The Wednesday's preliminary meeting focused on various thematic issues including assured minimum facilities at polling stations, ease of registration for voters, electoral roll, timely resolution of grievances, arrangements of electronic voting and paper trail machines, postal ballot facility for senior citizens who are 80 and above, and people with disabilities.
The Election Commission on Friday cited convention followed in 2017 for not announcing the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat together and underlined that the model code this time has not been "unnecessarily extended".
The Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance is set to host a meeting of its constituents on Tuesday in what is being seen as a show of strength by the ruling alliance amid a get-together of opposition parties in Bengaluru to forge unity, as the two sides step up their campaign for the Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
Three Union ministers and farmer leaders will meet in Chandigarh at 6 pm to discuss their demands, including a legal guarantee for MSP for crops and farm debt waiver.
With this kind of coinage, the Opposition seems to be readily conceding the point that Modi is taller than all of them put together. So they need something bigger than themselves, collectively or not, to capture the voter imagination when it is about taking on Modi and the BJP in 2024, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Election Commission on Saturday cautioned political parties over hate speeches and said it is closely monitoring social media posts to ensure clean assembly polls in five states.
Amit Shah wants to increase the party's nationwide vote share by at least 10 per cent from the 37.7 per cent it secured five years ago and ensure above 50 per cent vote share in the states where it came close to that benchmark, but couldn't cross it.
'Even the President does not have the power to overrule the ECI.'
The value of the vote of a Member of Parliament is likely to go down to 700 from 708 in the presidential polls scheduled in July due to the absence of a legislative assembly in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Saturday.
Strong rooms spread across the city storing the electronic voting machines (EVMs) are being heavily guarded, with a 'three-layer security ring'. Tight security arrangements have also been put in place at various centres across the national capital.
In a major development in the ongoing Samajwadi Party feud, Mulayam Singh Yadav has postponed the national convention of party called by him on January 5.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Congress' chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala and senior leader Jairam Ramesh were among the 10 candidates elected to the Rajya Sabha on Friday from Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, while counting was underway in Maharashtra after an eight-hour delay due to wrangling by rival parties over alleged breach of voting rules.
"The purpose of this film is only political -- to get some extra mileage in the elections. We believe, it is not just a corrupt practice, but the very launch of the film is motivated," Kapil Sibal told reporters outside the Election Commission.
It said that enacting a law that a minister, who is also a lawmaker, gets suspended automatically, if he or she is in judicial custody for over 48 hours, falls within the domain of the legislature.
Hazarika, a former minister, said that he resigned from all posts in the AGP, including that of the general secretary.
The vote value of an MLA is calculated on the basis of the total population of the state, based on the 1971 census.
The EC has time and again rubbished allegations that EVMs can be programmed to favour any particular party.
The 'flaming torch' symbol was used by the Sena in the past during civic body and assembly polls.
Petitions have been filed with the President seeking disqualification of these MLAs on the ground that they occupied office of profit in violation of Constitution.
The ethics committee of the Lok Sabha has asked Trinamool Congress member Mahua Moitra to appear before it on October 31 in relation to the allegations levelled against her by Bharatiya Janata Party MP Nishikant Dubey, who told the panel on Thursday that it was an "open and shut" case and she should be disqualified.
Questioning the eight-phase assembly elections in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said on Friday that she suspects that the dates were announced as per the suggestions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah for better management of the BJP's poll campaign.
According to a senior Election Commission official in Chandigarh, Panwar got 36 votes, while Sharma got 23 first preference votes and six transferred from the BJP, taking his tally to 29.
The Delhi police arrested five members of the Hindu Sena on Tuesday for allegedly vandalising the official residence of AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi at Ashoka Road in Delhi.
External affairs ministry spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said the request for extraditing Saeed along with certain documents was recently sent to Islamabad.
The Election Commission had earlier asked Twitter to remove the tweet by Mishra, a candidate from the Model Town seat.
Election Commissioner V S Sampath announced that Delhi will go to polls on February 7.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and all 117 party candidates in Punjab will pay obeisance at the Golden Temple and sit down for a langar on Thursday.
The Commission said it is issuing the clarification 'in view of the anecdotal reports which are not based on empirical facts'.
The resumption of the drive assumes significance as it comes ahead of the April five MCD elections, with the ruling Congress wary of resuming the action fearing that it may harm its poll prospects.
In the financial year 2018-19, the party collected Rs 5.17 crore as contributions and Rs 3.74 crore in FY 2019-20.
In a jolt to the AAP government, President Pranab Mukherjee has refused to give assent to a legislation that protects 21 party MLAs, who have been appointed parliamentary secretaries, and face the prospect of disqualification.
An anonymous call threatening to blow up the Election Commission's office in New Delhi on Sunday triggered panic, but it turned out to be a hoax.
The much-awaited press conference by the Election Commission of India to announce the dates for the elections.
'They should know that we are still protesting as Delhi votes and will continue the agitation after the polling'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday named its candidates for assembly bypolls in several states, fielding six disqualified MLAs of the Himachal Pradesh assembly in the state days after they joined the party after leaving the Congress.
After the alteration of the boundaries, the BJP assessed the wards afresh to see what changes in strategy were needed
No major glitches in electronic voting machines were reported and the voting passed off peacefully with high security observed at the 3,360 critical booths in 493 locations where more than 25,000 police personnel, nearly 13,000 home guards and 100 companies of paramilitary forces were deployed, officials said.
'Farmers have been sent notices in which the government is threatening that if you will join the movement, then we will impound your ancestral properties.' 'We will seal your bank accounts.' 'We will revoke the passports of your kids.'
Aam Aadmi Party candidate Sushil Rinku on Saturday won the Jalandhar Lok Sabha by-election, defeating his nearest rival and Congress nominee Karamjit Kaur Chaudhary by a margin of 58,691 votes.
Bharatiya Janata Party was surging ahead in all the three municipal corporations of Delhi leaving the Congress behind as counting of votes progressed for the polls held two days ago.
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