This is the third meeting of CEOs after Gyanesh Kumar took over as the chief election commissioner in February. However, Wednesday's day-long meeting assumes significance as the preparedness of a pan-India SIR are being discussed, officials said.
Following the 'dog babu' incident, another canine application for a residence certificate has surfaced in Nawada, Bihar. An FIR has been registered for the attempt.
In the video, Latha was seen asking the women voters at a polling booth to lift the burqa and show their face so that she could verify the identity.
'The protection of secrecy and anonymity gets lost with this linking.'
'Today, the State looks at everyone with suspicion.'
Chief Election Commissioner B B Tandon will be visiting the state to oversee the arrangements in Bihar.
'The EC should not have let the initiative go into the hands of the political leadership. By allowing this to happen, they have opened a Pandora's box.'
The Lok Sabha, India's lower house of Parliament, will debate the contentious Waqf (Amendment) Bill on Wednesday. The bill has been met with strong opposition from several parties who claim it is unconstitutional. The government, however, insists the bill aims to improve the management of Waqf properties in India by bringing transparency and efficiency.
'If the NDA returns with the BJP substantially ahead of the JD-U, a BJP CM bid becomes plausible; if the gap is narrow or JD-U holds pivotal seats, continuity with Nitish is the lower-risk option.'
The Union Budget 2025-26 has allocated over Rs 1,400 crore to the law ministry to meet carry forward expenditure for holding the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and purchase of new electronic voting machines for the Election Commission. The allocation includes Rs 500 crore for the elections, Rs 300 crore for voter identity cards, Rs 597.80 crore for "other election expenses", and Rs 18.72 crore for new EVMs. The law ministry is the nodal agency for the Election Commission, polls, electoral laws, and appointment of members to the poll panel.
A bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymalya Bagchi, however, questioned the timing of the exercise, besides offering its prima facie view that Aadhaar card, voter ID card and ration cards could be considered during the SIR in Bihar.
With assembly elections in Bihar likely to be held later this year, the Election Commission is dispatching four special teams of 'auditors' to the state on Monday for weeding out duplicate entries from electoral rolls.
This is important because he is to be seen as a sure winner before criss-crossing the state to campaign for candidates of the party or an alliance, highlights N Sathiya Moorthy.
Tiwari said that all the preparations have been made for the first phase of the polls and all the polling parties have left for their respective polling centers.
'It is good for us if the JMM contests. That will divide the Opposition and give us the upper hand.'
Infighting within West Bengal's ruling Trinamool Congress (TMC) came to the fore after a video of an alleged verbal spat between party MPs and screenshots of heated exchanges from its official WhatsApp group for parliamentarians went viral. The incident reportedly involved a public altercation at the Election Commission headquarters, followed by a heated exchange on the party's WhatsApp group, leading to accusations of misconduct and leaked screenshots. The controversy has triggered calls for action against the party chief whip, Kalyan Banerjee, who is accused of misbehavior and tarnishing the party's image.
Amritsar-based Sohan Singh and Mohan Singh who are joined in the hip exercised their franchise for the first time in the Punjab assembly polls on Sunday.
Chief electoral officers will brief Lyngdoh on February 4.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
There was no move to advance elections to the assembly in Kerala which would be held in the mid-May next year, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said on Tuesday.
The Union Health Ministry said on Monday that the Co-WIN app on Play Store is meant for use only by administrators, and that registration and booking for appointment for COVID-19 vaccination has to be done through the portal.
The activist, who advises various farmer organisations, was arrested when Assam was witnessing widespread protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi scored 62.3 per cent in his masters in Political Science, Gujarat University's Vice Chancellor M N Patel has said.
Vaccines provided to beneficiaries at the government health facilities will be entirely free of cost, while private facilities cannot charge the beneficiary a sum above Rs 250 per person per dose (Rs 150 for vaccines and Rs 100 as operational charges).
Polling in Rajarajeswari Nagar constituency has been deferred to May 28.
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New software will ensure that anyone with more than one election ID has to surrender the other cards.
The countrywide vaccination drive was rolled out on January 16 with the inoculation of healthcare workers, while the vaccination of the frontline workers started from February 2.
West Bengal police on Saturday arrested the mastermind of Burdwan blast Sk Rahmatulla alias Sajid, a Bangladeshi national and stated to be a Chief Commander of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh terror group.
As India gears up to vaccinate people above 60 years of age and those over 45 years with comorbidities against COVID-19 from March 1, the Union health ministry on Friday said the facility of on-site registrations will be available so that eligible beneficiaries can walk into identified vaccination centres, get themselves registered and get inoculated.
The next phase of the COVID-19 vaccination drive for people above 60 years and those aged 45 and above with comorbidities will begin from March 1 and registration on the Co-WIN2.0 portal will open at 9 am on Monday.
The Election Commission on Friday directed officials for a review of the deletions and additions in the electoral rolls of three assembly seats in Karnataka and ordered the suspension of two additional district election officials after allegations of 'electoral fraud' in the state.
A voter turnout of over 40 per cent was recorded till 1 pm on Monday in the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections in 96 constituencies spread over 10 states and Union Territories amid incidents of violence in Andhra Pradesh and reports of poll boycott in some villages of Uttar Pradesh.
Voting was held on Sunday on 117 assembly seats in Punjab and 59 assembly constituencies spread across 16 districts of Uttar Pradesh.
This election will be remembered for being the first election where the Election Commission failed to take action on gross violations involving the ruling party that repeatedly used religion, communal slurs, lies and undocumented allegations, observes Ramesh Menon.
Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal will attend the meetings of the committee as a special invitee, while legal affairs secretary Niten Chandra will be secretary to the panel.
At many places, where the voters had entered booths before 6 pm and were standing in queues, they were allowed to cast their votes.
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