Voting

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The total number of control units and ballot units has increased significantly since 2014. Control Units and Ballot units are constituents of electronic voting machines (EVM)

The election began at 7 am. The officials are also monitoring the situation across all polling booths

Polling is underway at 3,419 polling stations across 59 Assembly constituencies of the state. The voting will continue till 4 pm

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday urged voters in Meghalaya and Nagaland to cast their votes in record numbers. Assembly polls are being held in the two northeast states on Monday. Modi tweeted, "Urging the people of Meghalaya and Nagaland, particularly the young and first time voters, to vote in record numbers today." The counting of votes in the two states besides Tripura is scheduled on March 2.

The voting for Nagaland Assembly elections for 59 seats is to be held today in a single phase, deciding the fate of 183 candidates

Earlier, the Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO) had called for the boycott of the polls until its demands are met by the Centre

In Kasba Peth, the voting is taking place in a total of 270 polling booths, where the police have made nine sensitive polling centres

Tripura recorded a voter turnout of 14 per cent till 9 am on Thursday, with the polling process largely being peaceful in the first two hours, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Gitte Kirankumar Dinakarrao. The exercise began at 7 am and will continue till 4 pm. The CEO also noted that "enthusiasm was palpable among the voters", especially women. "This indicates polls are being held in a free and fair manner," he said. Among the early voters was Chief Minister Manik Saha, who is contesting the polls from Town Bardowali constituency. He exuded confidence that the BJP will secure absolute majority in the Assembly elections. "I am hundred per cent confident that the BJP will secure absolute majority in the elections. The party may get more seats than it did the last time, he told reporters on his way to a polling booth at Maharani Tulsibati Girls' School here. Altogether 28.13 lakh voters are scheduled to exercise their franchise during the day in 3,337 polling stations of the ...

India has witnessed a nearly six-fold increase in the total number of voters since 1951 to over 94.50 crore this year, but almost one-third of them stayed away from exercising their franchise in the last Lok Sabha polls. This has prompted the Election Commission to walk the extra mile to bring them to the polling booths. In 1951, when the voter lists for the first general elections were prepared, India had 17.32 crore registered electors and 45.67 per cent had turned up to exercise their franchise in the newly-born Republic. The number of registered electors witnessed a gradual increase over the years, and so did their participation in the subsequent elections. In the 1957 general elections, the number of registered electors was 19.37 crore and 47.74 per cent cast their ballots to send their representatives to the Lok Sabha. Amid talks of taking the voter turnout to 75 per cent, the Election Commission has flagged the issue of the 30 crore voters who did not turn up at the polling

As the Election Commission aims to ensure 75 per cent voter turnout in future elections, President Droupadi Murmu on Wednesday urged people to consider voting as their contribution to nation building. She said people must vote with the spirit of "nation paramount". Addressing AN event to mark the 13th National Voters' Day, she said it is a great achievement of India's election process and democracy that the active participation of women in the democratic process is continuously increasing. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the number of women voters was slightly higher than that of men. She noted that for the first time in the history of Indian Parliament, the total number of women MPs in both the Houses together have reached the 115 mark. From gram panchayats to Parliament, women are contributing significantly. Their participation and numbers should increase further, she said. The president said that social revolution has been possible in the country during the past seven decades

Inclusion of migrant voters is important

After remarks by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar, the poll watchdog will demonstrate to the representatives of political parties the remote electronic voting machine (RVM)

A day earlier, Musk pledged to submit all future policy decisions to a vote and offered Twitter users a choice on leadership, asking them if he should step down; 57.5% of the vote were in favor

Counting of votes will be held on Thursday for the Gujarat Assembly elections which were held in two phases on December 1 and 5 across 33 districts of the BJP-ruled state. The counting of votes will start at 8 am at 37 counting centres covering the 182 Assembly seats, an official said. While the contest in Gujarat has traditionally been between the BJP and Congress, it was three-cornered this time around with Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) entering the poll arena. Exit polls have predicted a big majority for the BJP in Gujarat and if these projections are any indication, the saffron party is all set to retain power in the state for the seventh consecutive term. The ruling party is expected to win in the range of 117-151 seats, while the Congress was predicted to bag between 16 to 51 seats. The Aam Aadmi Party was projected to bag anything between two and 13 seats. The majority mark in Gujarat is 92. Polling in Gujarat happened in two phases on December 1 and 5. Voter turnout stood at 66.31

Voting will be held on Monday in 93 Assembly seats across 14 central and northern districts of Gujarat during the second phase of the state polls. In the 2017 Assembly polls, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 51 of these seats, Congress 39, while three seats went to independent candidates. In central Gujarat, the BJP had bagged 37 seats, outnumbering the Congress which got 22. But in north Gujarat, the Congress had won 17 seats while the saffron party got 14. The high-voltage campaigning by different parties for the second phase of polls ended on Saturday evening. The first phase of voting for 89 seats in Saurashtra, Kutch and south Gujarat regions was held on December 1, when an average voter turnout of 63.31 per cent was recorded. The Gujarat Assembly has a total of 182 seats. In the second phase, voting will be held in the remaining 93 seats, for which 833 candidates are in the fray from 61 political parties, including the BJP, Congress and the new poll entrant Aam A

An average voter turnout of 34.65 per cent wass recorded till 1 pm on Thursday in the first phase of the Gujarat Assembly elections underway in 89 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch and southern regions, the Election Commission said. Voting began at 8 am and 33 ballot units, 29 control units and 69 voter verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs) were replaced in the first three hours of polling at different stations due to malfunctioning, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said. As many as 26,269 ballot units, 25,430 control units and 25,430 VVPATs were being used in polling stations across the 19 districts where voting was being held in the first phase to decide the fate of 788 candidates. Even as voting was underway in parts of the state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed rallies at Kalol in Panchmahal and Chhota Udepur, where the elections will be held in the second phase on December 5. Out of the 19 districts where polling was underway on Thursda

Polling began at 8 am on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 out of the total 182 seats across 19 districts of Saurashtra-Kutch region and southern parts of the state to decide the fate of 788 candidates. The voting is being held across 14,382 polling stations, of which 3,311 are in the urban and 11,071 in rural areas, the office of the state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) said. Live webcasting is being done from 13,065 polling stations to keep a close eye on the process, it said. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row. If it succeeds, it will equal the record of the Left Front government which won the West Bengal elections for seven consecutive terms till 2011. This time, the BJP faces competition not just from its traditional rival Congress but also the new poll entrant Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), which has tried to position itself as the main challenger

Here is the best of Business Standard's opinion pieces for today:

There are 2.49 lakh voters aged above 100 in India, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said on Wednesday. Besides, 1.80 crore voters are over 80 years of age, Kumar said after flagging off a bicycle rally in Maharashtra's Pune city on Wednesday to create an awareness about voter registration as part of the national level launch of a special summary revision of the voters' list. The Election Commission of India's initiative is aimed at increasing the electoral rolls in urban areas. Explaining the robustness and beauty of the Indian electoral rolls, Kumar said the country has voters from the highest peaks of Himalayas, from the 6,000-km coastline in south, deserts in the west and regions from the east. "You will be happy to know we have close to 2.49 lakh voters in our rolls who are (aged) 100 plus and what a relief and ecstasy it gives when you interact with them and find that they have been voting all through their lives," he said. Besides, there are 1.80 crore voters who ar