Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Monday rejected social activist Anna Hazare's demand for right to recall or reject saying the move would endanger political stability in the country.
Accompanied by two election commissioners -- Naveen Chawla and S Y Quraishi -- Gopalswami arrived in Lucknow on Wednesday evening on a two-day visit. The team will also travel to Patna to take stock of the poll preparations in Bihar. India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, has as many as 80 parliamentary constituencies. The state will go to poll in five phases, during which 11.62 crore voters will exercise their franchise at 1,28,112 polling stations.
The Centre has appointed Navin Chawla as chief election commissioner with effect from April 21, 2009.
Amitabh Chaudhary sent an e-mail on the decisions taken by the Committee of Administrators (COA) to Tamil Nadu Cricket Association, which had moved the Supreme Court on Wednesday on one of the issues dogging the BCCI.
Actor-turned-politician Chiranjeevi met Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy in New Delhi on Monday to seek a common symbol for his party Praja Rajyam. Chiranjeevi, who was accompanied by former union minister P Shivshankar, submitted a memorandum to the Election Commission, requesting that the rules for issuing a common symbol be amended. As per the EC's rules, a regional political party needs to secure six per cent of the votes and two elected representatives.
Terming as "impractical" Anna Hazare's suggestion for the right to recall an elected Member of Parliament, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said such a move will "destabilise" the entire system. "Right to recall in a big country like ours is impractical. It is not easy in a country where candidates are voted by lakhs of voters," he told reporters. He feared that if the right to recall is put in place, "elections will go on happening".
India has provided 1,935 electronic voting machines to Bhutan for the country's second national elections to be held on Saturday.
Unlike the past when G V G Krishnamurthy, J M Lyngdoh, R Peri Sastry, H S Brahma, and V S Sampath held positions in the ECI representing all corners of India, this ECI will be North India-centric.
The legendary Seshan was not keeping good health for the past couple of years and he passed away at about 9.30 pm, a senior police official told PTI.
On a day Ashok Lavasa's decision to recuse from model code of conduct complaints became public, the EC said the 'full commission' would meet on May 21 to discuss the issue of dissent and 'related matters'.
Unhappy with the Sports Authority of India's flip-flop over the dope testing episode involving weightlifter Monika Devi, Sports Minister M S Gill on Wednesday appointed former Chief Election Commissioner T S Krishnamurthy to inquire into all aspects of the matter. Krishnamurthy has been asked to submit his report within a week, sources in the Sports Ministry said.
Tata Communications (formerly VSNL) has acquired a 50 per cent stake in Beijing-based telecom and IT services firm China Enterprise Communications for an undisclosed sum. The acquisition was done through its wholly owned subsidiary, Tata Communications International Pte.
Counting of votes in all elections will be held on May 2.
Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday suggested an annual compulsory audit of funds and donations received by political parties. "We want that all political funding should be transparent and checked. There should be annual compulsory audits by an independent auditor to be picked up from a panel suggested by the Election Commission," Quraishi said.
The speculations fuelled as August and September are times of floods in the state and this period will be followed by festivals like Bakri Id, Dushehra, Muharram, Diwali and Chhath slated for October and November.
There was no move to advance elections to the assembly in Kerala which would be held in the mid-May next year, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said on Tuesday.
Achal Kumar Joti will take over as the head of the Election Commission on July 6.
Aditi Phadnis profiles V S Sampath, India's newly-appointed Chief Election Commissioner.
The Central Election Committee (CEC) said that Blue and White party seemed to be taking a lead over Likud after 91 per cent votes were counted.
The Prime Minister's Office has sought clarity on a Rs 57-crore project of Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi to establish an India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management at Dwarka in New Delhi as the Cabinet note did not contain comments from various union ministries.
The CEC said 7.2 crore single-use gloves for voters to press electronic voting machine buttons, more than seven lakh units of hand sanitiser, about 46 lakh masks, about six lakh personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, 7.6 lakh units of face shields have been arranged.
The Election Commission on Tuesday said it has not yet taken a decision on the letter of Law Minister Salman Khurshid regretting his controversial remarks on the minorities sub-quota issue.
"So far, the Commission has not received any presidential reference on Sonia Gandhi holding an office of profit but the law is equal for all," said CEC Tandon.
Karnataka Tourism Minister G Janardhana Reddy on Friday night said the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee's report -- describing as 'illegal' the mining of iron ore by the Obulapuram Mining Company owned by him in Andhra Pradesh-Karnataka border -- was not that of the apex court. He said the report by the CEC is an 'ex parte report' since the Obulapuram Mining Company "was never heard before
The campaign by Team Anna in Hisar Lok Sabha bypoll may have raised hackles of Congress, but the Election Commission on Tuesday said it did not violate any election law and the panel saw no reason for intervention.
'All I can say is that there is a disparity between the removal procedures of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners as may be seen from the provisions of the Constitution. Everybody is free to interpret it on the basis of what is already there in the Constitution. But how it is to be interpreted is a matter which can be decided only by a court, perhaps,' ex-CEC T S Krishnamurthy said.
The world body is unlikely to even discuss a possible boycott of Pakistan when its Chief Executives Committee (CEC) meets in Dubai on Wednesday.
Om Prakash Rawat, a former Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer who till recently was Secretary at the Centre, was on Thursday appointed as the new Election Commissioner.
62-year-old Sampath will take over as CEC after incumbent S Y Quraishi demits office on June 10.
The confrontation between the Election Commission and the West Bengal government escalated by a few notches on Tuesday, with Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath asking West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee to transfer five superintendents of police and one district magistrate (North 24-Parganas) by 2.30 pm on Tuesday, after Opposition parties complained against these officers and accused them of being biased.
The Karnataka government has told the Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowerment Committee that it could go ahead and probe the three former chief ministers of the state in connection with the illegal mining case.
Members of the civil society including former chief election commissioner N Gopalaswami, ex-navy chief L Ramdas and former cabinet secretary T S R Subramanian on Thursday approached the Supreme Court seeking a court-monitored Special Investigation Team probe into the coal block allocation scam.
'There are certain states that need special attention. In terms of electoral records it is very bad,' Lyngdoh said.
The Supreme Court on Monday lifted its ban on iron ore mining operations in Karnataka by those companies which had not flouted lease conditions. A three-judge bench headed by Justice Aftab Alam accepted the report of its Central Empowered Committee, which had said that Category 'A' leases which consist of 21 operational and 24 non-operational leases should be allowed to carry on their business as they have not violated any rules.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday night announced the 47 remaining candidates for Haryana assembly elections who include Union Minister Sushma Swaraj's younger sister Vandana Sharma and two former Congress MPs and a former minister in B S Hooda government in the state.
The Central Empowerment Committee constituted by the Supreme Court has indicted former Karnataka chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in the illegal mining case.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Friday said all efforts will be made to keep the electoral rolls in West Bengal flawless for the polls due next year.
The next general elections would be held in multiple phases next year and be completed in time to constitute the 16th Lok Sabha by June 1, Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath has said.
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