Cong chief Kharge to host dinner for INDIA bloc MPs on Monday
New Delhi (PTI): Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge will hold a dinner for INDIA bloc MPs on Monday, sources said amid a concerted bid by the opposition grouping to close ranks against the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and alleged poll rigging.
Opposition leaders and MPs would also take out a protest march on Monday from Parliament to the Election Commission office over the "poll fraud" issue.
The same day, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Kharge will host INDIA bloc MPs for dinner at the Hotel Taj Palace, Chanakyapuri, sources said.
This comes just days after, in a show of unity, top INDIA bloc leaders held a dinner meeting at the residence of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and vowed to fight against the electoral rolls' revision in Bihar as well as what they described as the "vote chori model" of the BJP-Election Commission.
This was the first physical meeting of top leaders of the opposition bloc since they last met in June 2024, soon after the Lok Sabha elections at Kharge's residence.
Several leaders from 25 parties were present at the meeting, which included Kharge, Sonia Gandhi, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, National Conference supremo Farooq Abdullah, PDP's Mehbooba Mufti, SP's Akhilesh Yadav, RJD's Tejashwi Yadav, TMC's Abhishek Banerjee, Shiv Sena(UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, DMK's Tiruchi Siva and T R Baalu, CPI(M)'s M A Baby, CPI's D Raja, CPI(ML)'s Dipankar Bhattacharya and MNM chief Kamal Haasan.
During the meeting, Rahul Gandhi gave a presentation on the "vote chori model" being allegedly perpetrated by the BJP through the Election Commission.
Gandhi explained the entire "game" of how the BJP and the Election Commission were "rigging" the elections, the Congress said.
"A united front against electoral manipulation! We are committed to protecting democracy and will save it from being destroyed at all costs," the Congress had said in a post on X later.
At a press conference earlier, Gandhi had made a presentation with explosive claims of a "huge criminal fraud" in polls through "collusion" between the BJP and the Election Commission.
"The way opposition parties have been united in Parliament in national interest and have cornered the government, the same unity was visible in the meeting as well," Congress' deputy leader in the Lok Sabha Gaurav Gogoi had said.
Opposition parties have been protesting against the SIR exercise underway in Bihar, stating that it would lead to disenfranchisement of many.
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HC questions Delhi govt over failure to regulate sale of old vehicles, refers to Red Fort blast
New Delhi (PTI): The Delhi High Court questioned the city government on Wednesday over its failure to regulate the sale and transfer of used vehicles, while pointing out that in a recent bomb blast near the Red Fort, a second-hand car was used, making the issue more significant.
A bench of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya and Justice Tushar Rao Gedela asked the Delhi government to file a detailed response on the issue of regulating authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
"A car changes four hands but the original owner has not changed. Therefore, what happens? That man (the original owner) goes to the slaughterhouse? What is this? How are you permitting this? You will take a call when two-three more bomb blasts take place?" the bench asked the Delhi government's counsel.
The bomb blast near the iconic Mughal-era monument was carried out using a second-hand car, making the issue even more significant, it said.
The court listed the matter for further hearing in January 2026.
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The court was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) plea filed by an organisation, Towards Happy Earth Foundation, highlighting the challenges in the implementation of rules 55A to 55H of the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, introduced in December 2022 to regulate authorised dealers of registered vehicles.
While the rules were intended to bring accountability to the second-hand vehicle market, the petitioner's counsel argued that they have failed in practice due to regulatory gaps and procedural hurdles.
The plea said there is a major gap in the amended framework, that is, the absence of any statutory mechanism for reporting dealer-to-dealer transfers.
"In reality, most used vehicles pass through multiple dealers before reaching the final buyer, but the rules recognise only the first transfer to the initial authorised dealer.
"As a result, the chain of custody breaks after the first step, defeating the very purpose of accountability," the petition said.
It added that because of these gaps, only a very small percentage of dealers across India have been able to obtain authorised dealer registration and in Delhi, not a single dealer has got it.
Consequently, lakhs of vehicles continue to circulate without any record of who is actually in possession of those, it said.
The plea said only a small fraction of India's estimated 30,000 to 40,000 used-vehicle dealers are registered under the authorised-dealer framework.
The petition also pointed out that the 11-year-old vehicle used in the November 10 bomb blast near the Red Fort was sold several times but was still registered in its original owner's name.
The blast near the Red Fort had claimed 15 lives.
