'Canada doesn't want to de-escalate and neither does India. There is war when one party wants it, but peace is won by both parties.'
They said there was "genuine concern" that if the present ruling dispensation loses people's mandate, the transition of power may not be smooth and there could be a constitutional crisis.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) directed the removal of West Bengal DGP Rajeev Kumar and mandated the appointment of Vivek Sahay, once suspended by the poll panel, as the new state police chief, with the TMC accusing the BJP of controlling the constitutional body.
The decision to schedule/postpone the UP election will be taken by Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioners Rajiv Kumar and Anup Chandra Pandey.
Chronological order of events leading up to Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami recommending the removal of Election Commissioner Navin Chawla.
A delegation of diplomats from 16 countries, including the United States, Norway and Singapore, on Wednesday observed the ongoing assembly polls in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a joint statement, they noted that while the incident highlights the prevailing "apathy, misgovernance and lack of accountability" in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, the state government's "apparent inclination" to shield perpetrators rather than protect victims is a "grave miscarriage of justice".
'We have to keep a watch because India-Sri Lanka has a history that whenever there has been a change in government, either the connectivity projects have been questioned or cancelled or revived.'
The poll panel said the seizures made since the polls were announced on October 9 are over seven times (Rs 239.15 crore) the seizures made in the previous assembly elections in these states in 2018.
The Election Commission on Friday cited convention followed in 2017 for not announcing the assembly polls in Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat together and underlined that the model code this time has not been "unnecessarily extended".
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) have intensified their investigations against Gaurav Mehta, a suspect in a Bitcoin Ponzi scam, following allegations that politicians may have been involved in using cryptocurrency to influence Maharashtra assembly polls. The ED searched Mehta's residence in Raipur and seized computers and digital devices. The CBI summoned him to appear before investigators. The ED is probing Mehta's potential links to politicians, politically exposed persons, and bureaucrats as part of its money laundering probe. The allegations came after BJP released purported voice notes suggesting that Congress and NCP leaders were attempting to use cryptocurrency for election campaigning. Both parties denied the claims, calling the voice notes fake.
The Supreme Court on Tuesday said the Constitution has vested enormous powers on the "fragile shoulder" of the chief election commissioner and the two election commissioners and it wants a CEC of strong character like late T N Seshan.
For successive governments the Election Commission remains a 'holy cow', where unhealthy precedents are allowed to be nurtured since Independence, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has invoked the case of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal getting bail to campaign ahead of India's general elections, as he complained before the Supreme Court about the mistreatment meted to him in jail.
These officers will oversee the entire poll processes as eyes and ears of the commission on the ground to ensure free, fair and voter-friendly elections.
Nearly 13.04 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 9 am on Wednesday in 43 assembly constituencies in Jharkhand where voting is underway in the first phase, officials said.
All 13 candidates in the fray in Indore against Lalwani, who won by a potentially record margin votes, lost their security deposit, indicating they were clearly rejected by the voters. If a candidate gets fewer than one-sixth of the total valid votes cast in a constituency, his/her security deposit is seized by the EC.
In a major setback to party founder Sharad Pawar, the Election Commission of India also allotted the NCP symbol 'Wall Clock' to the group led by Ajit Pawar.
TV footage showed Prabhakar Reddy pressing the stab wound on his stomach (to stop the bleeding) while sitting in a vehicle.
With the special officer and the new commissioner taking charge, the exercise to reshuffle and reorganise the municipal staff will begin.
Elections for 18 of these 24 seats were deferred due to the coronavirus pandemic. Of these 18 seats, four each are from Andhra Pradesh and Gujarat, three each from Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, x'two from Jharkhand, and one each from Manipur and Meghalaya.
Former Uttar Pradesh-cadre Indian Administrative Service officer Anup Chandra Pandey was appointed as an election commissioner.
Ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, the Election Commission on Friday asked parties and their leaders to refrain from seeking votes on the basis of caste, religion and language, and not insult the devotee-deity relation or make any suggestion of a divine censure.
Chief Elections Commissioner N Gopalaswami and Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Qureshi will meet representatives of six main political parties later in the day.
Seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, sources said.
'The government has been anti our civilisational values.' 'My fear would be that they erode that some more to have their way and to consolidate their power.'
"The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held between mid-April and mid-May. We have no particular interest in advancing it unless there is an absolutely great need for that," Gopalaswami said.
The schedule to conduct the elections for the vice president's post is held up as the Election Commissioner H S Brahma is on a foreign jaunt. Moreover, the United Progressive Alliance-II is yet to appoint the third Election Commissioner.
In separate petitions submitted to the Odisha police, both parties alleged that the victim approached multiple police stations -- Puri Ghat, Sadar, and Barang --before her FIR was accepted by the Badambadi police station.
Nearly Rs 3,400 crore (Rs 34 billion) in cash and other items were seized in the elections in 2022-2023, an increase of 835 per cent over 2017-2018.
When the votes get counted for the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party will be hoping to set a few new records.
Calling Canada's behaviour 'the pits', India's recalled high commissioner Sanjay Verma says India was backstabbed and treated in a most unprofessional manner by a country that is supposed to be a friendly democracy.
V V S Laxman said the Indian team's aggressive approach is the primary reason behind the wholehearted support they receive anywhere across the globe.
Making citizens queue to vote just when the disease is declining, but is still in the air, could just cause a fresh spurt. The logic for this scheduling is inexplicable, especially since the entire process could so easily have been pushed back by three weeks, argues David Devadas.
The protestors called the state's administrative measures "only partial victory" of their movement.
In a letter to the Mysuru Urban Development Authority commissioner she said she was allotted the 14 alternative sites in the third and fourth phase of Vijayanagar in Mysuru against the usage of her three acres and 16 Guntas of land in Kesare village under Kasaba Hobli in Mysuru.
The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations over irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to 'strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality', then it is doing a 'remarkable job' at creating that impression.
Both Houses of Parliament were adjourned sine die on Thursday, a day ahead of the scheduled end of the Winter session, that saw a security breach in the lower house, suspension of over 140 MPs and the expulsion of Trinamool Congress leader Mahua Moitra.
According to the Election Commission of India, the code has evolved over the last 60 years to assume its present form.
Congress has been in political wilderness since the past 17 years in the state, also considered as BJP's Hindutva laboratory. While Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the star campaigner for BJP and the party's chief ministerial candidate, Congress has refrained from projecting anyone for the top post to avoid internal wrangling.
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