held the post three times. Last week, Prachanda infuriated the UML by pledging support for the opposition Nepali Congress party's presidential candidate, Ram Chandra Paudel. Prachanda had earlier agreed to support a UML candidate for the presidency, according to politicians in the coalition. Four ministers, including a deputy prime minister from another party, also quit the government over the weekend due to the same issue.

☆ Nigeria's Peter Obi wins in Lagos state in presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-27 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

LAGOS, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Nigerian presidential candidate Peter Obi, whose campaign attracted young people and urban voters fed up with corrupt politics, won most votes in the commercial hub of Lagos state, where Africa's biggest city is located. Nigeria's electoral commission began announcing state-by-state results in the national elections on Sunday, though it is not expected to name a victor in the race to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari for several days. Obi of the Labour Party got 582,454 votes, just ahead of 572,606 for former Lagos governor Bola Tinubu for the governing All Progressives Congress party, electoral commission data showed on Monday. He was most popular with the youth, but especially urban, relatively educated voters with access to smartphones and social media. Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Hugh LawsonOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Factbox: Results so far from Nigeria's presidential election
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: 1 min

LAGOS, Feb 26 (Reuters) - Nigeria's electoral commission has announced the following results following the country's presidential election, with the final tally expected within five days of the close of voting on Sunday. Below are tallies for the top three candidates - Bola Tinubu from the All Progressives Congress party (APC), main opposition leader Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party's (LP) Peter Obi. EKITI STATEBola Tinubu (APC) 201,494Atiku Abubakar (PDP) 89,554Peter Obi (LP) 11,397Reporting by MacDonald Dzirutwe and Tim Cocks; Editing by Jan HarveyOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Nepal's ruling coalition in turmoil as deputy PM and 3 other ministers quit
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Gopal Sharma | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KATHMANDU, Feb 25 (Reuters) - Nepal's ruling coalition was in turmoil on Saturday after the prime minister said he planned to support a presidential candidate from an opposition party, a decision that prompted the deputy prime minister and three other ministers to resign. But they said the turmoil could lead a new coalition being formed. He did not give a reason for his decision, though the Nepali Congress party is a former ally of Prachanda's Maoist Centre party. On Saturday, Rajendra Lingden, the deputy prime minister who was also minister for energy, water resources and irrigation, resigned in protest, along with the ministers for urban development and legal matters, while a junior minister assisting Lingden also quit. Prachanda's office confirmed the four ministers had resigned but did not say whether the resignations had been accepted.

☆ BBC won’t be ‘put off’ covering India by tax raids and censorship
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Hanna Ziady | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

London CNN —The BBC says it will not be “put off” from reporting in India after the government prevented a documentary critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi from airing in the country and raided the broadcaster’s offices. Indian tax authorities spent three days searching BBC offices in Delhi and Mumbai last week. We won’t be put off from that task”Davie added that the BBC “does not have an agenda.”Indian authorities have accused the BBC of tax evasion. Modi was accused of not doing enough to stop the violence, which killed more than 1,000 people, mostly Muslims. — Swati Gupta and Manveena Suri in New Delhi, Olesya Dmitracova and Martin Goillandeau in London, and Alex Stambaugh in Hong Kong contributed reporting.

Adani argued the plants were "unviable" at the trucking rates it wanted to slash by around half. Truckers rejoiced, with a union leader in a street address labelling it as a victory after late-night talks with Adani. After the Hindenburg report, Congress has renewed its claims that Modi for years has unduly favoured Adani. The Adani group wanted freight rates to be lowered to around 6 rupees ($0.0725) per tonne per km, from around 11 rupees. "The Hindenburg report was a gift that saved our businesses."

"There are countries that have long-standing, decades-long relationships with Russia, with the Soviet Union before, that are challenging to break off in one fell swoop. New Delhi has thus far resisted that pressure, citing its longstanding ties with Russia and its economic and oil needs. Russia has been India's largest weapons supplier since the Soviet Union days. "India for decades had Russia at the core of providing military equipment to it and its defenses, but what we’ve seen over the last few years is a trajectory away from relying on Russia and moving into partnership with us and other countries," Blinken said. Blinken also added that he understood the reasons for South Africa's ties with Russia while acknowledging regret for Washington's "sympathetic" approach to the apartheid-era regime in South Africa.

☆ 'Unpredictable' election in Africa's largest economy is set to resonate around the world
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Elliot Smith | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +8 min

After 24 years of uninterrupted democracy since ending military dictatorship in 1999, Africa's most populous nation and largest economy is conducting its seventh election. Muhammadu Buhari, Nigeria's president, speaks during the U.S.-Africa Business Forum in New York. Leena Koni Hoffmann, associate fellow of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, told CNBC on Monday that the presidential election will be the "most unpredictable" since the transition to civilian rule. Alongside the Covid-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine, Koni Hoffmann noted "missed opportunities" and "self-inflicted crises" under Buhari's regime. Economists panned the decision, which Koni Hoffmann suggested rendered Nigeria and its neighbors more vulnerable to the damage of the pandemic.

Some staff members were asked to remain at the offices overnight on Tuesday, the BBC said. But the offices are now open for people to enter and leave as needed. A special investigation team appointed by India’s Supreme Court in 2012 found no evidence to suggest he was to blame. India’s main opposition Congress party described the ongoing tax searches at the BBC offices as a “brazen attack” on India’s free press. The raids raised fears of censorship in India, with several media organizations issuing statements condemning the government’s actions.

☆ Adani's fall reignites scrutiny of billionaire's close ties with Modi
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-16 | by ( Sumathi Bala | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +7 min

Ashok Swain Uppsala UniversityHindenburg's report has further sharpened the focus on the billionaire mogul's close ties with Modi. After Modi became prime minister, Adani continued to benefit from the relationship but on a much larger scale, said Swain. In his address to parliament last week, the prime minister seemed unfazed by the opposition's criticism and made no mention of Adani. "And you can never breach this safety shield with the weapons of abuse and lies," he said, as opposition lawmakers chanted "Adani, Adani." "Prime Minister Modi and I are from the same state.

☆ India, soon world's most populous nation, doesn't know how many people it has
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Students come out after appearing in the Bihar Board class 10th examination at Bankipur Girl's High School on Feb. 14, 2023 in Patna, India. Santosh Kumar | Hindustan Times | Getty ImagesIn two months, India is projected to become the world's most populous country with over 1.4 billion people. "In the absence of latest census data, the estimations are based on data that is one decade old and is likely to provide estimates that are far from reality," Sharma said. The office of the Registrar General of India, which is responsible for the census, did not respond to a request for comment. Teachers' travailsThe United Nations has projected India's population could touch 1,425,775,850 on April 14, overtaking China on that day.

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