An Uttar Pradesh Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer has been removed as a general observer for Gujarat assembly polls by the Election Commission for indulging in a 'publicity stunt' by posting pictures of his assignment on Instagram, sources said on Friday.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
Claiming shunted IAS officer Kunwar Fateh Bahadur has been appointed principal secretary to Chief Minister Mayawati, opposition parties in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to remove him from the post immediately.
The nodal officer for EVMs in Varanasi, a returning officer (RO) in Sonbhadra district and an additional election officer in Bareilly district have been pulled out from election duties, a day ahead of the counting of votes in UP.
The video in this regard was shared by Samajwadi Party (SP) supremo Akhilesh Yadav and senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on their social media accounts.
Constituencies that are going to the polls in the first phase, slated for April 19, have just 19 days for campaigning. Contrast that with those going to polls in the 7th phase, notes N Sathiya Moorthy.
'What does Indira Gandhi want from me? At this age, what will I do to her?'
The IAS officer was later taken into custody under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and is expected to be produced before a magistrate seeking his remand, the sources said.
Kerala's election discourse operates surreptitiously. Its explicit face focuses on important national and local issues. At the same time, it seeks to secure apt communal equations to ensure votes, notes Shyam G Menon.
According to an official release, the voting percentage is likely to go up when reports from all polling stations are obtained, as polling was scheduled until 6 pm in many constituencies.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
The Supreme Court on Monday stayed the disqualification of Janata Dal-Secular MLA D C Gowrishankar Swamy from the Tumkur Rural constituency in Karnataka and allowed him to contest the upcoming assembly polls in the southern state.
Sharif, 67, had to step down as the chief of the PML-N after he was disqualified as the prime minister by the Supreme Court on July 28 in the Panama Papers scandal.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar on Monday dared the opposition to share evidence of allegations that returning officers and district magistrates were influenced to vitiate the poll process so the panel could take action against them.
Kumar said the Commission will follow the time-tested methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any reforms and will not shy away from tough decisions, according to an Election Commission (EC) statement.
In the event of the BJP's poor performance in the assembly polls this year and in early 2025, Modi's hold will get further weakened because he will no longer remain the invincible electoral persona tightly controlling the machine at his disposal, asserts Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The opposition parties and some former CECs had opposed the move, saying it will go against the independence of the institution.
Campaigning for the first phase of the Gujarat assembly elections to be held on December 1 ended at 5 pm on Tuesday.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
Parliamentarians and legislators across the country voted on Monday to elect India's 15th president, choosing between opposition pick Yashwant Sinha and National Democratic Alliance nominee Droupadi Murmu who is favoured to win the battle to the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The next Census' findings will help identify the extent of India's ageing population and vulnerability levels.
Political parties and leaders wait with bated breath for the Haryana and Jammu-Kashmir assembly poll results on Tuesday.
The EC is believed to have told the Governor that Soren should be 'disqualified' as a legislator for violating electoral norms, they said.
The Election Commission has exonerated 12 legislators belonging to the ruling Mizo National Front on the issue of holding offices of profit.
The order came following a petition in the high court seeking direction to the police to ensure protection to Opposition party workers in the wake of alleged post-poll violence in some places of the state following the elections.
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..."
Of the exit polls, the India Today-Axis, ABP-C Voter, TV9 Bharatvarsh-Cicero got their numbers right for both the parties.
The party was floated exactly two years after Kishor had embarked on a more than 3,000-km-long 'padayatra' of the state.
A day after Ansari's burial, police constable Faiyaz Khan, posted at a police station in Lucknow, allegedly made certain comments in favour of the gangster-politician on his WhatsApp status and also raised doubts over his death.
Just hours before voting in the second phase of Gujarat assembly polls on Monday, Congress sitting MLA Kanti Kharadi from Scheduled Tribes reserved Danta seat in Banaskantha district in North Gujarat has claimed that he was assaulted by the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate Ladhu Parghi.
'Will the LG be ready to rule with a light hand, having been vested with powers that amount to using a hammer to kill a fly?' asks Aditi Phadnis.
As the Bharatiya Janata Party grapples with a potential shortfall in its Lok Sabha tally, its ally Telugu Desam Party (TDP) has unequivocally pledged allegiance to the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), dismissing any speculation of a pivot towards the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).
"Mock polls" are part of the first level check (FLC) process.
However, the national party count has gone down to six from 14 in over seven decades.
The Zoram People's Movement (ZPM) stormed to power in Mizoram by dethroning the Mizo National Front (MNF) bagging 27 seats in the 40-member House on Monday.
With the Congress in power in the state and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) snapping at its heels, the BRS is now fighting an existential battle.
The Madras High Court on Tuesday dismissed as not maintainable, a public interest litigation (PIL) petition challenging the organisational polls of the opposition AIADMK, where incumbents O Panneerselvam and K Palaniswami were elected unopposed as Coordinator and Joint Coordinator, respectively, of the party.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday accused NIA officials of attacking villagers in Purba Medinipur district, the BJP hit back at her saying that the attack on the NIA officials is Sandeshkhalli 2.0 orchestrated by the state.
With the support from eight political parties, 78-year-old Poudel's victory was certain. His rival Subas Chandra Nebmang had support of former prime minister KP Sharma-led CPN-UML.
Dhoni endorses 42 brands to Bachchan's 41 and SRK's 34.
