If TVK MLAs and ministers are perceived as clean, or demonstrably cleaner than their predecessors, the credibility dividend will be enormous. The voter will feel rewarded, points out Ramesh Menon.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday deprecated criticism of electronic voting machines (EVMs) and calls for reverting to ballot papers, saying the electoral process in India is a "humongous task" and attempts should not be made to "bring down the system".
The Congress has said the assembly polls results were "unexpected" and have alleged discrepancies in the EVMs in some seats.
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 None of the Above (NOTA) option once again found few takers, with 0.75 per cent of the electorate pressing the button in Maharashtra and 1.32 per cent in Jharkhand. Votes for the assembly elections in these two states were counted on Saturday.
The officer said that as Section 505 is non-cognisable, police have sought permission from court to initiate an investigation.
The counting of votes in three out of four states on Sunday showed that less than 1 percent of the voters exercised the 'none of the above' option in the just-concluded assembly polls, according to the election commission.
In a collaborative study, a team of Indian and international experts recently revealed that the electronic voting machines used in Indian elections are vulnerable to fraud. Excerpts from their report.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a plea seeking to revert to paper ballot voting in elections in the country, saying allegations of tampering with electronic voting machine (EVM) raked up only when people lose polls.
The portion of 'none of the above' option or NOTA dropped from 1.08% in 2014 to 1.06% in 2019.
The portion of 'none of the above' option or NOTA dropped from 1.08% in 2014 to 1.06% in 2019.
Kolewadi gram sabha in Maharashtra's Satara district has resolved to conduct future elections on ballot papers, becoming the second village in the state to pass a resolution against EVMs.
EVMs were damaged on May 13 in seven polling stations in Macherla constituency, including in polling station number 202 where local MLA P Ramakrishna Reddy allegedly damaged an EVM.
'Rather than criticising the kind of candidates fielded by political parties from our living rooms, NOTA in a sense implores the electorate to say this by turning up in person at a polling booth to ensure their protest is registered.'
The current political scenario in the state was like chikhal (wet, slippery mud) with party lines blurring and people must ensure politicians are held accountable for their deeds, Thackeray said.
The Congress on Wednesday demanded a thorough probe into 'discrepancies' found in some Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) during the counting of votes of the Haryana assembly polls and demanded that such EVMs should be sealed and secured pending the inquiry.
While the CPI-M delegation watched a demonstration on the various security checks involved with the machines, the NCP team interacted with Commission's technical committee of experts.
The final turnout in the Maharashtra assembly polls was 66.05 percent, up from 61.1 percent in 2019, according to the Election Commission. The polling percentage for the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll was 67.81 percent. The increase, excluding postal ballots, highlighted the EC's efforts to engage a broader electorate, the statement added. Kolhapur led with 76.63 per cent, followed by 75.26 per cent in Gadchiroli, while the lowest was in Mumbai island city at 52.07 per cent and 55.95 per cent in the metropolis' suburban district. More than 68,000 citizens aged over 85 and 12,000 individuals with disabilities cast their votes through home voting.
President Alvi recalled the fight for the EVMs waged by the previous PTI-led government, saying that the entire endeavour -- which involved more than 50 meetings at the presidency alone -- was abandoned.
He termed the allegations as "just random statements" and demanded that people making such allegations should demonstrate how the EVMs can be "hacked"
The Election Commission has decided to replace 9,30,430 EVMs purchased before 2006 as the older machines are nearing their 15-year life cycle.
The party raised concern over the security of Electronic Voting Machines inside strong rooms and their handling during the counting process in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and the alleged deletion of voters in Uttar Pradesh.
The Lok Sabha election is the biggest democratic undertaking on Earth, with hundreds of millions of voters casting their ballot. Here are some astounding numbers to show just how massive this election will be.
The Supreme Court on Monday declined to entertain a Public Interest Litigation, questioning the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines and seeking a direction to the Election Commission to withhold using them till the machines are made tamper proof.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
Election Commission on Saturday invited petitioners before various courts as also political parties to prove if the Electronic Voting Machines can be tampered.
The Supreme Court on Friday asked the Election Commission to explore the possibility of introducing Vote Verifier Paper Audit Trail in EVMs to maintain paper record of each vote for upcoming assembly polls in five states and next general election in 2014.
The country has got its first firm order to export these machines to Namibia, while it is in talks with others, including Egypt and Saarc nations.
A voter turnout of 65.79 per cent was recorded in the just-concluded Lok Sabha elections, but the final figures may change as it does not include postal ballots, the Election Commission said on Thursday.
To enhance transparency and verifiability in the poll process, the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961 were amended in 2013 to introduce the use of VVPAT machines. They were first used in the by-election to the Noksen assembly seat in Nagaland.
The Congress leader said he believes that democracy is derailed and "we are becoming too authoritarian". "It's all about one-man show," he said.
The Congress top brass headed by party chief Mallikarjun Kharge held a review meeting on Thursday on the party's shock defeat in the Haryana assembly polls and discussed the possible reasons for the 'unexpected' results.
Anna Hazare and his team on Thursday met the Election Commission in a bid to raise the pitch for electoral reforms and demanded that the 'right to reject' option be included in electronic voting machines.Hazare, along with his close associates Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan, Arvind Kejriwal and Kiran Bedi, discussed the matter for about an hour with Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi. According to Team Anna, the meeting was "very useful".
A bench comprising Chief Justice Uday Umesh Lalit and Justice Bela M Trivedi said a representation may be made by petitioner Ashwini Upadhyay to the poll panel or other authorities for consideration.
The Delhi High Court on Wednesday asked the Election Commission to inform it whether a system incorporating ballot papers with Electronic Voting Machines was possible to implement during elections.Acting on a petition filed by Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy, a division bench of Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice Manmohan directed the EC's counsel to file an affidavit in this regard by October 21.
In the backdrop of allegations by certain political parties that the Electronic Voting Machines could be hacked, the Election Commission on Thursday said EVMs were and are tamper proof.
Against the backdrop of some opposition parties raising doubts about the functioning of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMS), the Election Commission on Friday said no party has been able to prove that the machine could be tampered with.
Till now, the postal ballots were counted in the beginning followed by votes polled in voting machines.
Veteran Congress leader Digvijaya Singh on Wednesday said he does not need an invitation from anyone to visit the newly-constructed temple in Ayodhya as Lord Ram resides in his heart.
The commission issued letter of intent to ECIL and BEL -- both PSUs -- on Friday, two days after the Union Cabinet cleared its proposal to buy 16,15000 voter verifiable paper audit trail units at an estimated cost of Rs 3,173.47 crore.
