The Election Commission has defended its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court, refuting allegations of mass deletion of genuine voters as exaggerated and politically motivated.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has approached the Supreme Court, contesting the legality of the Election Commission's order for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, alleging it is arbitrary and unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has requested the Election Commission to respond to petitions challenging the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The court has also asked the Madras and Calcutta High Courts to keep proceedings on similar petitions in abeyance.
Tamil Nadu's ruling DMK has filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Election Commission's plan to implement the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in the state.
Does voter deletion controversy expose critical gaps in ECI verification procedures and safeguards protecting electoral roll integrity?
Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer has ordered an investigation into Rahul Gandhi's allegations of election fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The CEO has requested supporting documents from Congress leader D K Shivakumar.
"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?"
Sources in the Election Commission (EC) rejected claims on Saturday of rigging in last year's Maharashtra Assembly polls and said defaming the poll panel after receiving an unfavourable verdict from the voters is absolutely absurd.
'The Election Commission is conducting the National Register of Citizens in Bihar through the backdoor.'
The Election Commission of India has invited all national and state political parties to provide suggestions by April 30 on any unresolved issues related to the electoral process. This call for feedback comes amid allegations of electoral roll manipulation, with opposition parties demanding a discussion in Parliament on the issue. The EC has also proposed an interaction with party presidents and senior members to further strengthen electoral processes.
If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise.
'The failure of the ECI to follow the Registration of Electoral Rules and create verified and audited rolls or even verifiable and auditable ones, highlight that the entire electoral roll is merely a compilation of names without any effort or intention for completeness, correctness or fair play.' 'We are fooling ourselves by electing our representatives based on faulty electoral rolls that do not represent the people of the constituency. Elections based on these rolls are neither free nor fair. Democracy is under siege,' says Dr Anupam Saraph.