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.
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.
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
The voting will begin at 7 am and end at 5 pm after the electioneering came to an end on Saturday, 48 hours before the electorate begin casting their votes.
An average 59.24 per cent voter turnout was recorded as of 5 pm on Thursday across 89 assembly seats in the first phase of Gujarat elections, officials said.
The plea was filed by several opposition leaders seeking counting of voter verifiable paper audit trail slips of 50 per cent of electronic voting machines in each constituency before the Lok Sabha results are declared.
Among other things, the model code of conduct bars the government from announcing any policy move that may impact voters' decision.
Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court observed on Monday a person making a "false statement" "must know the consequence" as it leads to stalling the electoral process.
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.
Polling is being held for 224 seats in what is being seen mainly as a three-cornered contest between the ruling BJP, the Congress and former prime minister H D Deve Gowda's Janata Dal-Secular.
In the 2012 assembly elections, Goa had recorded an impressive 81.8 per cent voting.
There are 64 vacancies in the legislative assemblies of various states and one in Lok Sabha.
The poll panel had ordered for 67,000 additional paper trail units in 2015, out of which 33,500 have been supplied, according to the law ministry.
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra on Thursday said all political parties in Uttar Pradesh want the Assembly elections to be held according to schedule while ensuring Covid protocol.
The protesters, including AAP MLAs and newly appointed Delhi convener Gopal Rai, alleged that the manipulation of electronic voting machines was killing democracy.
While the ruling BJP, riding on the Modi juggernaut, wants to break the 38-year jinx and retain its southern citadel, the Congress is seeking to wrest power to give the party much-needed elbow room and momentum to position itself as the main opposition player in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
EVM -- described as the "devil" by one worried voter -- was the hot topic of discussion among the people
A bench headed by Chief Justice N V Ramana agreed to hear next week the EC's plea after senior advocate Vikas Singh submitted a large number of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail machines (VVPATs) are still being preserved and need to be released.
Till now, the postal ballots were counted in the beginning followed by votes polled in voting machines.
The Supreme Court has made it clear that random matching of VVPAT slips with EVMs will take place in five polling booths per assembly segment. Accordingly, the exercise will be held in 20,600 of the 10.35 lakh polling stations across the country.
The clearance to the proposal of "procurement of VVPAT units" was given by the Cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi after a brief discussion. The EC has sought Rs 3,174 crore in all for procuring over 16 lakh paper trail machines to cover all polling stations in the country.
The Bharatiya Janata Party, which has ruled Gujarat for 27 years, is trying to retain power in the state for the seventh term in a row.
Despite a slow down in polling at midday due to the scorching heat, voter turnout was around 50 per cent till 2 pm on Friday for elections to the lone Mizoram Lok Sabha seat and by-poll to the Hrangturzo assembly seat.
In both of these Hindi heartland states, the straight contest between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition Congress.
This is for the first time in a Lok Sabha election that results of voting machines will be matched with slips generated by paper trail machines.
The SC agreed to hear next week a review plea filed by 21 Opposition leaders seeking further increase in random matching of VVPAT
The state has total 8,98,39,600 voters, including 1,06,76,013 in the age group of 18 to 25 years. A total of 6.5 lakh polling personnel have been deployed at 96,661 polling booths across the state.
The counting of votes for the high-stakes assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will begin at 8 am.
The state had recorded overall 79.80 per cent turnout in 2012.
The Election Commission sought a detailed report from the district poll authorities in Bhind, where a bypoll is due on April 9.
Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
"For the Lok Sabha elections, we are making meticulous planning on all fronts including electronic voting machines (EVMs) and the voter verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT)," he said.
The tallying of VVPAT slips with the votes cast and stored in the EVMs will be done to demonstrate that the voting system has been working perfectly.
The commission issued letter of intent to ECIL and BEL -- both PSUs -- on Friday, two days after the Union Cabinet cleared its proposal to buy 16,15000 voter verifiable paper audit trail units at an estimated cost of Rs 3,173.47 crore.
Jammu and Kashmir has been without an assembly since November 2018 when the then legislative assembly was dissolved by then Governor Satya Pal Malik after the People's Democratic Party-Bharatiya Janata Party coalition government fell apart earlier that year.
Counting of votes for the high stakes assembly elections in West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam, Kerala and Puducherry began on Thursday morning with trends expected to be available by 11am.
A total of 833 candidates from 61 political parties, including Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel of the Bharatiya Janata Party, are contesting the polls in these assembly segments spread across Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Gandhinagar and other districts.
To clear doubts over EVMs, Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi will soon call all-party meet.
The EC received complaints from five places that EVMs were connecting to external devices via bluetooth, but after inquiry, it was found that there was 'no substance' in the complaints.
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