An analysis of the assets data from Association of Democratic Reforms shows that the average assets of a winner of the 2014 LS election was more than the average assets of a candidate: more the money you have, more the chances of winning.
The ruling BJP's income forms 76.73 percent of the total income of the six national parties during FY 2022-23, it said.
The Association for Democratic Reforms slams the Budget proposals on political funding, says they lack teeth and show the "lack of political will" in proposing real reforms.
Megha Engineering and Infrastructures Limited was the top donor to the Bharatiya Janata Party at Rs 584 crore and the Bharat Rashtra Samiti at Rs 195 crore.
No limit exists on the number of electoral bonds that a person (including corporate entities) can purchase.
The ECI data covers 20,421 bonds worth Rs 12,769 crore. The ADR data, however, collated information on 27,811 bonds worth Rs 16,492 crore. The gap is nearly Rs 4,000 crore and involves over 7,000 bonds.
Between 2016-17 and 2021-22, the last year for which the data is available, seven national parties and 24 regional parties received a total donation of Rs 9,188.35 crore through electoral bonds.
The Association for Democratic Reforms has complained against six major political parties for not appointing Public Information Officers.
'The fraud is the electronic voting machine is being manipulated by humans, and not counting the votes that is shown on VVPAT.'
In the last five years, 480 candidates with declared cases related to hate speech have contested elections to state assemblies, the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha, the ADR said.
According to the analysis, there has been a 55 percent increase in the number of MPs with declared criminal cases since 2009.
'Presumption of innocence must guide all formal actions, but transparency must not be mistaken for pre-judgment.' 'The cruel irony, however, is that Justice Varma is a fine judge who enjoys a reputation for writing well-reasoned judgments.'
Twenty-nine of the 30 incumbent chief ministers are crorepatis with Andhra Pradesh's Jagan Mohan Reddy having the highest assets totalling Rs 510 crore, according to poll affidavits analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Right to Information activist Anjali Bhardwaj said the VVPAT system should be re-calibrated to be fully voter-verifiable.
The representation of women in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls continues to remain dismally low, as only about 12 percent of the candidates in the fray in the fifth phase are female, according to an analysis by poll rights body ADR.
Followed by the BSP at Rs 698.33 crore and the Congress at Rs 588.16 crore.
A bench of Justices B R Gavai and Vikram Nath said the matter requires to be heard.
In 2023, this number has dropped to 90, nearly 39 per cent of the 230-member House, an ADR report said.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
Moveable assets accounted for 46 per cent of the wealth of the 10 richest candidates in the first phase of the 2024 elections.
Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, who appeared for the petitioners in the court, said at least 30 shell companies purchased electoral bonds worth over Rs 143 crore.
'If we truly wish to understand and apply Marx's insights today, we must reject the rigid dogmas that later 'Marxists' imposed in his name.'
Government unlikely to bring in an ordinance to address the developments arising out of the Supreme Court order.
Forty-two of the 102 Lok Sabha seats going to polls in the general election's first phase are constituencies that have three or more candidates facing criminal cases, according to a poll rights body.
A bench comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha said the petitions raise three separate issues and hence, the need to hear them separately.
The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre over the procedure adopted for the appointment of election commissioners and asked how six names were shortlisted from 200 within a few hours.
Professor Sastry says in this interview with rediff.com's Vicky Nanjappa that every political party appears to be taking a shortcut and hence there is so much criminlisation in politics.
The study showed the ruling BJP has 132 crorepati MLAs, followed by 14 of the Congress, all three Independents, and one each of the Aam Aadmi Party and the Samajwadi Party.
The Association for Democratic Reforms, an non-government organisation working for electoral reforms, while supporting Election Commission's order to seize unaccounted cash in poll-bound states, has noted that legitimate business transactions based on cash should not suffer.
About 82 per cent of the total income from unknown sources declared by national political parties in 2022-23 came from electoral bonds, according to a poll rights body.
The richest Rajya Sabha MPs have gotten significantly richer -- to nearly quadruple from around Rs 20 crore in 2013 to nearly Rs 80 crore in 2022.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
From steel tycoon Lakshmi Mittal to billionaire Sunil Bharti Mittal's Airtel, Anil Agarwal's Vedanta, ITC, Mahindra and Mahindra, and a lesser-known Future Gaming and Hotel Services were among the prominent buyers of the now-scrapped electoral bonds for making political donations.
The Election Commission has rejected a demand to make mandatory the filing of affidavits by candidates in the Presidential poll disclosing their assets and criminal record, if any.
People in Bangladesh have welcomed the new interim government led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus, hoping it would restore order, end repression and hold a fair election to facilitate a democratic transition of power.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it will hear on December 6 the plea of a Congress leader challenging a recent notification by which the sale of electoral bonds has been extended by 15 more days in the year of general elections to legislative assemblies of states and Union territories (UTs) with a legislature.
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party has 17 crorepati candidates followed by Tipra Motha with nine and the Communist Party of India-Marxist seven, the report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), a civil society organisation, said.
Out of the 69 candidates with declared criminal cases, 30 have declared serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery, extortion, reports Vicky Nanjappa
There are 57 members with criminal background, one with even charges of rape, and 134 crorepatis (74 per cent) in the newly-elected Gujarat assembly, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms, a non-political group aiming at governmental and electoral reforms. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The "unknown" sources are income declared in the annual audit report by these parties but without giving the source of income, according to the ADR.
