The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to address typographical errors and other mistakes in the final Bihar electoral roll. The court will hear further arguments on November 4.
The Election Commission defended its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for Bihar's voter list in the Supreme Court, calling it accurate and dismissing allegations of impropriety by political parties and NGOs.
The Supreme Court has begun hearing petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct a special intensive revision exercise in Bihar ahead of elections, raising concerns about voter exclusion.
"There is bound to be revision," the top court said, "otherwise, how will the poll panel delete the names of those who are dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies?"
Trinamool Congress leader and Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra has moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Election Commission of India for special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish details of deleted names from the voters list in Bihar, along with reasons for non-inclusion, to enhance transparency in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to revise electoral rolls in Bihar. The hearing is scheduled for July 10.
With the Bharatiya Janata Party a clear winner in the Delhi assembly elections, meet the BJP aspirants for the chief minister's post.
While the BJP received the highest amount, securing Rs 1,685.63 crore, the Congress received Rs 828.36 crore, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Rs 10.15 crore.
Out of the sitting MPs with serious criminal cases against them, nine face murder cases. The analysis revealed that five of these MPs belong to the BJP.
The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited was the top donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party at Rs 584 crore and the Bharat Rashtra Samiti at Rs 195 crore.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the court, said at least 30 shell companies purchased electoral bonds worth over Rs 143 crore.
The Election Commission has opposed in the Supreme Court an NGO's demand to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of the conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections, contending it will "vitiate" the electoral space and cause "chaos" in the poll machinery in the midst of the general elections.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
Future Gaming of lottery king Santiago Martin was the biggest purchaser of electoral bonds at Rs 1,368 crore, of which nearly 37 percent went to the DMK.
'The fraud is the electronic voting machine is being manipulated by humans, and not counting the votes that is shown on VVPAT.'
'Democracy cannot be taken for granted. It has to be fiercely guarded.'
'Isn't it obvious? Do you have a doubt? There is so much data that shows that there is quid pro quo.' 'There are many instances of donations being given after the raids, donations being given before the award of a contract and many other permutations and combinations.'
'Not even a single rupee from the electoral bonds should be allowed to be used in the election.' 'If it is used in the election, it will taint India's electoral process itself.'
Re-elected MLAs from the ruling party added more wealth in the last five years than re-elected candidates from other political parties, shows an analysis of ADR electoral data.
An analysis of the assets data from Association of Democratic Reforms shows that the average assets of a winner of the 2014 LS election was more than the average assets of a candidate: more the money you have, more the chances of winning.
According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, the ruling party's assets rose to Rs 1,483.35 crore in 2017-18 over its previous financial year's declaration of Rs 1,213 crore.
The Association of Democratic Reforms said Goa has set a unique record, which is "unparalleled" in the history of Indian democracy.
Mother and son refuse to go away despite indications blowing in the wind that their leadership is ringing the death knell of the party, observes Ramesh Menon.
Political parties may campaign against corruption and criminality, but it's the selection of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls that tells the real story.
Political parties may campaign against corruption and criminality, but it's the selection of candidates for the upcoming assembly polls that tells the real story.
In spite of the Election Commission's repeated pleas against the criminalisation of politics, few political parties have paid any heed to it and have continued to field candidates with a dubious record in the forthcoming Bihar assembly polls.
According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, 59 per cent of the MLAs (or 141 MLAs out of 241) in the Bihar assembly have criminal records pending against them. Comparatively, the percentage of tainted legislators in the last assembly was 35 per cent
Election watchdog Association of Democratic Reforms also reported that Janata Dal-United's Mahendra Prasad was the richest with assets worth Rs 4,078 crore.
The Karnataka Election Watch Committee of the Association of Democratic Reforms has found that several leaders, including former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and his brother H D Revanna, have not declared their PAN numbers while submitting their affidavits to the returning officer at the time of filing their nominations. 240 candidates from various parties in Karnataka have failed to declare their PAN numbers at the time of filing their nomination papers.
In a landmark decision the Central Information Commission (CIC) has ruled that the income tax returns of political parties will come under the purview of the Right to Information Act (RTI). The move will, it is hoped, enable the public to get details on the funding sources of political parties.
The measures include an information search prompt with the Election Commission of India (@ECISVEEP) and State Election Commissions to provide reliable information around the elections, a custom emoji to encourage participation, a series of pre-bunks and debunks to tackle election-related misinformation, and a youth discussion series titled #DemocracyAdda aimed at voter literacy and civic participation among young Indians for the upcoming elections.
Politically, women have been making their presence felt in voter turnouts. According to the Election Commission, the female voter turnout was higher than male turnout in 16 states and Union territories.
The ruling party received Rs 742 crore in 2018-19, a rise of 70 per cent from the previous year.
BJP tops the list with 27 tainted candidates
The Association of Democratic Reforms, voluntary organisation whose efforts made Central Information Commission bring six national parties under the umbrella of the RTI Act, had shot RTI applications to 45 recognised political parties of which only four have responded so far, a statement from ADR said.
There has been a whopping 164 per cent growth in assets of 216 members of Legislative Assembly, who are seeking re-election to the Maharashtra assembly, since the last polls, as per a study conducted by two Non-Governmental Organisations.
The total income of seven political parties from unknown sources was Rs 2,512.98 crore in 2018-19.
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