Was Ram Rahim's release on parole for the 10th time since his conviction in 2017 timed to coincide with the Haryana assembly elections? It does seem so when one considers he has been released mostly when there was an election in Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. Listing the times that Ram Rahim has been out on parole.
The Election Commission has asked the returning officer of Amethi Lok Sabha constituency to probe allegations by Subramanian Swamy that Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi gave "wrong information" regarding his assets while filing nomination papers in the 2009 polls.
Since the IPKF's withdrawal from Sri Lanka in March 1990, the LTTE's once-powerful influence in Tamil Nadu has faded.
Chief electoral officers will brief Lyngdoh on February 4.
Encouraged by their initiatives which resulted in high voter turnout in Naxal-hit areas, officers in Chhattisgarh's Chief Electoral Office are hopeful of a similar trend in 72 constituencies going to polls on Tuesday.
The election authorities on Tuesday gave a clean chit to Civil Aviation Minister Ajit Singh's son and Rashtriya Lok Dal leader Jayant Chowdhury who was caught on camera accepting money from a local leader in Mathura and allegedly violating the model code of conduct.
Over 60 per cent of 1.5 crore electorate on Saturday exercised their franchise in a keenly fought Delhi Assembly elections which saw stray incidents of violence but remained by and large peaceful.
With assembly polls in some states due by early next year, the Election Commission expressed concern over the "alarming proportion" of "paid news" and directed officials to closely monitor poll-related reports.
Rain played spoilsport during polling for the first phase of Uttar Pradesh Assembly elections as only 5.17 per cent of the over 1.70 lakh electorate exercised their franchise in the first two hours.
The Election Commission is likely to declare poll dates for Gujarat and Himachal on October 4 or 5.
Re-polling would be held in eight polling stations spread across six constituencies in Tamil Nadu on Saturday, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said.The re-polls were necessitated due to defective display of Electoral Voting Machines, damage of EVMs by unruly elements and also boycott of voters in one place protesting shifting of polling station among other reasons, he told mediapersons.
In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh questioned the motive behind the inauguration of the "incomplete" temple by the leaders of the BJP and the RSS.
Rahul Gandhi made the statement on January 15, 2025, during the inauguration of the Congress Party's new headquarters at Kotla Road in Delhi.
The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday petitioned electoral authorities against Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani, tipped to be the Congress's candidate from Bangalore in Lok Sabha polls, taking exception to his name and picture figuring with Aadhar Card advertisements when the Model Code of Conduct is in force.
'The Election Commission cannot be regulated by the government.'
He will take oath on November 11, a day after incumbent Justice DY Chandrachud demits office on attaining the age of 65.
Amid allegations by opposition parties that the government was misusing probe agencies to target its leaders, the Election Commission on Tuesday asserted that while it remains committed to protecting level playing field and campaign entitlement of parties and candidates, it has not found it correct to take any step that could overlap or overrun the legal judicial process.
The number of nominations filed by candidates for the May 5 Assembly elections in Karnataka crossed 2,000 on Tuesday.
Delhi Election Commission on Friday directed all mobile service providers to stop "political" bulk SMS services 48 hours before the assembly election to ensure that parties do not influence voters during this period.
Voting will be held on Thursday for the first phase of Gujarat Assembly elections in 89 seats spread across 19 districts in Saurashtra-Kutch and southern parts of the state where 788 candidates are in the fray.
Uttarakhand has become the first state in India to implement the Uniform Civil Code (UCC), fulfilling a key promise made by the ruling BJP ahead of the 2022 Assembly elections. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami unveiled the UCC notification and launched a portal for mandatory online registration of marriages, divorces, and live-in relationships. The UCC aims to create equal laws for all citizens regardless of their religion, marking a historic moment in the state's legal landscape.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi on Thursday called for a "complete check" on the menace of paid news during polls and emphasised on keeping a track on the expenditure record of candidates.
Party leaders list three clear positive outcomes -- an activated Congress which has hit the ground running leaving the past inertia behind, an interactive top brass which is directly engaging the people, and a mobilised organisation which was dormant for many years.
Forced to make an emergency landing in a remote village near Munsiyari due to bad weather on Wednesday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar spent the night in an uninhabited house in sub-zero temperature along with two pilots and two poll officials.
The Election Commission on Saturday asked the Uttar Pradesh government to uncover statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and of elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, in the state. "The EC secretary has written a letter to the UP chief secretary stating that the statues draped following its January 7 order should be uncovered forthwith," said UP Chief Electoral Officer Umesh Sinha.
There has been an absolute decline in voters aged between 20 and 39, compared with 2018, and there has been a huge increase in voters aged over 50.
Vijayakanth was unwell for quite some time and his wife Premalatha took over the reins of the party days ago.
With its age-old fascination for education, southern states have done better than the North. Start-ups, IT hubs, and industry majors setting up shop have changed the face of the South. Nearly 79% of global offices set up by international conglomerates in India are in the South. Almost 46% of tech unicorns are from the South. The GDP per person in the South is 4.2 times higher than the North. None of these indicators can be ignored by any central government, whatever the political compulsions, notes Ramesh Menon.
The Election Commission has directed returning officers and chief electoral officers of Uttarakhand and Jharkhand not to start counting and announce results of the Rajya Sabha elections before its clearance. In a letter sent to the election officials in the two states, the poll panel has directed them that counting of votes "shall not be taken up" until they receive a specific written clearance from the commission.
The ruling Biju Janata Dal candidate Ranendra Pratap Swain on Wednesday defeated his nearest Congress candidate Suresh Chandra Mohapatra by 47,390 votes in the by-election for Athgarh assembly seat in Odisha.
Twelve candidates are in the fray for the three tribal seats, elections for which are being held ahead of the remaining 65 assembly constituencies for the first time in the state's history. In all 1,27,785 voters, including 61,902 women, will exercise their franchise for the three constituencies, while polling for the remaining 65 assembly constituencies will be held on December 19.
Around seventy seven per cent voting was recorded in the third phase of West Bengal assembly polls in 75 seats covering Kolkata, North and South 24 Parganas districts on Wednesday.
The northeastern state is set to witness a triangular fight this time, with the BJP-IPFT coalition seeking to retain supremacy, the Left-Congress combine looking to wrest power, and regional outfit Tipra Motha making its debut at the hustings after its stunning performance in the autonomous council polls.
The Election Commission is keeping open the option to reschedule the assembly elections in Uttarakhand if the cold wave continues for the next few days.
If the DMK is able to sustain the momentum until the assembly polls, the AIADMK especially and the PMK and possibly the infant TVK too would find it hard to sign up with the BJP, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Bhzaratiya Janata Party on Monday filed a complaint with the Election Commission against opposition Congress, accusing it of levelling "baseless allegations" against it without evidence.
The Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, failing to secure a single seat in the 70-member assembly for the third consecutive time. Key candidates, including Sheila Dikshit's son, Sandeep Dikshit, lost their deposits. The only consolation for the party was a slight improvement in its vote share, which they attribute to a vigorous campaign and a renewed focus on contesting elections independently. However, the defeat raises questions about the party's ability to compete in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in light of its performance in other recent state elections.
Sharma claimed he has received complaints that neither any virtual nor any physical meeting was held to finalise the electoral rolls, the sources said.
"We don't agree with the ideology of the Congress. But we will support it to keep the BJP out of power," Mayawati said.
