A hearing on making the income tax returns of members of Parliament public was held on Thursday at the Central Information Commission premises in New Delhi.
In Kerala, 95 out of 135 MLAs, accounting for 70 per cent, have declared criminal cases against themselves.
When a senior minister in Uttar Pradesh makes a statement such as 'steal a little, but don't loot', then this bit of data regarding corporate donations to political parties in the past three years would be interesting to take note of. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
The BJP declared a total income of Rs 1917.12 crore during 2021-22 and spent Rs 854.467 crore or 44.57 per cent of it.
In a landmark judgment that delivered a big blow to the government, the Supreme Court on Thursday annulled the electoral bonds scheme, saying it violates the constitutional right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to information.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday delivered a landmark verdict with regard to convicted MPs and MLAs. The judgment has ruled that a convicted elected representative cannot continue in office and the conviction will lead to instant disqualification of the elected representative. The judgement is important considering the fact that India has 1,460 sitting MP's and MLA's with a criminal background.
Uttar Pradesh Election Watch and the ADR have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 45 of the total 53 ministers, including the chief minister.
About 42 per cent ministers in Karnataka self-declared criminal cases pending against them in their affidavits filed during the last held assembly elections in 2008.
A bench of justices S Abdul Nazeer and V Ramasubramanian said the Kerala Police Act was the successor legislation of certain police enactments of the colonial era which aimed at scuttling the democratic aspirations of the indigenous population.
A breakdown of candidates in the first five stages of the election by the Association for Democratic Reforms and National Election Watch offers a fascinating insight into the declarations made by this year's Lok Sabha hopefuls.
Only three of the 188 candidates analysed by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Nagaland Election Watch have criminal cases pending against them. This is a refreshing change as elections in India often witness hordes of tainted politicians contesting for the coveted seats.
The petition filed by the Association for Democratic Reforms alleged that two political parties -- Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party have violated the Representation of People's Act, 1951 and Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Act by taking donations from government companies and foreign sources, which is prohibited under both legislations.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court is scheduled to commence a crucial hearing from Tuesday on a batch of pleas challenging the validity of the electoral bonds scheme for funding political parties.
The manner in which Members of Legislative Assembly spent their funds during the recent four-state assembly elections is something that needs to be looked into.
Implementation of Lodha Committee recommendations in the Board of Control for Cricket in India will be complete in the next four-five months, said Vinod Rai, head of the Supreme Court-appointed panel of administrators to manage the cricket board's affairs.
Latest records show that only one MLA in the newly-elected Gujarat assembly spent more on the election expenses than the limit specified by the Election Commission, reports Vicky Nanjappa.
There has been a national outcry seeking harsher laws for rapists in India. As the outrage grows against the heinous incident of gangrape in Delhi and Parliament discusses the issue, Vicky Nanjappa takes a look at the background of our lawmakers (members of Parliament and members of Legislative Assembly) with respect to rape cases and other crimes against women based on their self-sworn affidavits.
Balbir Singh Verma, an independent candidate from Chopal constituency in Himachal Pradesh, has declared the highest income among all candidates -- Rs. 1.41 crore -- in his income tax returns, according to a report prepared by the Himachal Pradesh Election Watch and the Association for Democratic Reforms.
During the last assembly elections held in Himachal Pradesh in 2007, only 16 per cent of the total candidates were crorepatis. According to a report just released by the Association for Democratic Reforms and the Himachal Pradesh Election Watch, today 33 per cent of the total 445 candidates are crorepatis.
Data put out by the Karnataka Election Watch (KEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms analysed 179 outgoing MLAs who are contesting again in the 2013 Karnataka Assembly elections.
According to a report by the Association of Democratic Reforms, the ruling party's assets rose to Rs 1,483.35 crore in 2017-18 over its previous financial year's declaration of Rs 1,213 crore.
Crores received by the Congress between 2005 and 2009 are unaccounted for, the BJP follows suit. Vicky Nanjappa reports
The Indian National Congress leads the political pack with most number of candidates who will contest the Tripura Assembly elections to be held in March.
The Aam Aadmi Party tops the list with 61 such candidates.
A full bench of the Central Information Commission on Monday passed a historic judgment, stating that political parties would under the ambit of the Right to Information Act). While the CIC verdict was made about a case connected to the Communist Party of India, fresh complaints may be filed against all other parties before the CIC to secure a similar verdict and put them under the ambit of the RTI.
According to the analysis, 37 of the 40 BJP MLAs and 29 of the 31 Congress legislators are crorepatis.
Of the 360 candidates analysed for the 6th phase of Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, 128 candidates or 36 per cent of them have criminal cases registered against them.
Phase two of the Uttar Pradesh elections will see a whopping 118 candidates with a criminal background. The details released by the Association for Democratic Reforms reveals that out of the 337 candidates analysed for the second phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly Elections, 118 candidates have declared criminal cases against them. Vicky Nanjappa reports.
All political parties in India except the Communist Party of India have declined to provide information through a Right To Information application on political donations.
Five legislators, who are contesting the forthcoming assembly polls, have serious criminal cases like murder, attempt to murder, kidnapping, robbery etc pending against them. This information has been revealed by the Punjab Election Watch which, along with the Association for Democratic Reforms, has assessed the financial and other details of the members of legislative assembly seeking re-election in Punjab.
Of the 258 candidates in the electoral fray in Manipur for the forthcoming assembly elections, only three have criminal charges registered against them. According to the Association for Democratic Reforms, which analyses the affidavits filed by candidates, only three face criminal charges. As many as 33 candidates contesting the assembly polls are crorepatis.
From 2014 to 2017, Gupta served as the assistant attorney general for civil rights under President Barack Obama, where she advanced criminal justice reform, prosecuted hate crimes, protected voting rights and fought against discrimination.
Statistics from the Association for Democratic Reforms analysis of the newly-elected legislative assemblies in Nagaland and Tripura indicate that there are 36 and 8 crorepatis respectively in both the Houses. Vicky Nanjappa reports:
'Who has given how much money to which party, the people of India must know this fact.'
As many as 1,500, or 19 per cent, of all candidates contesting the Lok Sabha polls, face criminal cases, according to an analysis by election watchdog Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR).
Did you know that 98 politicians with corruption cases have been given election tickets by various parties in the last 5 years?
The newly elected Legislative Assembly in Himachal Pradesh has seen a decline in the number of members who are facing criminal cases.
In Uttarkhand, 71 per cent of the MLAs (50 of 70 analysed) are graduates and have higher qualification and 27 per cent have criminal records, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
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