Advani elected leader of opposition

Veteran Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani was Sunday formally elected as leader of opposition in the Lok Sabha.

A meeting of the BJP MPs here also discussed probable names for the deputy leader's post, besides the party's strategy for the first session of the house beginning Monday though details were not disclosed.

Party stalwarts Jaswant Singh (Lok Sabha) and M Venkaiah Naidu (Rajya Sabha) proposed Advani's name and he was unanimously elected.

Elected from the Gandhinagar constituency in Gujarat for the fourth time in a row, Advani, 81, was leader of opposition in the previous Lok Sabha too. He has been an MP six times.

The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha begins Monday with the swearing in of new members. The speaker will be elected June 3, and President Pratibha Patil will address a joint session of both houses June 4.

Meira Kumar resigns as Union minister

Meira Kumar tonight resigned as Union Water Resources Minister just two days after taking charge after she was chosen by the Congress as the party candidate for the post of Speaker of the Lok Sabha.

Meira's resignation was immediately forwarded by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to President Pratibha Patil for acceptance.

President Pratibha Patil accepted the resignation of the first woman to hold the post of the Lok Sabha Speaker, according to a Rashtrapati Bhavan spokesperson tonight. The prime minister will be holding the Water Resources portfolio till alternative arrangements are made.

15th Lok Sabha - First session on June 1st

The first session of the 15th Lok Sabha begins tomorrow. The session will begin with the formal swearing-in of the 543 newly elected MPs. Two days have been earmarked for the procedure that will be followed by the election of the Lok Sabha speaker on Wednesday and President Pratibha Patil's address to a joint session of Parliament on Thursday.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's full cabinet met on Saturday and finalised the President's address to the Parliament. It is expected to focus on his government's moves to strengthen welfare schemes and boost the economy.

The President's address, extensively worked on by Manmohan Singh himself, will unveil the government's agenda for the year in tune with the policies and programmes of the Congress party and its allies.

Indian Elections - Electorate Size - Statewise (2009)

Indian Elections - Electorate Size - Statewise (2009) - 15th Lok Sabha Elections

S.No	State/UT	Men	Women	Total	Men	Women	TOTAL	Final total[*]
1	Andhra Pradesh	28009935	28642117	56652052	28390	7455	35845		56687897
2	A & N Islands	140295	123876	264171	45	16	61		264232
3	Arunachal Pradesh	366777	362700	729477	1043	315	1358	730835
4	Assam	9025516	8443442	17468958	18025	7319	25344	17494302
5	Bihar	29094083	25210125	54304208	NA	NA	46558	54350766
6	Chandigarh	268455	215527	483982	997	797	1794	485776
7	Chhattisgarh	7855358	7633215	15488573	3396	1812	5208	15493781
8	Dadra & Nagar Haveli	83085	71087	154172	12	8	20	154192
9	Daman & Diu	47916	46564	94480	8	2	10	94490
10	Goa	510962	507106	1018068	555	253	808	1018876
11	Gujarat	18829327	17545383	36374710	12621	4425	17046	36391756
12	Haryana	6520234	5453791	11974025	58038	31194	89232	12063257
13	Himachal Pradesh	2301113	2239959	4541072	45559	16751	62310	4603382
14	Jammu & Kashmir [#]	3358992	3113856	6472848	32229	6171	38400	6511248
15	Jharkhand	9432070	8452406	17884476	7388	1975	9363	17893839
16	Karnataka	20869160	20082939	40952099	NA	NA	32587	40984686
17	Kerala	10362219	11197224	21559443	38059	17191	55250	21614693
18	Lakshadweep	22559	21818	44377	38	9	47	44424
19	Madhya Pradesh	20160641	17878303	38038944	15479	7691	23170	38062114
20	Maharashthra	38086171	34777093	72863264	NA	NA	189168	73052432
21	Manipur	829717	897523	1727240	6978	1764	8742	1735982
22	Meghalaya	628925	648087	1277012	626	241	867	1277879
23	Mizoram	308547	317700	626247	2458	450	2908	629155
24	Nagaland	673083	644642	1317725	3616	440	4056	1321781
25	Nct Of Delhi	6168350	4896156	11064506	3036	1603	4639	11069145
26	Orissa	14029641	13087850	27117491	21065	9467	30532	27148023
27	Puducherry	363898	391605	755503	269	117	386	755889
28	Punjab	8738479	8076765	16815244	47897	17153	65050	16880294
29	Rajasthan	19442595	17485846	36928441	60784	29232	90016	37018457
30	Sikkim	155649	141931	297580	352	70	422	298002
31	Tamil Nadu	20721440	20598546	41319986	43689	16468	60157	41380143
32	Tripura	1063983	1015827	2079810	1764	632	2396	2082206
33	Uttarakhand	2933387	2797890	5731277	62378	27645	90023	5821300
34	Uttar Pradesh	63433023	52756360	116189383	NA	NA	234718	116424101
35	West Bengal	27488528	24874147	52362675	41871	17070	58941	52421616
	TOTAL[*]	372324113	340649406	712973519	558665	225736	784401	714260951

Source: www.pib.nic.in

# Provisional Figures

* Figures with reference to 01.01.2009 as the qualifying date. However, the process of continuous updating of electoral rolls will continue till the last date of filing nominations.

13 Rajya Sabha seats to be vacated following LS poll results

With the election results out, 13 Rajya Sabha seats will be vacated as the members holding them have been elected to the 15th Lok Sabha.

The maximum number of seats are likely to be vacated by the BJP whose six MPs from the Upper House have won the Lok Sabha elections.

