Arora also said he is confident that the EC will be able to hold the next set of assembly polls on time and the internal exercise for those is already underway.
His tenure will end in December this year.
"Commission maintains the position that they would not like to keep on being put in the dock for alleged proximity to any political entity," Deputy Election Commissioner in charge of West Bengal Sudeep Jain wrote to Banerjee.
A Trinamool Congress delegation met the Election Commission (EC) on Friday and demanded a high-level probe into an alleged attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in Nandigram and claimed it was not an 'unfortunate incident', but a conspiracy.
The polls were deferred due to the spread of coronavirus.
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she suspects that the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP's poll campaign.
Lavasa, a career bureaucrat, joined as Election Commissioner on January 23, 2018, and being senior most on the poll panel would have become CEC in April next year after the term of incumbent Sunil Arora ends.
Tiruvarur is one of the worst-hit districts in the Cauvery delta region of Tamil Nadu due to severe cyclonic storm Gaja in November, 2018.
While the term of 288-member Maharashtra assembly ends on November 9, that of the 90-member Haryana assembly expires on November 2.
The elections to legislative assemblies of Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim, and Odisha will be held simultaneously along with the Lok Sabha polls
Assembly polls in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal, Odisha and Sikkim will also be held simultaneously, the Election Commission said.
Vishwapati Trivedi, a 1977 batch IAS officer, on Saturday took over as the new chairman and managing director of public sector carrier Indian (formerly Indian Airlines).
Tamang, whose Sikkim Krantikari Morcha party won the state assembly elections held in April, took over as chief minister on May 27.
Sushma Chawla, deputy managing director, Indian Airlines, on Sunday took charge as the acting chairperson and managing director of the company, becoming the first woman to hold the top position.
Tamil Nadu, Kerala, West Bengal, Assam and the Union Territory of neighbouring Puducherry are likely to go to polls in April or May.
Guidelines have been issued by the Commission for safe conduct of the electoral exercise in the midst of the raging COVID-19 pandemic. These guidelines include lowering the maximum number of voters for a polling booth from 1,600 to 1,000, staggering the polling hours and extending postal ballot facility to those above 80.
There are also over 10 million voters in the 18-29 age bracket. Winning them over could be Nitish Kumar's biggest challenge, reports Aditi Phadnis.
Ending suspense over the appointment of Air-India MD, the government said on Friday that Sunil Arora, chairman and managing director of Indian Airlines would assume additional charge of the international airline.
Ruling out any immediate hike in the air fares despite 'worrying scenario' of rising fuel costs, Indian Airlines on Monday said it may make net profits this fiscal if the buoyancy in the air travel continues.
The EC cited Section 8(1)(g) of the RTI Act exempting the disclosure of information which would endanger the life or physical safety of any person or identify the source of information or assistance given in confidence for law enforcement or security purposes.
Indian Airlines is ready to operate flights from Delhi to Kabul and from Mumbai to Karachi subject to necessary clearances from the Indian government.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
In a poll related advisory, the cops have been asked not to be seen or perceived as favouring a particular political party or candidate through their social media updates.
The CM said that his party will not 'abuse anyone'. He appealed to people to vote for AAP only if they think his govt has done good work. Single-phase elections in Delhi will take place on February 8.
Sources said the poll panel is in final stages of completing its logistical preparations to hold elections.
'Just as the monkey god needed a Jambavan to prod him into realising his superpowers, so did the poll panel need a poke from the Supreme Court into remembering it had an armoury of powers at its disposal to stop the infractions,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
He also lamented that EVMs are being used as a 'football' and some sections are doing a 'motivated slugfest' over their use.
The rally was addressed by BJP national general secretary Ram Madhav.
Polling was held on Sunday for 59 Lok Sabha seats in the sixth and penultimate phase of Lok Sabha polls. Elections are being held in 14 seats in Uttar Pradesh, 10 seats in Haryana, eights constituencies each in Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal, seven seats in Delhi and four in Jharkhand. Take a look at the famous faces who exercised their democratic right.
The people of West Bengal have lost faith in the state police and therefore their demand for deployment of central forces, Nayak said.
The students will now be meeting Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore next week.
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.
'We do not think the EC is doing enough to address issue of EVM malfunctioning'
The polling body said any such film that subserves purpose of any political entity or individual should not be displayed in the electronic media.
The EC also ordered the removal of Principal Secretary (Home) Atri Bhattacharya and Additional Director General, CID, Rajiv Kumar from their postings in West Bengal.
Can the Election Commission step up to the plate and exert its Constitutional powers with non-partisan conviction, asks Mitali Saran.
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