Barring 2004 and 2009 when Navjot Singh Sidhu won the Amritsar seat as a BJP MP and 1998 when Daya Singh Sodhi from BJP was elected as the MP, it has essentially a Congress bastion.
Newly elected Vice President C P Radhakrishnan met the Opposition's Vice-Presidential candidate retired Supreme Court Justice B Sudershan Reddy in New Delhi.
The counting of votes for all 824 seats across four states and one Union Territory will be held on May 4.
The announced election schedule for five assemblies reveals fewer phases, a condensed voting period, longer gaps between polling days, and a delayed counting process compared to previous elections.
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.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar arrived in Bihar to review preparations for the upcoming assembly elections. The visit includes meetings with political parties, police, administrative officials, and state leaders to ensure smooth conduct of the polls. The visit follows the publication of the final electoral roll after a Special Intensive Revision, which has sparked controversy among political parties.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has charge-sheeted eight more individuals in connection with a 2020 transnational narco-terror network case involving the smuggling of drugs from Pakistan to Gujarat, with the aim of financing the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has refuted allegations by the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) that the Commission is being run by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar. The ECI said it is a three-member body and has collectively noted "repeated deliberate pressure tactics" to malign the poll authority in the Delhi elections. The ECI has decided to exercise constitutional restraint and not be swayed by such insinuations. The AAP has alleged that the EC has been ignoring the BJP's alleged violations of poll code, and that Kumar is not taking action against the BJP to secure a post-retirement assignment. Delhi goes to polls on Wednesday.
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.
Less than 10 days are left for filing of nomination papers for the first phase of the Bihar polls.
Newly appointed election commissioners Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu assumed charge on Friday.
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'.
A selection committee headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet early next week to finalise the name of the next chief election commissioner. The panel will recommend a name from among the candidates shortlisted by a search committee. The president will then appoint the next CEC based on the recommendation. The panel comprises the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and a Union Cabinet minister nominated by the prime minister.
On Wednesday, February 19, 2025, newly appointed Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar took charge in New Delhi.
Top Congress leaders attacked the BJP and election commissioners at a rally in Delhi, alleging election irregularities and demanding action against those involved in 'vote chori'.
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar expressed satisfaction over the completion of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar, stating that the exercise has 'purified' the voters' list after 22 years. He made the announcement during a press conference in Patna.
Chief Justice of India Sanjiv Khanna on Tuesday recused from hearing a batch of pleas challenging the exclusion of the CJI from the panel meant for selecting the chief election commissioner and election commissioners. The CJI, who was sitting on the bench with Justice Sanjay Kumar, told the advocates appearing for the PIL petitioners that he couldn't hear the pleas now. The cases will now be listed before another bench after the winter break.
'The current Election Commission functions more like a government department than an autonomous body.'
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi intensified his attack on the Election Commission, accusing them of 'vote chori' and warning of action if the INDIA bloc forms the government. He alleged a 'new special package' for Bihar, named SIR (Special Intensive Revision), is a 'new form of vote theft'.
Kumar, who played a key role in implementing decisions following the abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution in Jammu and Kashmir during his stint in the Union home ministry, took charge as an election commissioner on March 15, 2024.
Seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, the Election Commission on Monday ordered the removal of home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, sources said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday questioned the Centre over the procedure adopted for the appointment of election commissioners and asked how six names were shortlisted from 200 within a few hours.
The political parties have been given time slots for the meeting with the Election Commission.
'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.'
Besides disclosing in their affidavits, candidates have to prominently declare criminal cases they are facing, if any, thrice in newspapers in print as well on television, he said, adding that political parties too have to publish within three days of nomination why a candidate with criminal background was selected. "You (political parties) have to tell the public whether you did not get any (other) candidate and why was it necessary to select them (those with criminal background)," he said.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has asserted the integrity of India's electoral process, stating that no discrepancies have been found between the votes counted on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Addressing concerns about mismatches in polling figures, Kumar attributed the issue to limitations in the data reported by the Voter Turnout Reporting (VTR) app, which excludes postal ballot votes. He emphasized the robust mechanisms in place to ensure accuracy, including reconciliation of every vote with Form 17C and thorough review of any minor errors. Kumar highlighted that the Election Commission rigorously follows guidelines for all aspects of the electoral process, including electoral rolls and machine handling.
Addressing reporters at his residence soon after the meeting ended, Chowdhury said six names came up before the panel for the selection of the two ECs and the names of Sandhu and Kumar were finalised by a majority of members of the high-powered panel.
Several candidates, including Taranjit Singh Sandhu, the BJP's Amritsar candidate, are promising resumption of India-Pakistan trade via the Attari-Wagah land route.
The Congress appeared to have bounced back in the state's political landscape after suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of the AAP in the 2022 Punjab assembly polls.
President Droupadi Murmu, Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi and several other famous faces were seen at polling booths, exercising their franchise in the sixth phase of the Lok Sabha polls on Saturday.
Flooding in Jummagad river flowing near Jumma village on the Joshimath-Niti highway, about 45 km from Joshimath, continued till late night on Monday evening, during which the bridge collapsed.
The bench said it was not questioning the credentials of the election commissioners appointed but the procedure.
The elections will begin on April 19 followed by subsequent phases on April 26, May 7, May 13, May 20, May 25 and June 1.
Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir will be held in three phases from September 18 while Haryana will go to polls in a single phase on October 1, the Election Commission announced on Friday.
'They have been found wanting in taking stern measures to stop this because the Constitution has given them this authority and the power to ensure a free and fair election in the country.'
Lok Sabha polls will be held in seven phases beginning from April 19 and the counting of votes will take place on June 4 for the world's biggest election exercise in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi will bid for a third consecutive term.
Bypolls are due in Bihar, Gujarat, Haryana, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Telangana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application pointing out the fact.
'Unlike in the sporting arena, where sports federations moved from partisan to impartial referees, in Indian democracy's biggest festival, it appears we are moving backward from unbiased and objective to one-sided and partisan,' observes Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay.
The first time the Election Commission has taken cognisance of a model code of conduct complaint against a sitting prime minister.
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