Leader of the party in the Rajya Sabha Jaswant Singh has won from Darjeeling, Murli Manohar Joshi from Varanasi, Sushma Swaraj from Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh, Yashwant Sinha from Hazaribag in Jharkhand, Dileep Singh Judev from Bilaspur in Chattisgarh and Narendra Singh Tomar from Muraina in Madhya Pradesh.

Source: The Hindu

15th Lok Sabha - Lowest margin Winner

Namo Narain Meena of Congress Party win by a meagre margin of 317 votes - the minimum in the 15th Lok Sabha elections. Sh. Meena defeated his nearest rival Kirori Singh Bainsala who led the Gurjar agitation in Rajasthan before joining and contesting elections on a BJP ticket.

Among the prominent leaders who won their respective constituencies by a narrow margin includes former Home Minister P Chidambaram who won by 3,354 votes, M K Raghavan who won the Kozhikode seat by mere 838 votes, Takum Sanjoy of Congress by 1,314, and M B Rajesh of CPI(M) won the Palakkad seat by just 1,820 votes.

15th Lok Sabha - Nagaland's MP wins by highest margin

Nagaland People's Front leader C M Chang won the Nagaland parliamentary seat by the highest margin in 15th Lok Sabha elections by over 4.83 lakh votes, defeating his nearest rival K Asungba Sangtam of Congress.

Leaders who won with the maximum margin include Congress' Deepender Hooda (4.45 lakh), Sonia Gandhi (3.72 lakh), Rahul Gandhi (3.70 lakh), NCP's Sharad Pawar (3.14 lakh), BJP's Sushma Swaraj (3.89 lakh), Jaswant Singh (2.53 lakh) and CPI(M)'s Baju Ban Riyan (2.92 lakh) votes. Former Prime Minister H D Devegowda won the Hasan seat by a margin of 2.91 lakh votes.

15th Lok Sabha - MPs with criminal background

There are 150 newly elected MPs with criminal cases pending against them. Out of these, there are 73 MP's having serious charges against them. Here is the high level summary of the new 15th lok sabha:

• Affidavits available for MPs - 533 
  
• MPs with criminal charges - 150 (28.14 %) 
  
• MPs with serious criminal charges - 72 (13.51 %) 
  
• Total criminal cases against MPs - 412 
  
• Total serious IPC sections against MPs - 213

As compared to 2004, the no of MPs with criminal records has gone up. There were 128 MPs with criminal casesin 2004 Lok Sabha out of which 55 had serious criminal records. There is an increase of about 17.2% in MPs withcriminal records and 30.9% increase in the number of MPs with serious criminal records.

The maximum criminal charges are against INC’s Gujarat’s MP VITTHALBHAI HANSRAJBHAI RADADIYA.He has a total of 16 cases out of which 5 cases are of serious nature. The maximum no of serious IPC charges areagainst Jagdis Sharma of JD(U) from Jahanabad, Bihar.

Source: National Election Watch (NEW)

Families in 15th Lok Sabha

Following are some of Families in 15th Lok Sabha:

1. Smt. Sonia Gandhi (Rae Bareli) & son Sh. Rahul Gandhi (Amethi) - Congress
2. Smt. Menaka Gandhi (Aonla) & son Sh. Varun Gandhi (Pilibhit) - BJP
3. Sh. Mulayam Singh Yadav (Mainpuri) & son Sh. Akhilesh Yadav (Kannauj) - Samajwadi Party
4. Sh. Ajit Singh (Baghpat) & son Sh. Jayant Chaudhary (Mathura)
5. Sh. Sharad Pawar (Madha) & daughter Supriya Sule (Baramati) - NCP

59 Women MPs elected in 15th Lok Sabha

A record 59 women were elected to the 15th Lok Sabha, with a majority of 23 belonging to the Congress party alone, the Election Commission said on Monday. In all, 556 women had contested the 2009 general elections. In the 2004 polls, 355 women contested the elections of whom 45 won. In 1999, 284 women had contested the elections and 49 were elected.

Party wise election of Woman Candidates in 15th Lok Sabha are as under:

Congress (INC) - 23
Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) - 13
All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) - 4
Samajwadi Party (SP) - 4
Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) - 4
Janata Dal-United (JD-U) - 2
Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) - 2
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) - 2
Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) - 1
Rashtriya Lok Dal (RLD) - 1
Shiv Sena (SS) - 1
DMK - 1
Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) - 1

State wise election of Woman Candidates in 15th Lok Sabha are as under:

Uttar Pradesh - 13
West Bengal - 7
Madhya Pradesh - 6
Andhra Pradesh - 5
Gujarat - 5
Bihar - 4
Punjab - 4
Haryana - 1

EC submits list of MPs to President; 15th Lok Sabha formed

The new LS has been constituted as the full Election Commission called on President Pratibha Patil and submitted to her the list of new members elected to the Lower House. Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla later told reporters: “We met the President and gave the formal list of all elected representatives to the 15 LS. With this, the constitution of the LS is completed.”

CEC Navin Chawla handed over President Pratibha Patil a copy of the notification containing the names of the members elected to the 15th Lok Sabha. Election Commissioners SY Quraishi and VS Sompath was also present during the event in New Delhi on Monday.

Photo Courtesy: PTI

Lal Krishan Advani to continue as Leader of Opposition - Rajnath

Lal Krishan Advani, the outgoing Leader of Opposition in the 14th Lok Sabha will return to the same bench in the 15th Lok Sabha too. LK Advani has “agreed” to continue as Leader of Opposition in Parliament, announced BJP President Rajnath Singh after a prolonged meeting of senior leaders of the party, held at his residence here today.

He said, "When Advani was informed that the party needed his leadership and guidance to rebuild itself to meet the challenges of the future, as it suffered a setback in the Lok Sabha elections, he agreed not to press his request," Singh added.