Page 4 - Election Commission

Have full faith in EC: Sanjay Raut on row over Shiv Sena's poll symbol

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut on Saturday said their faction has presented its case for control of the party's poll symbol "bow and arrow" before the Election Commission

EC reminds parties of law, provisions barring use of religious institutions

Ahead of assembly polls in three northeastern states and various byelections, the Election Commission has reminded its field machinery and political parties of a law and provisions of the model code

Election Commission orders probe into attacks on Cong bike rally in Tripura

The incident took place hours after the announcement of the Tripura assembly poll schedule on Wednesday

Digvijaya Singh demands VVPAT slips be used for declaring poll results

VVPAT system keeps a physical trail of all votes cast. It allows voters to verify their votes are cast as intended

Shinde camp arguments on constitution have contradictions: Thackeray group

The Uddhav Thackeray-led faction of Shiv Sena told EC that the arguments placed by the Eknath Shinde camp on the flaws in the party's amended constitution were full of contradictions

EC starts discussion with parties over remote EVMs for migrant workers

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)

Seriously concerned on increasing use of money power in polls: ECI to SC

Contending that the ECI is seriously concerned about the increasing use of money power in elections, the poll panel has told the Supreme Court that it has introduced a robust mechanism for election expenditure monitoring during polls. The Election Commission of India (ECI) said one of the reasons for more money being seized today is its increased vigilance and efforts. It said that the services of central and state law enforcement agencies are routinely engaged, and their teams deployed to poll-bound states to monitor election expenditure. The submissions were made in an affidavit filed in response to a plea filed by Prabhakar Deshpande seeking comprehensive plan to curb excessive poll spending by political parties and candidates and action against erring candidates and parties. "The Election Commission of India is seriously concerned about the increasing use of money power in elections. To curb this menace, the Election Commission of India has effectively and successively enforced

Ensure free and fair elections in Tripura, says Manik Sarkar to EC

Asking the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair elections in Tripura, former chief minister Manik Sarkar alleged the poll panel set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and the last by-elections as people could not vote freely. His comment came just two days before the scheduled arrival of the full bench of the EC in the state to review preparedness for the assembly polls. "You have set a bad precedent in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls and by-elections to the four assembly constituencies in Tripura. Genuine voters could not exercise their franchise freely on these two occasions," Sarkar said, addressing a programme organised by CPI(M)-backed trade union CITU at the Vivekananda Ground here on Sunday. He claimed that when the CPI(M) tried to draw the attention of EC functionaries to the alleged misconduct of BJP workers, "the EC officials said they were not responsible for what happened outside polling stations and the police would look into such grievances". "This time,

Election Commission appoints Maithili Thakur as Bihar's state icon

Folk singer Maithili Thakur was on Monday appointed the state icon for Bihar by the Election Commission. Thakur, trained in Indian classical and folk music, was recently selected for the Ustad Bismillah Khan Yuva Puraskar of the Sangeet Natak Akademi for her contribution to the folk music of Bihar for 2021. The ECI has approved the proposal of appointment of Maithili Thakur, folk singer as State Icon of Bihar, the letter sent to the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar by the poll panel said. The singer will create awareness among the voters for their participation in the electoral process, a senior official of the state election commission said. The singer's father, Ramesh Thakur, told PTI, We are grateful to the EC and the Bihar government. At the same time, this recognition will give her (Maithili) more impetus to spread Bihar's folk music across continents and generate awareness about the importance of participating in the electoral process. Maithili, born in Bihar's Madhubani ..

EC to test remote voting machine's prototype with domestic migrant voters

In a major move to increase voter participation, the Election Commission on Thursday said it has developed a prototype of a remote electronic voting machine (RVM) for domestic migrant voters and has invited political parties for a demonstration on January 16. If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise. Based on feedback from various stakeholders and the demonstration of the prototype, the Election Commission (EC) will appropriately carry forward the process of implementing remote voting, according to a statement. The poll panel has also floated a concept note on remote voting and sought the views of political parties on the legal, administrative and technical challenges in implementing it. The multi-constituency remote EVM, developed by a public sector undertaking, can handle up to 72 constituencies from a single remote polling booth, the statement issued by the poll watchdog said. "After

EC begins delimitation of assembly, parliamentary constituencies in Assam

The Election Commission on Tuesday said it has initiated delimitation of assembly and parliamentary constituencies in Assam, and will be using the 2001 census figures for the readjustment of seats. The Commission said a ban has been put in place effective January 1, 2023 on creation of new administrative units in the state till the exercise is complete. Under the provisions of the Delimitation Act, 1972, the last delimitation of constituencies in Assam was effected on the basis of 1971 census figures by the then Delimitation Commission in 1976, the poll panel noted. The move to redrawing the assembly and parliamentary seats of Assam as per Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950 has been initiated following a request from the Union Law Ministry. Delimitation is the process of fixing limits or boundaries of the territorial constituencies in a country or a state with a legislative body. "The Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Election ...

