The campaign for the current election cycle ended on Monday as canvassing for the final phase in West Bengal concluded with a bitter war of words between rival parties over cross-border infiltration, corruption, unemployment and the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
West Bengal Chief Minister Shuvendu Adhikari has directed senior officials to ensure transparency, accountability, and strict adherence to rules in governance. He emphasised the importance of honest opinions and actions for the state's development, urging officials to restart stalled centrally sponsored schemes and implement promises from the BJP's election manifesto.
'What we are witnessing is a massive anti-incumbency wave that has cut across all social and political divides.'
Global brokerage Bernstein has issued a cautionary note, stating that India risks 'under-delivering on its potential' unless it addresses key policy bottlenecks and structural risks, including employment challenges from AI, limited manufacturing gains, and rising welfare spending.
A team of Election Commissioners will visit Patna to review poll preparedness in Bihar ahead of the upcoming assembly elections. The team will meet with political parties, police, administrative officials, and observers to ensure a free and fair election.
Opposition MPs in the Rajya Sabha criticised the Modi government's economic policies, citing the LPG crisis, lack of energy security, and concerns over the Economic Stabilisation Fund.
The election expenditure limit for candidates has been hiked to Rs 95 lakh from Rs 70 lakh for Lok Sabha elections and to Rs 40 lakh from Rs 28 lakh for assembly polls, the Election Commission said on Thursday citing a law ministry notification.
The Maharashtra municipal elections showed a troubling shift, where votes were traded for cash, convictions no longer mattered, and ideology became an afterthought, observes Ramesh Menon.
The Election Commission has deployed 36 observers for monitoring the flow of illegal cash and other inducements during the upcoming assembly polls in Meghalaya, Nagaland and Tripura. The officials have been deputed by the Central Board of Direct Taxes (Income Tax department) and Central Board of Excise and Customs (Customs and Excise department) and will act as Election Expenditure Observers, a senior Revenue department official said.
Maharashtra is set to hold local body elections for municipal councils and nagar panchayats, marking the first phase of a Supreme Court-mandated process. The elections are seen as a key indicator of political sentiment following the BJP-led Mahayuti's victory in the assembly elections.
Maharashtra is set to hold local body elections on December 2 for municipal councils and nagar panchayats. The polls are seen as a test of the ruling coalition's strength after their recent assembly election victory.
The Congress followed next with Rs 620 crore or 18.5 percent of the total expenses among the 32 national and regional parties whose records were analysed, the ADR said.
Gandhi's remarks came on a day it emerged that the Election Commission has formally written to him on his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls, saying all polls held by the poll panel strictly as per laws passed by Parliament and rules, and the entire exercise involves thousands of personnel, including booth-level agents appointed by political parties.
The notice requested Rashid or a representative of his to appear before the district expenditure monitoring committee within two days to address the discrepancy and ensure timely submission of the expenditure report to the Election Commission of India.
India's top cement producers delivered a solid July-September quarter (Q2) in 2025-26 (FY26), lifted by firmer prices, higher sales volumes, and a favourable base. Seasonal weakness and maintenance outages did dent sequential performance, but the overall picture remained positive - and the road ahead looks steady.
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.
Over Rs 195 crore of cash has been seized so far by Election Commission appointed teams, with Andhra Pradesh topping the list.
The Election Commission on Tuesday appointed special observers for administrative, security and expenditure monitoring purposes in several states to ensure a level playing field during the upcoming elections.
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.
If left unchecked, the 2024 elections may be infamously remembered as the election of deepfakes. The ECI has a tough task ahead, but, more importantly, it has an opportunity to become a global model for scores of countries going to polls this year, notes Ajay Kumar.
With the Election Commission taking extensive steps to check misuse of money during polls in Bihar, top politicians and candidates are now voluntarily appearing before expenditure observers deputed at airports and other places to declare their cash. The EC has recently activated an Election Expenditure Monitoring (EEM) cell at its headquarters in Delhi to curb the use of illegal money.
'When people have money in their hands, they make their judgment about whether they want to spend it entirely or spend some out of it.'
A complaint has been lodged with the Election Commission against Trinamool Congress Lok Sabha member Mahua Moitra for allegedly filing false election affidavits and tax evasion.
India's cement demand has consistently shown double-digit growth over the past few quarters, primarily driven by infrastructure spending. However, dealers and industry executives note that state elections, festival season, and, in some markets, weddings and pollution may temporarily disrupt this demand story. While the festival season typically sees a slowdown in construction activity, some dealers anticipate this lull extending throughout the entire month as multiple states enter election mode.
'The estimated expenditure is expected to be more than double the Rs 60,000 crore spent in 2019'
Total of Rs 40 lakh cash and over 53,000 litres of illicit liquor was seized
Over Rs 16 crore in cash has been seized till now by EC-appointed surveillance teams and check squads in five poll-bound states, with Rajasthan topping the chart with the recovery of Rs 7.13 crore.
According to the Election Commission of India, the code has evolved over the last 60 years to assume its present form.
The BJP may win more seats in the February 5 assembly election, but not enough to trump AAP, notes Ramesh Menon.
Tesla owner billionaire Elon Musk and Indian American entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy in an op-ed provided an insight into their blueprint for an unprecedented government reform that includes mass federal job cuts and massive expense reduction.
With the Election Commission (EC) facing flak from some quarters for announcing eight-phase Assembly polls in West Bengal, officials on Friday said the polling had to be spread out due to festivals, the movement of security forces and an increased number of polling stations keeping in mind the Covid protocols.
Complaints were received by the Commission on possibilities of inducement of electors by distributing cash and gifts in innovative forms like tokens, prepaid phone recharge coupons, newspaper subscription, milk tokens.
Whether she will pare the fiscal deficit target of 5.1 per cent of GDP, using the record dividend received from the RBI, or expand flagship government programmes will be keenly watched.
'If weak indicators persist, there is a risk that India could slip into a prolonged slowdown similar to the one experienced between 2014 and 2019,' warns Debashis Basu.
Nitish Kumar wants to assure the BJP leadership that he will continue to be a part of the NDA. But he also wants to secure a larger number of seats for his party in the 2025 assembly elections in Bihar.
The poll-panel called these seizures by its various field and technical enforcement teams a "historic milestone" achieved "for the first time in any assembly electoral process", meaning during simultaneously-held assembly polls.
The Election Commission has a fight on its hand as candidates use ingenious methods to smuggle in money to Voters.
S&P Global Ratings on Friday said it will watch the fiscal numbers for the next 1-2 years, besides pro-growth policies of the new government, before deciding on India's sovereign rating upgrade. S&P, which earlier this week upgraded India's outlook to positive while retaining the sovereign rating at BBB-, expects the new government to continue with pro-growth policies, infrastructure investment and commitment to fiscal consolidation.
The EC had cautioned that the video van events should not cause inconvenience to the people and should not be a hindrance to smooth flow of traffic.
The EU mission noted that political and campaign fundraising and financial expenditure lack transparency and effective oversight.
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