Maharashtra Opposition leader Ajit Pawar, who belongs to Nationalist Congress Party, on Saturday said Electronic Voting Machines (EVM) are trustworthy and the system cannot be manipulated by a single person.
If they wish to have any chance next year, the Congress and the alliance must quickly settle all issues, draw up an alternative agenda, and create a cohesive campaign.
The exercise will continue till 6 pm in all the polling stations except those in Maoist-affected areas of Balaghat, Mandla and Dindori districts where it ended at 3 pm, an official said.
Over 19,000 polling officials have been deployed at 3,419 booths set up for the elections to the 59 assembly seats, Chief Electoral Officer F R Kharkongor said.
In the first such initiative, the Bharatiya Janata Party has invited the ruling and Opposition parties from around the world to witness the Lok Sabha elections in India first-hand.
'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
Holding simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies would need at least five constitutional amendments and a large number of additional EVMs and paper-trail machines costing "thousands of crores of rupees", but will yield a huge long-term saving to the public exchequer, officials said on Friday.
Many exit polls have kept the incumbent Bharatiya Janata party ahead of the Congress in what was a straight contest between two main parties. Assembly polls were held in the state in a single phase on November 17.
After the Congress' poor performance in all five states where Assembly elections were held, party workers staged a protest outside the party's headquarters, alleging that democracy was being "murdered" through EVMs.
If left unchecked, the 2024 elections may be infamously remembered as the election of deepfakes. The ECI has a tough task ahead, but, more importantly, it has an opportunity to become a global model for scores of countries going to polls this year, notes Ajay Kumar.
She expressed confidence that a three-way alliance is very much possible in West Bengal between her Trinamool Congress, Congress and the Left.
In the 2017 assembly election, the voter turnout in the first phase covering the same 89 constituencies stood at 66.75 per cent.
Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar convened the meeting of leaders of opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, which was attended by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, independent Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav, Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) member Anil Desai and Bharat Rashtra Samithi member K Keshav Rao among others.
Tushar Dedha of the ABVP won the post of DUSU president, defeating NSUI's Hitesh Gulia by a margin of 3,115 votes. Dedha got 23,460 votes and Gulia 20,345.
The editorial in Saamana said the "Wagner group" has shown dictatorship can be challenged.
Bypolls in three assembly constituencies in as many states passed off peacefully on Monday with around over 70 per cent voter turnout, though some technical glitches in electronic voting machine were reported in Tamil Nadu and the ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal alleged that the Central Reserve Police Force was "influencing" voters.
'Commentators have said that dealing with allies as equals will make Modi more sensitive.' 'Remember that the people Modi is dealing with are equally autocratic in their own lairs.' 'Further, Modi always has handy the threat of dissolving Parliament and calling for fresh polls.' 'Most of his own party, and certainly his allies and opponents having blown their budgets of efforts and resources in the just concluded elections, have no stomach for this.' 'They are all greatly looking forward to the loaves and fishes of office on offer.' 'That gives Modi an unbeatable advantage in any push-comes-to-shove situation,' explains Shreekant Sambrani.
'Can you believe Ashok Chavan was with me in the senior leaders' meeting one day, and next day morning, he switched sides!'
'How come the BJP won even in the Muslim belt? I am 100% sure that the BJP would not win in the Muslim belt.'
AI implementation enabler Staqu will deploy its proprietary video analytics system JARVIS to count votes directly from the camera by monitoring the electronic voting machines screens at the counting centre.
All political parties were asked at the dinner meeting on Monday night to suggest names for the alliance and the same would be discussed and consensus would be arrived at during the deliberations.
'The right to vote is the supreme right of democracy which is being executed through EVMs. No nationally or internally recognized institutions or governments have certified the EVMs as a cent per cent accurate. Despite this fact, by conducting polling using the machines in India, which is the biggest democracy in the world, the constitutional right of my vote is being violated. There is no guarantee whether my vote is cast in favour of whom I pressed the button through the EVM machine,' he said.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said his party would pull off a spectacular victory in the state assembly elections, but evaded a direct reply to a question whether he would be the chief minister for the fifth time, as he just said 'Bharatiya Janata Party Zindabad'.
The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday said that polls can be rigged through social media, and that if social media companies want, they can make any party win an election.
Holding simultaneous polls for the Lok Sabha and all assemblies would need any no-confidence motion to be coupled with a 'confidence motion' by a leader proposed as next prime minister or chief minister, while any mid-term election can be conducted only for remainder of the term, the Election Commission had said earlier.
The Supreme Court Wednesday agreed to consider listing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the Constitutional validity of a provision of the Representation of People Act which had led to the introduction of electronic voting machines (EVMs) instead of ballot papers for polls in the country.
'So must the Opposition where it is the dominant party in the state.' 'That is neither problematic nor impossible to achieve.'
A high-level committee to explore the feasibility of conducting simultaneous elections, headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind, held its first meeting in New Delhi on Saturday and decided to invite political parties and the Law Commission to seek their views on holding synchronised polls in the country, a statement said.
Most leaders agreed for early finalisation of poll plans for 2024 stressing that there was no time left with them and mere meetings would not help.
If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise.
Counting of votes will be held on Sunday in assembly polls in Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Telangana in what is seen as a semi-final contest ahead of the general elections in less than six months.
As many as 833 candidates are in the fray across 93 constituencies which will go to polls on December 5. Votes will be counted on December 8.
EC officials said over 1 crore votes were counted till around 1.30 pm out of nearly 4.16 crore votes polled in the three-phase elections.
The officer said that as Section 505 is non-cognisable, police have sought permission from court to initiate an investigation.
More than 50,000 officials have been deployed for the counting of votes on Thursday in the five states where assembly polls were held recently.
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 tranquillity.
'In many districts, reports of 'herapheri' (tampering with) of EVMs is being received (by the party). On whose directives is this happening? Are officers being pressured from the Chief Minister's Office? EC please clarify this'
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