The timeline of the Shiv Sena-centric political crisis in Maharashtra.
In view of the Supreme Court empowering voters with the right to reject, forthcoming Madhya Pradesh assembly elections will see electronic voting machines having a new and separate button for electorate not wishing to vote for any of the candidates in the fray.
'Under the circumstances, this announcement may remain limited to bravado and little else, adding momentum to Imran's narrative of victimhood,' points out Rana Banerji, who headed the Pakistan desk at RA&W.
The court said that after casting his vote, he would be immediately taken back to Siwan jail.
'This mega corruption scandal, as certified by the Supreme Court, will expose the unholy nexus between the BJP and its corrupt corporate masters'
Addressing a press conference in New Delhi, Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar said the EC was very enthused by the voter turnout in Jammu and Kashmir during the Lok Sabha elections, which showed the eagerness of the people to participate in the democratic process.
'Amit Shah had promised Ajit Pawar and Praful Patel that even if there were only one third of MLAs with them, they would be given the party symbol.' 'He promised them that the Election Commission would not take a decision against them and that they would get the party name and symbol.'
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.
His tenure was till December 5, 2027, and he would have become Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) after incumbent Rajiv Kumar retired in February next year.
As many as 624 candidates are in the fray in this round of voting being held in Pilibhit, Lakhimpur Kheri, Sitapur, Hardoi, Unnao, Lucknow, Rae Bareli, Banda, and Fatehpur districts.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGOs 'Common Cause' and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation, that the plea needed to be listed for hearing at the earliest.
Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar convened the meeting of leaders of opposition parties in the Rajya Sabha, which was attended by Congress leader Digvijaya Singh, independent Rajya Sabha member Kapil Sibal, Samajwadi Party leader Ramgopal Yadav, Shiv Sena (Thackeray faction) member Anil Desai and Bharat Rashtra Samithi member K Keshav Rao among others.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission (SEC) on Thursday stayed the elections to 92 municipal councils and four nagar panchayats in view of the next week's hearing on OBC reservations before the Supreme Court.
'So, they have taken away the word Waqf from the Bill.' 'It will now be known as the UMEED Act.'
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.
Freebies promised by political parties in their election manifestos shake the roots of free and fair polls, the Supreme Court on Friday said and directed the Election Commission to frame guidelines for regulating contents of manifestos.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
The deadline set by the Supreme Court for delivering the verdict was December 31, 2023, but some days before that, on December 15, the apex court gave a 10-day extension and set January 10 as the new date for a decision.
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta issued notice to the Centre on a plea filed by an NGO, Association for Democratic Reforms, and listed the matter along with other pending petitions on the issue for hearing in April.
The bench said it would be difficult for the poll panel to mobilise manpower for uploading the voter turnout data on its website.
'Karur could still impact Jana Nayagan's box-office success if Vijay and the TVK do not get their act together,' points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld the election of Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan for the state Legislative Council which he won unopposed as the opposition parties did not field any candidates against him. A bench of justices R M Lodha and H L Gokhale dismissed the plea of Shiv Sena Member of Legislative Council Anil Dattatray Parab who had challenged the Election Commission's decision to hold the election.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission on Friday said polls to local bodies from other backward class reserved constituencies, which were scheduled on December 21, will now be held on January 18 and these seats will be converted as general category ones.
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.
The Election Commission on Wednesday said it was unanimous that there should not be any prayer before the Supreme Court for restriction on media reporting over oral observations made by judges.
'Whatever the Supreme Court expected, it wasn't achieved in these five years.' 'So, we have made an amendment now to achieve that objective.'
The pleas have also raised the issue of Election Commission's power on issuance of separate notifications for holding by-polls for casual and regular vacancies in Rajya Sabha.
It also made the EC a party to a petition filed by former Rajya Sabha member Kuldeep Nayar challenging recent amendments to the election procedure.
Patel had challenged the high court order which had dismissed his plea questioning the maintainability of Rajput's election petition.
Chastising the State Bank of India, the Supreme Court on Monday ordered it to disclose the details of the electoral bonds encashed by political parties to the Election Commission by the close of the business hours on March 12 and warned the country's largest public sector lender that the court may proceed against it for 'wilful disobedience' if it failed to comply with its directions and deadlines.
The Supreme Court is scheduled to pronounce its verdict on Friday on a batch of pleas seeking complete cross-verification of votes cast using electronic voting machines (EVMs) with voter verifiable paper audit trail, or VVPAT.
The National People's Party, which rules Meghalaya, is another national party which received no donations through electoral bonds.
The apex court bench, also comprising justices Sanjiv Khanna, BR Gavai, JB Pardiwala, and Manoj Misra, will assemble at 10.30 am to hear the two petitions.
'My suspicion is that most of the bonds were given by companies who had got contracts or who had benefited from policy changes by the government.'
The development comes after the Supreme Court decided to strike down the recent 27 percent reservation in favour of OBCs in local bodies made by Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh governments.
"The voter turnout data for the first two phases of the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections published by ECI on April 30 has been published after 11 days of the first phase of polling... on April 19 and four days after second phase of polling... on April 26.
The bench, headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, will also hear a separate plea which has sought initiation of contempt action against the SBI alleging it "wilfully and deliberately" disobeyed the apex court's direction to submit details of the contributions made to political parties through electoral bonds to the Election Commission by March 6.
Election Commissioner Shah Nawaz said the Jamaat would not be able to participate in the polls as the high court had declared its registration illegal.
Advocate Mohit D Ram was a panel counsel for the EC in the Supreme Court since 2013.