EC proposal to cap anonymous cash donations under examination: Centre

A proposal of the Election Commission to cap individual anonymous political donations to Rs 2,000 from the present Rs 20,000 is under examination, the Rajya Sabha was informed on Thursday. Asked whether all political parties were consulted, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju responded in a negative in a written reply. "The proposal is under examination," he said on being asked whether the poll panel has proposed reducing anonymous political donations to Rs 2,000 from Rs 20,000 and cap cash donations at 20 per cent or at a maximum of Rs 20 crore. In September this year, the Election Commission had proposed bringing down anonymous political donations from Rs 20,000 to Rs 2,000 and cap cash donations at 20 per cent or at a maximum of Rs 20 crore to cleanse election funding of black money. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar had written to Law Minister Rijiju recommending a slew of amendments to the Representation of the People (RP) Act. The proposals were aimed at ushering in reform

Amit Shah's 'taught a lesson' remark not violative of poll code: Report

Union Home Minister Amit Shah's remark at an election rally in Gujarat that perpetrators of violence were "taught a lesson" in 2002 was not violative of the model code of conduct, Election Commission sources said on Saturday. After going through the report of the state chief electoral officer and seeking legal opinion, the poll panel concluded that referring to taking action against "miscreants" was not violative of the provisions of the poll code. A former bureaucrat had moved the poll panel over the statement Shah made at an election rally in Mahudha town of Kheda district last month. In the rally, Shah had said, "During the Congress rule in Gujarat (before 1995), communal riots were rampant. Congress used to incite people of different communities and castes to fight against each other. Through such riots, Congress strengthened its vote bank and did injustice to a large section of the society." He had claimed that Gujarat witnessed riots in 2002 because the perpetrators became ..

Guj poll result HIGHLIGHTS: Massive victory for BJP, Patel to be CM again

Gujarat election result 2022: Exit polls have predicted a landslide win for the ruling BJP, while AAP could see a 'positive sign'. Stay tuned for Gujarat Assembly election result LIVE updates

Poll results: Election Commission reviews counting day preparations

The counting of votes for the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh polls along with six assembly and one Lok Sabha by-elections will commence at 8 am on Thursday with prohibitory orders in place around counting halls to ensure peace and tranquility. According to the Election Commission, the counting of votes will take place at a total of 116 counting centres in Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat, and Odisha, Bihar, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh where six assembly and one Lok Sabha bypolls were held. In a statement, the EC said counting of votes will be taken up for postal ballots at 8 am and will continue till it is completed. Postal ballots received before 8 am on counting day are taken up for counting, the poll panel reminded. After a gap of 30 minutes from the commencement of counting of postal ballot papers, counting of votes for electronic voting machines (EVMs) will commence at 8.30 am. The EVM counting will continue irrespective of the stage of postal ballot counting, it said. O

Delhi MCD: All you need to know about the prestige battle in the capital

The polling for the 250 seats in the Delhi Municipal Corporation was conducted on December 4, and the results will be declared on December 7

Odisha by-poll: Nearly 76% turnout recorded till 5 pm in Padampur assembly

Nearly 76 per cent of 2.57 lakh voters on Monday exercised their franchise till 5 pm in the by-poll to Odisha's Padampur assembly constituency, an Election Commission official said. The voting, which began at 7 am, continued beyond the scheduled close at 4 pm as several people were in queue in 89 of the 319 polling stations, he said. The boundary gates of all the booths, however, were closed at 4 pm, the official said. There was no report of any untoward incident in the entire Padampur assembly constituency during the voting process, Odisha's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) S K Lohani said. A total of 2.57 lakh voters, including 12 members of the transgender community, are eligible to exercise their franchise in the by-poll. Around 1,400 police personnel and nine companies of central paramilitary forces have been deployed for the by-election, the official said. There are 10 candidates in the fray for the by-poll. The ruling BJD fielded Barsha Singh Bariha, the daughter of Bijay Ra

Delhi BJP alleges MCC violation by Kejriwal, files complaint with State EC

Delhi BJP on Friday alleged a Model Code of Conduct (MCC) violation by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal here and lodged a complaint with the State Election Commission. The alleged MCC violation took place at an event attended by Kejriwal in the Constitution Club. A case should be registered against Kejriwal for violating MCC, Ashish Sood, Delhi BJP's election campaign committee convener, said. "The Delhi Chief Minister openly violated the Model Code of Conduct in the programme. He organised the programme without any permission, for distributing cheques from foreign NGOs in the Constitution Club," Sood said. Sood also demanded action against the concerned district magistrate for not taking action to stop the programme for MCC violation. Kejriwal was present in the programme in which cheques were distributed to Yoga instructors as honorarium. He said at the event that free yoga classes in the city will continue irrespective of the availability of funds for the scheme. "Stopping yoga

Cong asks EC to take action against channels airing 'sponsored' polls

The Congress has urged the Election Commission to take strict action against the alleged airing of "sponsored" opinion polls on the Gujarat assembly election ahead of voting in the first phase on Thursday and claimed it was a brazen attempt to influence the electorate. A delegation of Congress leaders led by AICC legal cell head Vivek Tankha met the Election Commission and apprised the poll body of the "violations by media". The opposition party urged the EC to take action against news channels violating directions issued by it in respect of programmes related to the dissemination of election results. They alleged that the media channels were predicting the poll outcome in a bid to influence the voters and this was a serious issue. Tankha also claimed that they have information concerning the "safety of the ballot boxes" and urged the Commission to ensure there is no tampering. The Congress said it has observed that certain news channels have been publishing/publicising programmes

Polling station-wise allocation of EVMs done for Delhi MCD election: SEC

Polling station-wise allocation of electronic voting machines has been done following second level randomisation of these machines ahead of the December 4 Delhi municipal election, officials said on Saturday. The second level randomisation of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) was conducted by the respective district election officers in the presence of general observers appointed by the State Election Commission (SEC), Delhi, they said. The representatives of political parties and contesting candidates were also present during the process, the SEC said in a statement. After the second randomisation of the EVMs, polling station-wise allocation of the EVMs has been done, it said. The first level randomisation was earlier done by the Commission where ward-wise allocation of the EVMs was done. Randomisation of polling parties also is being done on two levels. The first one has already been done by the Commission where personnel of the polling parties were allotted to the returning