Terming as "impractical" Anna Hazare's suggestion for the right to recall an elected Member of Parliament, Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Wednesday said such a move will "destabilise" the entire system. "Right to recall in a big country like ours is impractical. It is not easy in a country where candidates are voted by lakhs of voters," he told reporters. He feared that if the right to recall is put in place, "elections will go on happening".
In the backdrop of several political parties launching their own television channels for publicity during elections, the Election Commission is working on guidelines for the electronic media to ensure a level playing field.
The full bench of the Election Commission will visit West Bengal on Thursday to oversee the poll preparedness for the last three phases of the assembly polls. Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and the other two Election Commissioners V.S. Sampath and HS Brahma will arrive in Kolkata in the morning and hold meeting with the representatives of the political parties.
The Election Commission has decided to set up call centres across in the five poll-bound states -- Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry -- which will operate round the clock. These centres will receive complaints about the violation of the model code of conduct by the various candidates and their supporters.
The Election Commission on Friday ruled out postponing the April 13 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu as demanded by major political parties, including the Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, saying every issue was factored in before announcing the poll schedule.
The schedule for the Bihar assembly polls, which will be held in five phases, is likely to be announced by Saturday. Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and Election Commissioner V S Sampath held detailed meetings with Home Secretary G K Pillai and chiefs of central police organisations to discuss the deployment of forces in the state during the polls.According to sources, the poll schedule is almost ready and it is being given its final touches.
"If you don't vote you have no business to crib on formation of government," Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said on Tuesday while terming as "shameful" the low turnout of urban voters in the country.
The Election Commission and the Law Ministry have joined hands to draw up a list of electoral reforms that seek to bar corrupt and criminal leaders from contesting polls, says Sheela Bhatt
Even as the All India Muslim Personal Law Board on Saturday unanimously resolved to take the Ayodhya battle to the Supreme Court, it sought to clarify that the board was not opposed to an out-of -court compromise, albeit with certain pre-conditions.
"If the bill were to be taken up in its present form, it would fail to serve any purpose; it would seem that the government's objective was to further make lives of innocent citizens more difficult rather than providing any respite to them."
India's football federation (AIFF) has been reminded by FIFA that it cannot be influenced by legal or political inference from inside the country, the global soccer body said.
The Election Commission has called an all-party meeting on October 4 to discuss issues related to the use of money and muscle power in elections and the criminalisation of politics. Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said the commission has invited leaders from all political parties for the meeting on October 4. The meeting will be held in two parts. In the morning, discussions will be done with leaders of national parties.
Asked about the customer's refusal to take a delivery from him, Faiyaz admitted he is feeling hurt over whatever happened.
Congress General Secretary Rahul Gandhi is 'much more talented' than his father, the late Rajiv Gandhi who was 'not really a leader' but 'a boy scout' with some 'good ideas but none of them extraordinary.' That's writer Khushwant Singh in his latest book
The issue of 'cash garlands' has caused concerns to the Election Commission which will soon set up a high-level expenditure watchdog.
The Gujarat government's law to make voting compulsory in local body polls in Gujarat has failed to impress the Election Commission which believes that extending the idea across the country is 'impractical'. "Such proposals have come up for discussion in the Commission on many occasions earlier. For India, it is full of difficulties. We also consider that democracy and compulsion do not go hand-in-hand," Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi said.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh lost the Lok Sabha election from South Delhi in 1999 but he immediately returned Rs 2 lakh he had taken from writer Khushwant Singh for hiring taxis saying he had not used it. This act of the prime minister finds a mention in a new book, Absolute Khushwant: The Low-Down on Life, Death and Most things In-between, written by the 95-year-old author Khushwant Singh
A day after Election Commission rejected his claim that Electronic Voting Machines are not tamper-proof, former bureaucrat Omesh Saigal on Tuesday stuck to his charge that a particular software can be used to rig the polls.
The BJP and Shiv Sena, which have claimed that EVMs can be tampered with, will make a presentation before the Election Commission to prove their contention.
Gearing up the machinery ahead of the general elections, the full Election Commission will visit Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this week to review the poll readiness in these two key states in the Hindi heartland which together accounts for 120 seats.
The Delhi high court on Tuesday set aside the election of Praful Patel, who was last year elected as the president of All India Football Federation for a four-year term, his third successive tenure.
Zomato replied to the customer saying, "Food doesn't have a religion. It is a religion."
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.
What Saisuresh Sivaswamy learnt about the election from television and the newspapers. A must read column, folks!
The legendary Seshan was not keeping good health for the past couple of years and he passed away at about 9.30 pm, a senior police official told PTI.
Laggards in international rankings, India finally made their presence felt by pulling off an impressive under-17 World Cup that drew all-round praise even though the country was eliminated in the very first round.
Sonia Gandhi on Sunday hosted her first Iftar in three years, which saw the Congress president sharing a table with leaders of RJD and its new-found ally Janata Dal-United.
Suspension, internal mudslinging and factionalism overshadowed some stellar performances by Indian archers as the sport went from bad to worse with just a few months left for Tokyo Olympics in an eventful 2019. The biggest blow to Indian archery came in August when World Archery suspended the national federation after two warring groups conducted parallel elections in Delhi and Chandigarh in a clear defiance of the international body's guidelines.
AAI has one month to get house in order or face suspension
Amidst a controversy over the banning of a student e-zine by St Stephen's Principal Valson Thampu, its editor has now been suspended from the college till April 23 on disciplinary grounds.
Former Election Commission observer K J Rao says political parties are in a race to display money power by erecting hoardings and banners across Patna. MI Khan reports
For the first time, the Election Commission will provide 'None Of The Above' option button in EVMs for the 11 crore voters who will exercise their franchise in the five states going to polls beginning next month.
'Our drains are not filled with bodies, our hospitals not run out of beds.' 'That good news, or absence of expected bad news, is the truth that so many in the international community, and also within India, seem unable to handle,' notes Shekhar Gupta.
The request was made in view of the upcoming elections for ICJ judges, scheduled to be held in November,
...Set house in order soon or Indian archers will compete under world body flag
'The EC seems to have killed the joy of elections by stretching it interminably.' 'Imagine watching Andhadhun in a six-hour format and you will get the point,' says Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
Sir Mark Tully on the magic of Indian elections. A fascinating excerpt from The Great March of Democracy: Seven Decades of India's Elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party leader L K Advani appeared to be on the same page as Narendra Modi, a rarity since the acrimony over naming PM candidate, as he endorsed the Gujarat chief minister's view that there that there should be compulsory voting along with the 'none-of-the-above' option.
By calling the Congress demand for covering lotus ponds absurd, ridiculous, the EC has done well. After all, even despite occasional lapses, there are wise men around, says Mahesh Vijapurkar.
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