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.
The CMs with lowest assets are West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee with assets worth over Rs 15.38 lakh, Omar Abdullah, CM of Jammu and Kashmir, with assets worth over Rs 55.24 lakh, and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan, who has assets worth Rs 1.18 crore.
The Election Commission defended its Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise for Bihar's voter list in the Supreme Court, calling it accurate and dismissing allegations of impropriety by political parties and NGOs.
Association for Democratic33 per cent of 4,092 sitting MLAs were non-graduates.
Trinamool Congress leader and Member of Parliament Mahua Moitra has moved the Supreme Court challenging an order of the Election Commission of India for special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar.
It also aims to reduce the powers of the Supreme Court, with some authorities shifted to the proposed Constitutional Court, and immunity to the president from criminal proceedings for life.
Total assets of the 699 candidates are worth about Rs 3,952 crore...
The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on March 18 a plea seeking to debar from polls, candidates charged with serious offences. The plea, filed by advocate Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, seeks directions to the Centre and the Election Commission of India (ECI) to restrain such candidates put on trial for serious offences. The plea alleges that despite recommendations of the Law Commission of India and court's previous directions, the Centre and the ECI did not act. The plea also highlights the increasing number of MPs with declared serious criminal cases since 2009, with one MP declaring 204 criminal cases against him, including culpable homicide, house trespass, robbery, criminal intimidation, etc. It claims that political parties are competing with each other in a race to the bottom as they couldn't afford to leave their competitors free to recruit persons with criminal antecedents.
The Supreme Court has directed the Bihar State Legal Service Authority to assist voters excluded from the final electoral rolls in filing appeals with the Election Commission.
While it is evident that the INDIA bloc has not shut its doors on Nitish Kumar, those within the NDA are hopeful that the JD-U's support base would benefit them as well
Gitanjali Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, has filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking his release from detention under the National Security Act. Wangchuk was detained following protests in Ladakh. The plea challenges his detention and alleges violations of due process.
The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission to provide details regarding the approximately 65 lakh voters removed from the draft electoral rolls in Bihar, a state preparing for elections. The court's order comes in response to a petition filed by an NGO challenging the Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking a directive for 100% manual counting of Voter Verified Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips in addition to electronic counting. The court cited its previous rulings on the safety and security of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and stated that the issue was not open for reconsideration. The plea argued for a modified VVPAT system where voters could verify printed ballots before leaving the polling station, and for 100% manual counting of VVPAT slips. The court upheld the Delhi High Court's decision dismissing the plea, referring to previous Supreme Court judgments on the matter.
The Supreme Court has warned that it will set aside the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar if any illegality is found. The court is reviewing the validity of the Bihar SIR and its potential impact on a similar exercise across India.
Five of the seven newly sworn-in ministers in Delhi, including the chief minister, have declared criminal cases against themselves, while two are billionaires, according to the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR). The findings are based on self-sworn affidavits submitted by the ministers ahead of the 2025 Delhi Assembly Elections. The report highlights that five ministers, including Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, have declared criminal cases against themselves, with one minister, Ashish Sood, facing serious criminal charges. On the financial front, two ministers are billionaires, with Manjinder Singh Sirsa having the highest declared assets worth Rs. 248.85 crores and Kapil Mishra having the lowest at Rs 1.06 crores. The average assets of the seven ministers stand at Rs 56.03 crores. All seven ministers have declared liabilities, with Parvesh Sahib Singh having the highest at Rs 74.36 crores. Six ministers have declared educational qualifications of graduate level or above, while one has completed only the 12th standard. Five ministers are between 41 and 50 years old, while the remaining two are aged between 51 and 60 years. The cabinet includes only one woman minister, the chief minister.
Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh (Phase II) go to the polls on Friday, November 17, 2023.
The government rejected the Opposition's demand for a discussion on electoral roll revision in Bihar, citing that the matter is sub judice and pending before the judiciary.
The Bharat Rashtra Samithi has fielded 114 crorepati candidates followed by the Congress (111), the Bharatiya Janata Party (93) and 30 by the Bahujan Samaj Party.
The Supreme Court has begun hearing petitions challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct a special intensive revision exercise in Bihar ahead of elections, raising concerns about voter exclusion.
The third and final phase of the three phase Jammu and Kashmir assembly elections will be held on Tuesday, October 1, 2024.
The Supreme Court has stated it will intervene if there is mass exclusion in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, emphasizing the Election Commission's role as a constitutional authority.
The second phase of the three phase Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.
The Congress has fielded 121 candidates with declared criminal cases and 61 with serious criminal cases.
Polling for the 90 seats of the Haryana assembly will take place on Saturday, October 5, 2024.
The Delhi Assembly elections saw BJP's Karnail Singh emerge as the richest winner with assets worth Rs 259 crore, Umang Bajaj at 31 as the youngest winner, Tilak Ram Gupta as the oldest contestant at 73, and AAP's Amanatullah Khan the candidate with the highest, 19, criminal cases. Several winning candidates have pending criminal cases, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms.
"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?"
Polling for the Delhi assembly's 70 seats will be held on Wednesday, February 5, 2025.
The Supreme Court has sought responses from the Centre and Union Territory of Ladakh regarding the detention of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk under the National Security Act. Wangchuk's wife filed a plea seeking his release. The court has scheduled the next hearing for October 14.
The Election Commission has assured the Supreme Court that no voter's name will be deleted from the draft electoral roll in Bihar without prior notice and a fair hearing. The EC also clarified that it is not required to share separate lists of those not included in the draft rolls.
The polling for 230 seats for Madhya Pradesh and 70 seats in the second phase of Chhattisgarh will be held on Friday, November 17, 2023.
An analysis of the affidavits of all the 90 winning candidates by the Association for Democratic Reforms and Haryana Election Watch show a slight rise in the number of crorepati MLAs, from 93 percent in 2019 to 96 percent this time.
According to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu is the richest chief minister in India with assets worth over Rs 931 crore, while West Bengal's Mamata Banerjee is the poorest with just Rs 15 lakh. The average asset per chief minister is Rs 52.59 crore, and the total assets of 31 chief ministers are worth Rs 1,630 crores. The report also highlights that 13 chief ministers have declared criminal cases against themselves, with 10 of them having declared serious criminal cases.
The first phase of the three phase Jammu and Kashmir elections will be held on Wednesday, September 18, 2024.
The Supreme Court has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to publish details of deleted names from the voters list in Bihar, along with reasons for non-inclusion, to enhance transparency in the special intensive revision (SIR) of the electoral roll.
Expressing surprise over political parties not coming forward in filing objections related to 65 lakh excluded voters, the top court directed the chief electoral officer of Bihar to implead them in the court proceedings.
Of the 695 candidates in the fray, 88.2 per cent or 613 candidates are male candidates.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, however, questioned the timing of the exercise, besides offering its prima facie view that Aadhaar card, voter ID card and ration cards could be considered during the SIR in Bihar.
Of the 904 candidates, 89.49 per cent or 809 candidates are male candidates. 10.51 per cent or 95 candidates are women candidates in the final phase.
Underscoring the 'presumption of genuineness' of Aadhaar and voter ID, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the publication of draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and said it would once and for all decide pleas against Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
