The Election Commission of India has published the final voters list for Assam after a Special Revision, deleting over 2.43 lakh names from the draft roll. The final roll comprises nearly 2.49 crore voters, a decrease of 0.97 per cent from the draft roll.
The Congress party has announced its support for Nationalist Congress Party (SP) chief Sharad Pawar as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections in Maharashtra.
The Supreme Court has expressed serious concern over the 'hostage' situation involving seven judicial officials in West Bengal's Malda district, demanding explanations from state officials and authorising the Election Commission to seek a CBI or NIA probe.
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accuses the BJP of 'vote chori' in collusion with the Election Commission, calling it an anti-national act. He raised concerns about election reforms and institutional capture.
The DMK party in Tamil Nadu has released its manifesto for the upcoming Assembly elections, promising a range of welfare measures focused on women, education, and economic development, including financial assistance and job creation initiatives.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has refuted reports that indelible ink marks on voters' fingers were being wiped off during the ongoing civic polls. The BMC clarified that the Municipal Commissioner had not made any such statement.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has launched a strong attack on West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her government of appeasement politics, encouraging illegal immigration for votes, and leading the state into misrule and corruption.
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.
'This daylight robbery of elections is happening in the commercial capital of India, Mumbai city, so you can imagine what they will do to win elections in the interiors of India.'
The Maharashtra State Election Commission on Friday announced that Thursday, January 15, will be a public holiday in areas falling under the 29 municipal corporations where polling for civic elections will be held, an official said.
The power struggle in Tamil Nadu's main opposition party, the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, appears set to go on for a long time with sidelined leader O Panneerselvam (OPS) approaching the Election Commission and the influential Edappadi K Palaniswami camp refusing to budge.
65 candidates from ten municipal corporations in Maharashtra were declared elected unopposed ahead of elections held on January 15, according to the State Election Commission (SEC). The BJP led with 43 unopposed candidates.
Sonia Gandhi's counsel argued in a Delhi court that a complaint alleging she was included in the electoral roll before acquiring Indian citizenship was politically motivated.
In an attempt to curb bogus voting and monitor the migration of voters across India, the Election Commission is planning to link the Census data of 2011 with its electoral rolls. The EC then plans to use global positioning system to automatically record the voters' migration or shifting of residence.Once the Census data is made available to the Election Commission, it will be clubbed with the electoral rolls. The GPS chip would be added to the electronic photo identity cards.
Several opposition parties on Wednesday decided to jointly oppose the delimitation provisions in the Constitution amendment bill in Parliament, even as they reiterated support for women's reservation, with Mallikarjun Kharge alleging the move is politically motivated.
Union Minister Dharmendra Pradhan accuses the TMC of objecting to the omission of names from electoral rolls due to fears of losing the 'infiltrator' vote bank in the upcoming West Bengal Assembly polls.
Chief Elections Commissioner N Gopalaswami and Election Commissioners Navin Chawla and S Y Qureshi will meet representatives of six main political parties later in the day.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has demanded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's resignation, alleging manipulation of voter lists during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in West Bengal. She also questioned the abrupt resignation of Governor C V Ananda Bose and accused the BJP of anti-women policies and spreading misinformation.
A report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) reveals that the BJP declared the highest income among national parties in FY 2024-25, while the Congress's income declined.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah accuses the West Bengal government of openly facilitating infiltration, defends the Special Intensive Revision of voter lists, and asserts BJP's prospects in upcoming elections.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has criticized the State Election Commission's decision to postpone some local body elections, calling it unfair to candidates. The decision follows petitions and sub judice matters, which Fadnavis argues should not halt the election process. Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde also expressed disappointment, while tensions rise between BJP and Shiv Sena in Sindhudurg ahead of local polls.
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.
The protesters, including AAP MLAs and newly appointed Delhi convener Gopal Rai, alleged that the manipulation of electronic voting machines was killing democracy.
The draft electoral roll for Uttar Pradesh was published after a special intensive revision exercise, with 12.55 crore voters retained out of 15.44 crore listed earlier. Around 2.89 crore voters were excluded due to deaths, migration, or multiple registrations.
The Election Commission has uploaded the names of people on the list of SIR logical discrepancies list on its website following a Supreme Court order. The district electoral officers will download the list and display it on panchayat bhavans and block offices.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has announced a new unemployment allowance of Rs 1,500 per month for young job seekers in the state, starting March 7. The announcement comes ahead of the assembly elections and aims to support unemployed youth aged 21-40 who have passed their secondary exams.
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.
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has accused President Droupadi Murmu of acting on the advice of the BJP and questioned her silence on issues affecting tribal communities in other states. This comes after Murmu raised concerns about the pace of tribal development in West Bengal.
The Maharashtra State Election Commission has prohibited civic poll candidates from using microphones and moving in large groups during door-to-door canvassing after the end of the public campaign. Opposition parties have criticised the decision.
The Supreme Court has reserved its verdict on a petition challenging the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, following arguments from various lawyers and the Election Commission of India.
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.
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.
"The Election Commission's press conference should be welcomed because it is a good step to clear public doubts regarding the SIR process (in Bihar) and other issues," Rawat told PTI in Indore.
'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.
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.
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.
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.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday told the poll panel that his remarks were aimed at containing graft and sought a review of its order to allow him to repeat the comments.
'Imagine, for the last 12 years the prime minister belongs to the BJP, the home minister belongs to the BJP... If that is the case, you have waited for 12 years to remove infiltrators. Which means you and your central government has failed India on stopping infiltration.' The Rediff Podcast Featuring Shiv Sena-UBT leader Aditya Thackeray.
For successive governments the Election Commission remains a 'holy cow', where unhealthy precedents are allowed to be nurtured since Independence, says N Sathiya Moorthy.
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