'This is total fraud. You are showing me the slip of my vote but not counting it so this is fraud.'
'I don't know whether on voting day there will be intimidation from some militant groups to vote for a particular person and then force them from voting for another in the stronghold of the candidate which does not favour them, or, force them not to come out for voting.' 'Anything is possible.'
Pronouncing the judgement, Justice Khanna said the court has rejected all the petitions, including those seeking resorting back to ballot papers in elections.
The Congress has appointed observers to coordinate meetings of its legislature party in four states where assembly election results will be declared on Sunday.
Future Gaming and Hotel Services whose director is the lottery magnate Santiago Martin is the top purchaser of electoral bonds having purchased bonds worth Rs 1,368, according to data uploaded by the Election Commission of India on its website on Thursday.
A 10-member delegation of Trinamool Congress (TMC) had announced the dharna after meeting a full bench of the Election Commission (EC) to press their demand.
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 State Bank of India (SBI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that a total of 22,217 electoral bonds were purchased by donors between April 1, 2019 and February 15 this year, out of which 22,030 were redeemed by political parties.
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.'
For the first time in his political career, he failed to carry his party to even a working majority -- and again, for the first time in his career, he finds himself in a situation where he cannot rule by dictatorial fiat, points out Prem Panicker.
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.
For people with disabilities, a mobile application called 'Saksham' has been introduced, which they can login to and choose the option to vote.
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.
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.
"The governor has returned to Ranchi...so far he has not issued any order," an official source in Raj Bhavan 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 court was hearing a public interest litigation seeking action against Gandhi as well as formulation of guidelines to prevent such 'malpractice' by political leaders.
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.
The Mizoram assembly elections passed off peacefully on Tuesday with over 77 per cent of 8.57 lakh electors exercising their franchise, officials said.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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'.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
The system of 'selecting' an election commissioner, which is before the Supreme Court, must be institutionalised.
Shah said the development of the state will be on the "reverse gear" if the Congress forms the government.
'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.'
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.
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.
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.
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