For the first time, the Election Commission will provide 'None Of The Above' option button in EVMs for the 11 crore voters who will exercise their franchise in the five states going to polls beginning next month.
In view of the Supreme Court empowering voters with the right to reject, forthcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections will see electronic voting machines having a new and separate button for electorate not wishing to vote for any of the candidates in the fray.
In a significant move, the 13th Pravasi Bharatiya Divas, to be held in Gujarat from January 7 to 9, might see the overseas citizen of India and person of Indian origin cards getting clubbed, External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Monday.
The party's gamble to go in for early elections paid rich dividends.
Here is the detailed procedure of how the AAP MLA Saurabh Bhardwaj 'tampered' an EVM.
The high court had on May 12, nullified 2017 election of Chudasama on the ground of malpractice and manipulation and have also refused to stay of the operation of the order till the disposal of his appeal
Till date, 107 elections to states and three parliamentary polls have been smoothly conducted using the EVMs.
>The ABVP has put the onus on Delhi University to verify Ankiv Baisoya's degree and is defending its leader. But there's not a single word of support from its political masters.
"I am sure that in 2018, we will come back to power hundred per cent," he added.
The apex court said that a debate on polls reforms can only take place after the election process in the state is over.
The model code of conduct comes into immediate effect, he said.
He also lamented that EVMs are being used as a 'football' and some sections are doing a 'motivated slugfest' over their use.
Chidambaram told SC that to assure accuracy in the voting process, paper trail is needed as there were chances of tampering with EVMs.
An Election Commission official said minor clashes between political workers were reported from some areas.
The AAP will approach EC to put up banners outside polling booths.
Reacting to the statements, the Shiv Sena said it was ready to take on whoever challenges it.
About 65.46 per cent electorate on Tuesday exercised their franchise in the second of the five-phase polling for the 20 Maoist-hit assembly constituencies as the day passed off peacefully.
EC officials said the counting of votes for the Lok Sabha elections will begin at 8 am on Thursday and results are expected only by late evening.
Opposition leaders will also meet the Election Commission and raise the issue of tallying the paper trail of votes with the electronic voting machine figures as directed by the Supreme Court.
'Whatever the Supreme Court expected, it wasn't achieved in these five years.' 'So, we have made an amendment now to achieve that objective.'
Braving scorching sun, voters queued up since early morning in the wards falling under three corporations - South Delhi Municipal Corporation (7), North Delhi Municipal Corporation (4) and East Delhi Municipal Corporation (2).
The term of the 224-member Karnataka assembly ends on May 28 this year.
Complaints of electronic voting machine malfunctioning poured in from several booths on Tuesday during the third and largest phase of Lok Sabha polls which saw voters turning out in large numbers to cast their vote in 116 seats, including all constituencies of Gujarat and Kerala.
As per the final tally, of the total 81 seats, the Congress won 73, followed by the BJP which bagged six seats. The Shiv Sena just about managed to open its account with one seat, and an independent candidate won one seat.
The party continued to allege tampering of the electronic voting machines for the verdict, and not a Modi wave, as claimed by the BJP.
Fadnavis claimed the BJP was "beyond running behind anyone" as the people of India were with the party and the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He, however, did not give any date for the proposed challenge which he announced in his opening remarks at the meeting.
What's in a name? A lot if an election is at stake and you have three other people with the same name standing up against you. And that's the case for Bharatiya Janata Party prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, who filed his nomination from Varanasi on Thursday. Modi is facing 77 rivals, including three other Narendras.
Rawat also said a legal framework is needed to be in place for holding simultaneous polls.
Among the notable absentees were Congress president Rahul Gandhi, West Bengal chief minister and Trinamool Congress leader Mamata Banerjee, Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati, Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam's M K Stalin, Telugu Desam Party chief K Chandrashekhar Rao, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Delhi chief minister and Aam Admi Party convenor Arvind Kejriwal.
The Samajwadi Party national executive is also of the view that elections should be held through ballot papers and not through electronic voting machines,
The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
Tamil star Suriya's 7aum Arivu was about a virus from China sent to Chennai to wreak havoc while Kaappan was about a locust attack the hero prevents in time -- both films in a sense foresaw what was to come, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Banerjee also alleged that the BJP is manipulating electronic voting machines to increase its vote share.
With parties blaming the electronic voting machines, the poll panel was extra cautious in its approach.
The by-elections are being held to fill the vacancies caused by the disqualification of 17 rebel Congress and Janata Dal-Secular MLAs, whose rebellion led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July and paved the way for the BJP to come to power.
The high court dismissed the party's plea, saying since the electronic voting machines would now carry photographs of the candidates.
The term of the 243-member Bihar legislative assembly comes to an end on November 29.
The Lt Governor conveyed to the Delhi government that the rules will have to be amended for shunning the EVMs and it was not possible to make the changes as little over a month is left for the polls.
The meeting at SP headquarters was attended by Akhilesh, his uncle Shivpal Yadav, senior leader Azam Khan and party office bearers.
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