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 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 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 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.
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.
'There are certain states that need special attention. In terms of electoral records it is very bad,' Lyngdoh said.
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.
External Affairs Minister S M Krishna on Wednesday accused the Bharatiya Janata Party government in Karnataka of sending "doctored and concocted" information to a Supreme Court appointed panel on illegal mining, saying it was a deliberate attempt to 'defame' him.
The CEC said the commission would not allow any kind of violation that puts a particular political party at an advantage over another.
Amid reports that some Samajwadi Party supporters clashed with mediapersons in Jhansi of Uttar Pradesh and were held hostage in a room by the mob collected there, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Tuesday said the journalists were "absolutely safe".
'We played one ODI against New Zealand with no crowd (and it) was really strange for first four or five overs, but then you got into your work'
"I am right", Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami said on Sunday, unfazed by the sharp criticism to his recommendation for the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla for "partisan" functioning.
"The Commission strongly feels that so long as the provisions of Article 324 (5) stands as they are, recurrence of episodes of the nature described above cannot be ruled out in future, against bringing into serious disrepute and shaking the confidence of the millions of citizens in the integrity and neutrality of the Commission," Chawla said in the letter.
The International Cricket Council announced on Wednesday that teams will be allowed two additional reviews after 80 overs in an innings in Test matches where the Decision Review System is used from October 1.
The party refuted reports that it will relinquish its claim over Guhagar Assembly seat in coastal Konkan region for ally Shiv Sena.
Alleging that the Chief Election Commissioner's controversial recommendation for removal of his colleague has eroded the credibility of the poll body, the Communist Party of India-Marxist on Friday claimed the CEC himself has violated the independence of the Election Commission.
Lavasa said, 'My view is very clear that transparency is important ... minority view should be included and there should be time-bound procedures'.
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