Tandon, an IAS officer of 1965 batch, was appointed as Election Commissioner in 2001.
The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre over the procedure adopted for the appointment of election commissioners and asked how six names were shortlisted from 200 within a few hours.
Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami, who has been in the eye of the storm after recommending the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, is currently on a one-week leave to visit various pilgrimages in Gujarat. During his trip, the CEC is scheduled to visit Somnath, Dwarka and Gandhi Nagar. Gopalaswami, an Indian Administrative Service officer from the Gujarat cadre, speaks the native language fluently and considers the state his second home.
A vacancy will arise in the three-member poll panel when Election Commissioner Anup Chandra Pandey demits office on February 14.
A week after her return from the United States after surgery, Sonia Gandhi will be back to active party work by presiding over a meeting of the Congress's Central Election Committee. Party general secretary Janardhan Dwivedi said that Gandhi will be participating in Thursday's CEC meeting to finalise tickets for the Uttar Pradesh assembly elections scheduled early next year. This will be the Congress president's first public appearance after she returned to Delhi from the US.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
Law Minister Salman Khurshid on Monday night sought to cap the stand-off with the Election Commission over his Muslim sub-quota remarks by writing a letter to the poll body in which he is understood to have said that he has all the respect for the constitutional authority.
I had said that eloquence of silence is always difficult but far more desirable to see the election process through instead of creating ill-timed controversies.
Chief Election Commissioner Dr S Y Quraishi is not embarrassed by activist Anna Hazare's candid confession that Indian elections are corrupt and if he ever contested in one, he would end up losing his security deposit.When asked about Hazare's statement that Indian voters are not educated enough -- "they take a bottle of alcohol or Rs 500 and cast their vote" -- CEC Quraishi stated that the statement was not at all telling on his job. He argued, "Not at all, not at all."
Opposition leaders on Monday slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his comments made at an elections rally in Rajasthan, with some leaders also appealing to people to reach out to the Election Commission of India.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday chaired a meeeting of the party's Central Election Committee to finalise candidates for the upcoming Bihar assembly polls.
'There are many smaller parties, which in the age of ballot paper, might not have come into existence'
BCCI to seek SC approval to relax tenure reform
The announcement on Presidential election schedule is due shortly, new Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath on Monday said.
The decision to schedule/postpone the UP election will be taken by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey.
For the sake of neutrality of the Chief Election Commissioners and Election Commissioners, CEC N Gopalaswami wants a bar on their joining any political party for ten years after retirement or taking up any government post. In a three-page note to President Pratibha Patil sent on January 16 when he separately recommended removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, he has sought amendment in the Election Commission Act for the purpose.
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
In Kolkata, senior Congress leader Randeep Singh Surjewala accused the prime minister of "putting pressure" on the EC to delay its press conference. He also said the CEC's explanation is "preposterous" and wondered whether Bharatiya Janata Party is the "super EC".
"Early elections are possible. Technically it should be possible," Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh told NDTV 24x7.
Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath on Thursday said that any offensive material on social media during election period will be strictly dealt with.
CEC Dr S Y Quraishi in an exclusive chat explains his plans for ensuring an trouble free election in the five poll-bound states.
The commission said enforcement authorities have seized Rs 4,650 crore even before polling begins for the Lok Sabha elections and it is the "higher than total seizures" made in the 2019 polls
A delegation of Congress leaders Randeep Surjewala, Abhishek Singhvi and Syed Naseer Hussain met the Election Commission and handed over a memorandum with complaints of alleged model code violations by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
While the Congress is in power in Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh is ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party, Telangana by the Bharat Rashtra Samithi and Mizoram by the Mizo National Front.
The winter session of Parliament is likely to commence in the second week of December and could conclude ahead of Christmas, sources said on Wednesday.
Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla has taken strong exception to the withdrawal of cases against Karnataka ministers and mining magnates Reddy brothers.
Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla has taken strong exception to the withdrawal of cases against Reddy brothers in Karnataka.
other polls being held in the union territory, CEC Rajiv Kumar said.
The CEC said that in the case of Wayanad, the remainder of the term is more than a year.
They said there was "genuine concern" that if the present ruling dispensation loses people's mandate, the transition of power may not be smooth and there could be a constitutional crisis.
Two vacancies of election commissioners have arisen following the resignation of Election Commissioner Arun Goel and Anup Chandra Pandey's retirement.
The CEC's letter to the President recommending Chawla's removal is just two pages long while he has dealt with 12 specific cases of partisanship in another 24 pages and annexed more than 800 pages of the Election Commission minutes, internal correspondence, etc in support of the case he has built up.
The Election Commission of Pakistan has announced that independent candidates, a majority of them supported by the PTI secured 101 seats, followed by Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) with 75 seats, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) getting 54 seats, and Muttahida Qaumi Movement-Pakistan (MQM-P) bagging 17 seats.
Tandon, 64, an IAS officer of 1965 batch, was appointed election commissioner in 2001 and will be in office till June 2006.
ICC introduces stop clock in men's ODI and T20Is, five-run penalty on third offence
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The system of 'selecting' an election commissioner, which is before the Supreme Court, must be institutionalised.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday said the inclusion of the Chief Justice of India in the consultative process for the appointment of chief election commissioner would ensure independence of the poll panel.
Underlining the importance of having a chief election commissioner who is "independent and a man of character", the Supreme Court on Wednesday wondered will it not be a case of "complete breakdown of system" if the CEC does not act against the prime minister in case there are allegations against him.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday announced Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fight again from Varanasi in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as it named 34 Union ministers in the first list of 195 candidates.
