The Election Commission is set to introduce artificial intelligence-based verification systems during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal to prevent the inclusion of fake or deceased voters, a senior official said on Tuesday.
Mumbai suburban district saw an addition of 95,630 new voters, taking its tally to 77.81 lakh, while Mumbai city added 18,741 names, raising its voter base to 25.62 lakh.
In a unique initiative to speed up the ongoing special intensive revision of electoral rolls, the Pilibhit administration has announced a set of incentives, including a family safari and lunch, for booth-level officers who fills up the maximum number of digitised forms in their respective assembly constituencies.
Over 90 former bureaucrats have expressed concern over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging it could disenfranchise voters, particularly the poor and marginalized.
Congress MP Shashi Tharoor on Sunday said the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise being conducted by the Election Commission of India (ECI) was 'essential', as electoral rolls were not perfect.
'I don't want to be called a new Indian voter when I am an old Indian voter.'
The Election Commission (EC) has announced 17 new initiatives for the Bihar Assembly polls, including compulsory webcasting, mobile phone-deposit facilities, and measures to improve voter turnout and accessibility.
'The Election Commission is conducting the National Register of Citizens in Bihar through the backdoor.'
According to official records, Kishor is enrolled as a voter in West Bengal at 121, Kalighat Road, the address of the Trinamool Congress headquarters in Kolkata's Bhabanipur assembly constituency, which is Chief Minister and TMC chief Mamata Banerjee's seat, he said.
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of a "scam" after the poll panel admitted to the existence of duplicate voter ID numbers. The ECI has said it will address the issue in the next three months. TMC leader Saket Gokhale alleged that the ECI is trying to "protect" someone and demanded answers about the extent of the duplication and why it took 25 years to address the problem.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Mritunjay Kumar Narayan, has reassured the public that individual data collected during the upcoming census will remain confidential and cannot be used for any purpose other than statistical aggregation.
'Today, the State looks at everyone with suspicion.'
Election Commission data reveals Bhabanipur constituency in West Bengal recorded significantly higher voter deletions compared to Nandigram, sparking political debate ahead of the 2026 Assembly polls.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections were marred by widespread complaints of voter list discrepancies, missing names, and confusion, impacting voters and election staff alike.
Coming down hard on the Election Commission for its response on 'vote theft' allegations, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Sunday said the poll body should have ordered a probe into Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's charges instead of 'shouting' at him in a language that was 'objectionable and offensive'.
Does voter deletion controversy expose critical gaps in ECI verification procedures and safeguards protecting electoral roll integrity?
The Viksit Delhi CM Internship Programme 2025 is a 3-month initiative for undergraduate and postgraduate students to contribute innovative ideas to real-world policy-making.
The EC reiterated that the process was transparent with the involvement of candidates or their agents at every stage.
'The protection of secrecy and anonymity gets lost with this linking.'
The Trinamool Congress (TMC) has demanded that the Election Commission (EC) accept its error in issuing duplicate voter card numbers within 24 hours, threatening to release more documents on the issue if the EC fails to do so. The party alleged that the EC issued the statement after the TMC announced it would hold a press conference on the issue, and termed it an "Epic Scam." The EC had said it would rectify the issue and update its technology-driven platform, but the TMC insists the EC must accept the error. The party also demanded an in-depth probe into the matter.
When the government chooses to either ignore or use identity documents only when it suits them, it shakes people's sense of stability, notes Shyam G Menon.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju defended security measures in Rajya Sabha, stating that marshals intervened to prevent disruption by MPs. This follows objections from the opposition regarding the presence of security personnel in the House.
As Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pitches for early assembly polls in Delhi, experts on Sunday said the city government may have to write to the Election Commission giving reasons behind the demand. The term of the Delhi assembly ends on February 23 next year and the polls are expected to be held sometime early February.
When the government chooses to either ignore or use identity documents only when it suits them, it shakes people's sense of stability, notes Shyam G Menon.
'The Election Commission is in the process of updating electoral rolls.' 'Once that is done, the dates for elections will be announced by the ECI at an appropriate time.' 'What can be more democratic than this?'
Jammu and Kashmir is likely to get around 25 lakh additional voters including outsiders after the special summary revision of electoral rolls being held for the first time after the abrogation of Article 370, an official said on Wednesday.
The Congress party in India has alleged "serious and grave inconsistencies" in the data relating to the polling and counting processes for the recently concluded Maharashtra Assembly elections. The party has sought an in-person hearing from the Election Commission to present evidence of alleged discrepancies, including the arbitrary deletion and addition of voters and inexplicable increases in voting percentages. The Congress leaders claim these irregularities benefited the ruling BJP-led alliance, which won a decisive victory in the polls.
'The failure of the ECI to follow the Registration of Electoral Rules and create verified and audited rolls or even verifiable and auditable ones, highlight that the entire electoral roll is merely a compilation of names without any effort or intention for completeness, correctness or fair play.' 'We are fooling ourselves by electing our representatives based on faulty electoral rolls that do not represent the people of the constituency. Elections based on these rolls are neither free nor fair. Democracy is under siege,' says Dr Anupam Saraph.
The two earlier visits in mid-January and end of January of the observers led to the detection of a huge number of false, dead and shifted voters.
The Assam Public Works, the original petitioner in the Supreme Court which led to the updation of the National Register of Citizens six years ago, wondered whether the software used in the updation exercise was capable to handle so much data and if it was examined by any third party Information Technology expert.
Complaints against Prateek Hajela on such issues were raised earlier by others also.
'Most Assamese don't understand a word like ghuspethiya and its insulting connotation.'
Drawing on his technological expertise, Hajela, who has a BTech degree in Electronics from IIT, Delhi, introduced an innovative mechanism for collecting and collating data of the family tree of every resident of Assam.
Counting of votes will take place on February 23. Model code comes into force.
The avoidable stresses and strains in ties helped in one way. It showed for the entire region how a matured India handled diplomatic relations, especially with a smaller and suspicious neighbour, with practised dignity and patience, unruffled by provocations in word, deed and action, observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
On compilation of six crucial documents, it was found that around two lakh of them from one crore were forged.
Election Commissioner V S Sampath announced that Delhi will go to polls on February 7.
The Assam government has set up an eight-member committee to prepare a framework for implementation of all clauses of the 36-year-old Assam Accord, especially the Clause-6 report prepared by a central panel pertaining to protecting the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the indigenous people, officials said on Saturday.
Vaccinating 100-200 people in each session per day, monitoring them for 30 minutes after administering the shots for any adverse event and allowing only one beneficiary at a time are among the guidelines issued by the Centre for the COVID-19 inoculation drive.
The much-awaited schedule for the Lok Sabha polls will be announced by the Election Commission on Wednesday.
