'We were in a heavily nuclearised environment. China had tested for Pakistan in the 1980s and helped their missile programme stay just one step behind us.'
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announces legal action against the Election Commission's electoral roll revision, alleging disenfranchisement and procedural flaws.
The Election Commission is set to announce the schedule for the Bihar legislative assembly elections on Monday. The announcement will be made at a press conference at 4 pm.
The decision came amid rising concerns in the city's red-light districts over difficulties in completing SIR enumeration forms.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan questioned the attempts being made to implement the SIR in poll-bound Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal while the Constitutional validity of the Bihar SIR process is under consideration by the Supreme Court.
Simultaneous polls will help save resources, spur development and social cohesion, deepen "foundations of democratic rubric" and help realise the aspirations of "India, that is Bharat", the panel had said.
The Election Commission has directed enforcement agencies and security forces to take proactive measures during the Bihar elections to prevent the use of drugs, liquor, and cash to influence voters.
The Winter session of Parliament will be held from December 1 to 19, Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju announced on Saturday, in what the opposition has described as an 'unusually delayed' and truncated session.
In her third letter to Kumar since the SIR began, Banerjee accused the Election Commission of political bias, insensitivity, and high-handedness during the exercise.
As the March 31 deadline arrives, a wave of Maoist surrenders suggests insurgency's end, but political and social concerns remain.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accuses the Election Commission of being complicit in 'vote theft' in Bihar, alleging manipulation of voter lists and preventing people from voting. He claims the EC officials are committing 'treachery against the Constitution'.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday claimed that a 'systematic vote chori' method, evolved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Election Commission to 'kill Indian democracy', will be deployed in the Bihar assembly polls as well.
The Indian Army's Eastern Command has sought the intervention of West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose in connection with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's recent allegation that a senior army officer was using the command base at Fort William and working on the SIR exercise at the behest of the BJP.
The stage is set for the crucial first phase of the assembly elections in Bihar on Thursday, as 3.75 crore voters will decide the electoral fate of 1,314 candidates, including top leaders such as Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance's (INDIA's) chief ministerial face Tejashwi Yadav and Deputy CM Samrat Choudhary of the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Tamil Nadu's electoral roll has been revised, resulting in the removal of 9.74 million voters following an enumeration exercise. The state's electoral roll now stands at 5.43 crore voters.
The Supreme Court has scheduled a hearing for January 21 on pleas challenging the Election Commission's decision to allot the 'bow and arrow' symbol to the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena. The court will also hear arguments on a similar dispute concerning the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on January 22.
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.
The Election Commission defends its directive to verify the identity of burqa-clad women at Bihar polling stations, citing a 1994 order issued during T N Seshan's tenure.
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.
'Rahul Gandhi's problem is that he doesn't think big.' 'He looks more like an activist, while politics is like a game of chess. You attack and then defend and have a game-plan.'
'Tarique Rahman's refrain during the electoral campaign was that the minorities are safe under BNP. He has to honour that promise.'
Reacting to the alleged incident, Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar directed the DGP to take "immediate action".
The Election Commission of India has initiated the process to hold the vice presidential election following Jagdeep Dhankhar's resignation. The electoral college is being constituted, and the election schedule will be announced soon.
'I don't want to be called a new Indian voter when I am an old Indian voter.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi alleges that the Election Commission is colluding with the BJP to manipulate elections, citing data analysis from a Karnataka constituency. He claims evidence of 'vote chori' and demands transparency from the EC.
A series of deaths and health-related incidents involving staff deployed for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in multiple states has triggered alarm, even as West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday launched a sharp attack on the Election Commission, calling the ongoing exercise 'chaotic, coercive and dangerous'.
IPL champions RCB have proposed the installation of 300-350 AI-enabled cameras at the venue and offered to bear the estimated cost of Rs 4.50 crore for this crowd management initiative.
'Main chunauti deta hun ke ek naam bhi ghuspaithiya ka bataye jiska SIR mein samne aya ho ya delete hua ho (I challenge you to name even one infiltrator who was identified or deleted in the SIR).'
A Booth Level Officer (BLO) was found dead in West Bengal's Bankura district, leading to allegations that work-related pressure from the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls may have been a factor. Political accusations have followed.
Bangladesh is preparing for elections and a referendum on reforms, but the absence of the Awami League and rising political tensions are raising concerns about the legitimacy and stability of the process.
Kerala's Chief Electoral Officer announces that over 2.4 million voters are untraced after the enumeration stage of electoral roll revision, raising concerns among political parties.
The Bombay High Court criticized the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for its lack of action in addressing air pollution in Mumbai, questioning the approval of numerous large construction projects and urging preventive measures.
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) spent Rs 1,737.68 crore for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, according to the expenditure report submitted to the Election Commission of India. A majority of the funds were allocated to general party propaganda and candidate-related expenses, with media advertisements accounting for a significant portion. The BJP's election outreach also included extensive use of publicity materials and campaign-related travel. The party's expenditure on public meetings, processions, and rallies, including arrangements for stages, audio setups, barricades, and vehicles, stood at Rs 19.84 crore. The travel expenditure of star campaigners authorized by the party's central headquarters amounted to Rs 168.92 crore, while Rs 2.53 crore was spent on the travel of other party leaders.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday directed the Maharashtra government to submit data on Other Backward Classes to the State Backward Classes Commission to examine its correctness and make recommendations on their representation in elections for the local bodies.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday said a two-thirds majority for the National Democratic Alliance in the 243-member Bihar assembly will be a fitting tribute to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru on his birthday on November 14, the day poll results will be announced.
Top leaders of Maha Vikas Aghadi, including Shiv Sena-Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray chief Uddhav Thackeray, Nationalist Congress Party-Sharadchandra Pawar head Sharad Pawar along with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray, will lead the Opposition's November 1 protest march in Mumbai against alleged irregularities in voters' lists.
A new study alleges that Muslim voters are disproportionately represented in Logical Discrepancy (LD) lists during Kolkata's voter roll revision, raising concerns about potential bias in the electoral process.
Humayun Kabir, recently suspended from the TMC, has launched a new political party, Janata Unnayan Party, and announced candidates for the 2026 assembly elections.
The RJD, which has been voicing apprehensions that the SIR might have been carried out to "help" the BJP-led NDA, also urged the EC to divulge details of the 3.66 lakh persons whose names were deleted from the final electoral roll published earlier this week.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has accused the Election Commission of India of engaging in "vote chori" (vote theft) to benefit the BJP, claiming his party possesses substantial evidence of electoral irregularities.
