The Election Commission has issued instructions to district election officials in West Bengal regarding voters marked as 'unmapped' due to technical issues during the digitisation of the 2002 electoral rolls.
Gandhi did not speak to the media persons after the meeting, as the leaders of the Mahagathbandhan, of which the Congress is a part, remained in a state of disbelief after the NDA swept the polls.
Pawar was addressing an election campaign rally in Pimpri-Chinchwad and announced the development.
Speculation is rife in Bihar about Chief Minister Nitish Kumar potentially moving to the Rajya Sabha, leading to discussions about a possible BJP chief minister and a role for Kumar's son, Nishant. Senior BJP leaders have dismissed the rumours.
The Election Commission is expected to initiate a phased, pan-India special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters' list, prioritizing states with upcoming assembly elections. This cleanup exercise aims to weed out illegal foreign migrants and ensure accurate electoral rolls.
In a strategic move for the upcoming West Bengal elections, the BJP has announced its first candidate list, highlighted by Suvendu Adhikari challenging Mamata Banerjee in both Nandigram and Bhabanipur.
All along, we were told SIR was an essential exercise carried out as part of the Election Commission's regular duties. But now that the ideological mentor of the ruling party has declared that SIR is a means of detecting infiltrators, one understands the unseemly haste with which it is being carried out, notes Jyoti Punwani.
The Election Commission (EC) defended its power to revise electoral rolls and ensure no foreigners are registered as voters before the Supreme Court. The EC argued it has a constitutional duty to maintain the purity of electoral rolls and exclude those not eligible to vote.
Data from the State Election Commission reveals that over 11 lakh voters in Mumbai have duplicate enrolments in the electoral roll. The SEC has extended the deadline for submitting objections, and opposition leaders have alleged irregularities in the voter list revision.
According to reports, the exit polls will be banned from 7 am on Monday when polling for the first phase in Chhattisgarh starts till 5:30 pm on December 4 when the Delhi Assembly polls end.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee escalates tensions ahead of assembly polls by accusing President Droupadi Murmu of political bias and criticising her stance on tribal welfare, sparking a major controversy.
'Challenging an authority like the Election Commission is uncalled for. In my view, Khurshid ought to have settled this diplomatically instead of showing defiance,' says retired Supreme Court Justice Santhosh Hegde.
Election Commission's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of voters' list commenced in nine states and three Union territories on Tuesday, amid objections from several parties with Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee leading the anti-SIR offensive in West Bengal with a rally in Kolkata and alleging 'silent, invisible rigging' through the exercise.
The BJP and Shiv Sena are leading in the early trends of the Zilla Parishad and Panchayat Samiti polls in Maharashtra. Counting began on Monday morning for elections to 12 Zilla Parishads and 125 Panchayat Samitis.
The Supreme Court has requested the Election Commission to consider extending the deadline for submitting enumeration forms for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Kerala, due to the ongoing local body elections.
Assam, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Kerala and West Bengal will to polls in 2026 and they are amongst the states where the voters' list cleanup exercise will begin first.
'Some states have become more populous, while others have become less populous. Those who became less populous became economically strong. Those where population increased, they became economically weak
The Election Commission is set to publish the draft electoral rolls for West Bengal on Tuesday following the completion of the statewide Special Intensive Revision (SIR) ahead of the 2026 assembly polls. The publication of the draft rolls will mark the end of the enumeration phase and the beginning of a far more contentious stage - claims, objections and hearings that will stretch into February 2026.
The ruling Mahayuti coalition in Mumbai has reached a consensus on seat distribution for the upcoming civic polls, with the BJP contesting 128 seats and the Shinde-led Shiv Sena 79.
'Even today illegal foreign immigrants live in Assam and their names might be on the voters list. This we can get rid of only by doing SIR.'
Kakade said they will hold talks with the Congress and the Shiv Sena-UBT as well.
The Election Commission (EC) clarified that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen is not required to appear for a hearing regarding discrepancies in the spelling of his name in the voter list. The correction will be handled administratively. The EC also issued instructions to ensure timely delivery of notices related to voter list discrepancies.
Mamata Banerjee is in Delhi to meet Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar regarding the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal.
'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.'
BNP chairman Tarique Rahman called for maintaining law and order and sought cooperation in building a safe and humane Bangladesh after his party's victory in parliamentary elections.
The Supreme Court has directed the Maharashtra State Election Commission to complete the stalled local body polls by January 31, 2026, criticizing the commission for non-compliance with previous orders.
Days after Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar undertook an hours-long trek to a remote polling station in Uttarakhand, the poll panel on Tuesday decided to double the remuneration of polling officials going to such booths as early as three days before voting day.
Like the realisation on the failure of development, we have also internalised the failure on democracy, argues Aakar Patel.
As the March 31 deadline arrives, a wave of Maoist surrenders suggests insurgency's end, but political and social concerns remain.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf activists staged a protest after Khan was disqualified by the Election Commission of Pakistan in the prohibited funding case last year.
The Supreme Court will hear on Wednesday a plea filed by West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee challenging the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state.
Cricketer Mohammed Shami was asked to appear for the SIR verification hearing in Kolkata, officials said on Tuesday.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear a plea challenging the Election Commission's decision to conduct Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, Kerala and West Bengal. The court is also addressing concerns about disenfranchisement and citizenship issues related to the revision process.
A BMC spokesperson said the average voter turnout stood at 29.96 per cent till 1.30 pm in the metropolis, which has more than 1 crore eligible electors.
The Election Commission has allotted the 'whistle' symbol to actor Vijay's political party, Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK), for the upcoming 2026 Assembly elections. Party workers are enthusiastically promoting the symbol across Tamil Nadu.
The Election Commission has defended its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court, refuting allegations of mass deletion of genuine voters as exaggerated and politically motivated.
The Supreme Court has addressed the issue of reservation quotas in Maharashtra local body elections, stating that the final results of elections in 57 local bodies, where the 50% quota ceiling has been breached, will depend on its judgment in the case.
Special Intensive Revision (SIR), the Election Commission's voters' list cleanup exercise, will commence in nine states and three Union territories from Tuesday.
In its instructions issued to the chief electoral officer of Assam, the poll authority said that "software-based" reports should be generated for 'black and white images', 'not to specification images', 'non-human images' and 'no image' entries.
Mohammed Shami on Tuesday appeared before poll officials in Kolkata for his scheduled hearing under the ongoing SIR exercise in West Bengal.
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