Associate nations, like Ireland and the Netherlands, may not be dumped out of the 2015 cricket World Cup, as the ICC Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) on Monday recommended that there should be a qualifying tournament for participation in the elite event.
Seeking to provide a level-playing field for parties in elections, the Election Commission has proposed making paid news an electoral offence to provide a strong deterrent in a bid to stamp out the menace. It also wants a ceiling on the campaign expenditure of political parties that is used as a ruse to pump in unlimited resources.
The ICC termed the recent spot-fixing allegations involving Pakistani players as a "warning" and said it will recommend a wide-ranging and, if necessary, independent review of the current anti-corruption measures to maintain the integrity of the sport.
S Y Quraishi assumed charge as new chief election commissioner of India on Friday.
The Central Empowered Committee (CEC) appointed by the Supreme Court on environment and forest, in its preliminary report submitted to the apex court has confirmed that prima facie there was illegal mining beyond the limits of leased lands, in violation of the forest conservation act by Reddy's companies.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday declared its first list of 58 candidates for the forthcoming Jharkhand assembly elections and said the remaining names would be finalised after details of seat-sharing with ally Janata Dal-United are completed.
In its bid to promote the traditional version of the game in the age of slam bang Twenty20 cricket, the ICC is contemplating of introducing a Test league from where top four teams would qualify for a quadrennial play-off event to begin in 2013.
Two former CECs -- B B Tandon and T S Krishnamurthy -- were mandated to investigate the BSNL decision in the face of protest registered by Nokia-Siemens Network. The panel appointed by BSNL was duly approved by the chief vigilance commissioner. The complaint was referred to the panel after NSN, which was disqualified on technical grounds, alleged that the state-run telecom majors recent 93-million GSM lines tender was conducted in a non-transparent manner.
Chief Election Commissioner Shahabuddin Yaqoob Quraishi still takes out time to jam with the who's who of Indian administration -- National Security Advisor Shiv Shankar Menon and Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao.
The schedule for Gujarat will be announced separately.
The International Cricket Council on Wednesday withdrew its contentious proposal of having a two-tier system in Test cricket following vehement opposition from the all-powerful Board of Control for Cricket in India along with support from Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh.
Election Commissioner Navin Chawla, whose removal was recommended by Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalswami on Saturday, appeared to be in a combative mood, saying the 'dignity' of the constitutional body is "paramount".
Kargil observed it as a 'black day' and leaders in Leh seeing it as an opportunity for development.
About 3,500 jurists, academics, actors, artistes, writers and people from other walks of life called the registration of the FIR against The Wire's founding editor an attack on press freedom.
The International Cricket Council's Chief Executives' Committee (CEC) on Wednesday recommended that the Champions Trophy be held in South Africa and not Sri Lanka as rainfall could affect the tournament to be held during September-October this year.
Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswamy has convened an all-party-meeting at 1000 hrs on Tuesday, to take note of the views of the political parties so that the commission can make a decision on the dates for the Lok Sabha elections.
Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday night released the first list of 43 candidates for the high-stakes Bihar polls, giving about 60 per cent representation to those from SC and backward castes in an apparent attempt to target the base of rival Janata Dal-United-Rashtriya Janata Dal combine.
Bihar will have five-phase assembly elections between October 12 and November 5 and counting of votes will take place on November 8.
The results were supposed to be declared on September 8.
"Our electoral rolls revised according to the newly delimited constituencies will be ready by August 31," the CEC told reporters when asked whether the commission was ready to conduct Lok Sabha elections as per the redrawn constituencies.
Rumblings within the Bharatiya Janata Party came to the fore on Wednesday night as the party decided to field L K Advani from Gandhinagar for Lok Sabha polls, angering the patriarch who wanted to shift to Bhopal in a reflection of his tensions with Narendra Modi.
In a major setback to the Praja Rajyam party of filmstar Chiranjeevi in Andhra Pradesh, the Election Commission of India has rejected its request for a common election symbol on the ground that the party has not contested even a single election so far.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) on Tuesday announced new playing conditions that give liberty to on-field umpires to consult the third umpire in case of unclean catches and also bar players from taking 'comfort breaks' in one-dayers. The new rules, to be applicable from Wednesday, have been aimed at improving the the quality of one-day internationals.
Till he took over, political parties ferrying people to the polling stations was considered quite 'normal', and it was during Seshan's stint that it became impossible with the model code being made sacrosanct.
If Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami lives by the rulebook, so does his colleague Navin Chawla. Only that the book is written by him and the rules are his own.
Polls for assembly constitutencies will begin with the first phase beginning on November 17 and the seventh and last phase of election on December 24.
Incidentally, Rao's wife Nirupama Rao is India's ambassador to China. With the appointment of Meera Shankar as ambassador to the United States, Nirupama Rao's chances of becoming foreign secretary are quite bright once the incumbent, Shiv Shankar Menon, retires
Stepping up his attack on Narendra Modi, Bharatiya Janata Party rebel Jaswant Singh on Tuesday said "personality cult" was not good in a democracy and it would harm the party.
Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami is a stickler. For rules. For details. For discipline. For principles. For values. For him, there is only one way of doing things: The right way. He is known to make copious notes about how every hour of his day passes. "He jots down details in a tiny diary. Even if you speak to him on the phone for a few minutes, your name and details of the conversation go into that tiny diary," revealed a friend who has known the CEC for 20 years.
"We have submitted a petition to the CEC as per the directions of the Supreme Court seeking removal of Navin Chawla, as he has been favouring a particular party in his decisions," Arun Jaitley said.
The majority of the International Cricket Council's Board members on Saturday voted in favour of restructured revenue sharing model including rollback of the Big 3 formula despite vehement opposition from Board of Control for Cricket in India's representative Vikram Limaye.
'Just as the monkey god needed a Jambavan to prod him into realising his superpowers, so did the poll panel need a poke from the Supreme Court into remembering it had an armoury of powers at its disposal to stop the infractions,' notes Saisuresh Sivaswamy.
The election is likely to witness a three-cornered contest involving the ruling Aam Aadmi Party, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
According to the CEC, while Tripura will go to polls on February 23, the elections in Meghalaya will be held on March 3 and in Nagaland on March 5. The elections in all the three states will be held in a single phase and electronic voting machines will be used this year. While counting of votes for Tripura and Meghalaya is scheduled to be held on March 7, in Nagaland, the counting will take place a day later.
Talking to reporters at a media briefing, 33-year-old Sreesanth said his name has been cleared by the court in a match-fixing case and he is, therefore, not worried about any Opposition attack on him regarding the controversy.
The chief election commissioner also said he did not see an early evolution of a two-party system in the country, saying the idea favoured by Kalam is "too difficult at this stage".
India will start their World Cup campaign on June 5 as the BCCI will have to maintain a mandatory 15-day gap between the IPL final and international assignment as per the Lodha Committee recommendations.
He was responding to a question on whether Gujarat polls would also be staggered like the seven-phased UP polls. The term of the present Assembly in Gujarat expires on December 26.
Racial abuse at cricket matches may result in fans being ejected or banned for life from venues in line with anti-racism laws adopted by the International Cricket Council (ICC).
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