The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
Helicopters are anticipated to be more in demand compared to fixed-wing aircraft as choppers will help in providing accessibility to rural and remote areas in a shorter time.
'There is no scope for any doubt. This was a scheme designed to enrich the ruling party.'
The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to produce before it in sealed cover the "up to date" data of funds received by political parties through electoral bonds till September 30, 2023.
The Delhi high court on Friday sought a response from the Centre, Election Commission of India, and 26 political parties on a petition seeking to restrain opposition parties from using the acronym INDIA for their alliance.
It is in power on its own only in three states -- Karnataka, Himachal Pradesh and Telangana -- with a big question mark on whether it can even stake claim to be head of the INDIA bloc.
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday said he will attend the inauguration of the Ram temple at Ayodhya in January if he is invited to the programme.
For people with disabilities, a mobile application called 'Saksham' has been introduced, which they can login to and choose the option to vote.
Taking potshots at the Bharatiya Janata Party, some opposition leaders also wondered if Goel resigned to contest the Lok Sabha polls on its ticket like former Calcutta high court judge Abhijit Gangopadhyay.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
The court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking action against Gandhi as well as formulation of guidelines to prevent such 'malpractice' by political leaders.
"The governor has returned to Ranchi...so far he has not issued any order," an official source in Raj Bhavan said.
The Mizoram assembly elections passed off peacefully on Tuesday with over 77 per cent of 8.57 lakh electors exercising their franchise, officials said.
Former Chief Minister Panneerselvam's decision was made in the wake of an appeal by the BJP to put up a common candidate to defeat the DMK backed Congress candidate in the election.
The Shiv Sena split into the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde factions last year, after which the former filed petitions with the Speaker seeking disqualification of several MLAs belonging to the chief minister's camp.
Jharkhand Governor Ramesh Bais is likely to send the order of disqualification of Chief Minister Hemant Soren as an MLA to the Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday, Raj Bhavan sources said.
Maharashtra minister Chhagan Bhujbal, belonging to the Nationalist Congress Party's Ajit Pawar camp, on Wednesday said they took the decision of joining the Eknath Shinde-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra after 'proper consideration'.
The Uddhav Thackeray faction on Monday approached the Supreme Court challenging the decision of the Election Commission recognising the Eknath Shinde-led bloc as the real Shiv Sena and allotting the 'bow and arrow' poll symbol to it.
Assembly elections are due in five states including Uttar Pradesh, Manipur, Uttarakhand, Goa, and Punjab for next year.
The state was asked not to publicise the disbursement during the poll code as part of the condition.
The Rajya Sabha has already given its nod to the Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023.
'However, to establish a quid pro quo, one can potentially see several things, like whether they got any benefits from the party that they gave money to. That is something that people (of India) will gauge. But to finally establish that there was money paid as consideration, it would require an investigation, a proper investigation, to be able to come up with such conclusions.'
Observing that it will not venture into the "policy issue", the top court dismissed the PIL which had also sought a direction to the poll panel to put in the public domain the audit report, if any, of EVM's source code.
A five-judge Constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Wednesday said it will hear on September 27 an application by the Uddhav Thackeray-led faction seeking to restrain the Election Commission from deciding on the claim of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led group over the "original" Shiv Sena.
The top court said it needs to go through the case files and posted the matter for hearing at 3:30 pm on Wednesday
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction has submitted to the Election Commission its three options of a trident, rising sun or mashaal (burning torch) for its poll symbol, sources said on Sunday.
The Badals and Cheema had moved the top court challenging the August 2021 order of the Punjab and Haryana High Court refusing to quash the summons against them by additional chief judicial magistrate, Hoshiarpur in a private complaint filed by Social activist Balwant Singh Khera on the charges of forgery, cheating and concealing facts.
Shah said the development of the state will be on the "reverse gear" if the Congress forms the government.
NCP led by the former Union minister said the Election Commission had sought its response to a petition filed by Ajit Pawar, and the party submitted its "preliminary response" to the poll panel on September 7.
The system of 'selecting' an election commissioner, which is before the Supreme Court, must be institutionalised.
Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Friday said his party would pull off a spectacular victory in the state assembly elections, but evaded a direct reply to a question whether he would be the chief minister for the fifth time, as he just said 'Bharatiya Janata Party Zindabad'.
In future if the party wins, people would say 'INDIA has won,' but if the party loses, then people would say 'INDIA has lost'
More than 10,000 security personnel, returning officers, and other support staff will oversee the counting of votes for the Himachal Pradesh assembly polls on Thursday.
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.
Ruling Trinamool Congress in West Bengal on Thursday met the full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and alleged that the Border Security Force (BSF) is threatening people in the border areas of the state to cast their votes in favour of a particular political party.
In its complaint against Shah, the Congress told the EC that the home minister claimed in a speech in Chhattisgarh's Rajnandgaon on October 16 that "...Bhupesh Baghel's government, for appeasement politics and vote bank politics, lynched Chhattisgarh's son Bhuneshwar Sahoo and got him killed..."
Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren on Thursday alleged blatant misuse of constitutional authorities and public agencies after reports claimed that the Election Commission recommended his disqualification as an MLA in the mining lease case.
Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on Monday alleged that the police and administration are preventing people from casting votes in Mainpuri parliamentary and Rampur Assembly constituency in the bypolls in Uttar Pradesh.
The results for bypolls to seven assembly seats in six states will be declared on Friday in what is being seen as a major test for the opposition's Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party-led National Democratic Alliance ahead of the polls in five states later this year and Lok Sabha elections in 2024.
The seven seats -- Bageshwar in Uttarakhand, Ghosi in Uttar Pradesh, Puthuppally in Kerala, Dhupguri in West Bengal, Dumri in Jharkhand, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura -- went to poll on September 5.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances