The three AAP councillors switching sides is set to tilt the scales in favour of the BJP whenever fresh mayoral polls are held.
The commission also directed political parties to adhere to the provisions of the model code of conduct and broader guidelines on Covid-19.
Rahul Gandhi's focus will be on his Nyay Yatra, rather than the INDIA bloc's election campaign, leading to speculation among allies that the Congress leader is already looking at the Opposition's fight beyond May 2024.
Navin Chawla is the other Election Commissioner.
The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has issued the final gazette notification for redrawing of municipal wards in Delhi, paving the way for civic polls in the city.
Parties including the Congress, Left, the Samajwadi Party and the Bahujan Samaj Party have written to the Election Commission and the President opposing the advancing of the budget presentation to February 1 before the polls.
The BJP attacked Kejriwal after he refused to comment on the Maliwal "assault" matter during a press conference in Lucknow. He was flanked by Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Akhilesh Yadav and AAP Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Singh.
Around 65 per cent polling was reported in elections to 147 municipal councils and 17 nagar panchayats in Maharashtra on Sunday.
The Centre for Media Studies after releasing a report on 2019 polls expenditure, also claimed the recently-concluded election has signalled that the more the expenditure, the "more vicious and ugly" the campaigns become.
While Twitter had taken down one of his controversial tweets on Friday following directions of the EC, a first information report was lodged against him under Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act dealing with creating enmity among classes.
The CEC said 7.2 crore single-use gloves for voters to press electronic voting machine buttons, more than seven lakh units of hand sanitiser, about 46 lakh masks, about six lakh personal protection equipment (PPE) kits, 7.6 lakh units of face shields have been arranged.
The Election Commission on Monday allotted 'flaming torch' (mashaal) election symbol to the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena, rejecting their claim to the 'Trishul' citing religious connotation.
The Election Commission on Monday refrained from commenting on whether President Pranab Mukherjee is free to sign ordinances when the Model Code of Conduct is in force for Delhi assembly elections, saying he (the president) knows when to use his constitutional powers.
'The Constitution of India is a stumbling block. So, they want a Presidential mode of election.' 'This is the sole purpose of the BJP to go for one nation, one election.'
Sources said the report of the law panel on simultaneous polls is not yet finalised. They said "some more things are required to be done", indicating that the law panel will be invited again by the high-level committee.
In fresh trouble for former Maharashtra chief minister Ashok Chavan, the Election Commission on Sunday slapped a showcause notice on him for failing to lodge his election expenses as per law in a paid news case and asked him why he should not be disqualified.
All three agreed to have the proceedings heard in English and each of them nodded that they understood the charges of first-degree murder and conspiring to murder Nijjar, the report said.
Three persons were shot dead and several others were injured as violence and arson marked the conclusion of nomination filing for the three-tier West Bengal panchayat polls slated next month.
According to the orders of the commission, set up under the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Act of 2019, the Union territory will have 90 assembly constituencies -- 43 in Jammu Division and 47 in Kashmir -- with nine of them being reserved for the Scheduled Tribes.
The National Judicial Commission Bill, 2022, was introduced after the majority of voice votes were in its favour.
The interim budget 2024-24 on Thursday allocated Rs 1,277.80 crore for census, a significant reduction from 2021-22 when Rs 3,768 crore was allocated and an indication that the exercise may not be carried out even after three years of delay.
A day after announcing the dates for assembly polls in West Bengal, the Election Commission on Saturday removed Additional Director General of Police (Law and order) Jawed Shamim and brought in Jag Mohan in his place, an official order said.
'All I can say is that there is a disparity between the removal procedures of the chief election commissioner and other election commissioners as may be seen from the provisions of the Constitution. Everybody is free to interpret it on the basis of what is already there in the Constitution. But how it is to be interpreted is a matter which can be decided only by a court, perhaps,' ex-CEC T S Krishnamurthy said.
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