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.
Eight eminent personalities have appealed to people to "introspect and audit" the working of the Constitution.
Constitutional experts on Saturday attacked Chief Election Commissioner N Gopalaswami's decision to suo motu recommend removal of Navin Chawla as Election Commissioner, saying the move has created a 'crisis' and its timing just ahead of the elections could make people believe there is 'some motivation'.
With these decisions, Modi has been given a clean chit in eight matters.
Independent candidates have emerged as big winners in Jammu and Kashmir's maiden District Development Council polls, with 49 of them having been declared elected so far from 280 seats, putting them ahead of parties like the Congress and the Peoples Democratic Party.
"The Lok Sabha elections are likely to be held between mid-April and mid-May. We have no particular interest in advancing it unless there is an absolutely great need for that," Gopalaswami said.
The Deputy Election Commissioners have drawn up three different sets of the tentative schedule in consultation with the states' chief election officers. One provides for the polling on April 20, 26, May 5 and 10, but the finality will come only after the full bench of the Election Commission sits down to consider all aspects and fixes the schedule, the EC sources said.
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
There are also over 10 million voters in the 18-29 age bracket. Winning them over could be Nitish Kumar's biggest challenge, reports Aditi Phadnis.
The Election Commission on Wednesday put off its proposed visit to Jammu and Kashmir for review of election preparedness following the flood situation in the state.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
The Election Commission is contemplating holding the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly elections in the month of November and then go for the Assembly elections in five other states after a gap of 10 to 15 days.
Besides the various political parties, the election commission is also getting into poll mode.
Congress wants single-phase polls while BJP prefers multi-phase polls
The Election Commission on Thursday justified the decision to deny permission to Narendra Modi's rally in Varanasi city and came to the defence of the district magistrate whose removal is being demanded by the Bharatiya Janata Party.
The full bench of the Election Commission will meet on August 25 in New Delhi after the return of Chief Election Commissioner S Nasim Zaidi to discuss the Bihar assembly polls.
Congress has been in political wilderness since the past 17 years in the state, also considered as BJP's Hindutva laboratory. While Chief Minister Narendra Modi is the star campaigner for BJP and the party's chief ministerial candidate, Congress has refrained from projecting anyone for the top post to avoid internal wrangling.
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He also suggested holding elections to all representative bodies simultaneously.
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