A Trinamool Congress delegation on Friday alleged before the Election Commission top brass that around 40 SIR-related deaths had occurred in West Bengal so far, a charge junked by the poll authority.
Two teachers-cum-Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Madhya Pradesh died of illness while conducting voter list surveys. Relatives allege heavy workload and pressure to meet targets as the cause. A third BLO is missing.
Does voter deletion controversy expose critical gaps in ECI verification procedures and safeguards protecting electoral roll integrity?
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 asked RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to hand over a voter ID card for investigation after he claimed to possess it despite it not being officially issued. The controversy arose after Yadav alleged discrepancies in the electoral rolls and claimed his voter ID number was changed.
The entire election process will be concluded by November 16.
Over 90 former bureaucrats have expressed concern over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, alleging it could disenfranchise voters, particularly the poor and marginalized.
Election Commission officials defend the intensive revision of Bihar's voters' list as 'inclusive' amid criticism from opposition parties, who claim it will disenfranchise voters. The Supreme Court is set to hear petitions challenging the revision.
The Uttarakhand high court has asked two top officials of the state to find out whether an officer who has no knowledge of English can effectively control an executive position after an additional district magistrate responded in Hindi during the hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL).
Sources in the Election Commission (EC) rejected claims on Saturday of rigging in last year's Maharashtra Assembly polls and said defaming the poll panel after receiving an unfavourable verdict from the voters is absolutely absurd.
Gandhi's remarks came on a day it emerged that the Election Commission has formally written to him on his allegations of rigging in the 2024 Maharashtra polls, saying all polls held by the poll panel strictly as per laws passed by Parliament and rules, and the entire exercise involves thousands of personnel, including booth-level agents appointed by political parties.
'The Election Commission is conducting the National Register of Citizens in Bihar through the backdoor.'
At the same time, the amendment bill makes it clear that 'no application for inclusion of name in the electoral roll shall be denied and no entries in the electoral roll shall be deleted for inability of an individual to furnish or intimate Aadhaar number due to such sufficient cause as may be prescribed'.
"There is bound to be revision," the top court said, "otherwise, how will the poll panel delete the names of those who are dead, migrated or shifted to other constituencies?"
The development came in the backdrop of the Supreme Court's direction that details of the deleted names be made public by August 19 and a compliance report be filed by August 22.
The Supreme Court has stated it will intervene if there is mass exclusion in the special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, emphasizing the Election Commission's role as a constitutional authority.
The other three crore -- nearly 40 percent -- will have to provide one of the 11 listed documents to establish their place or date of birth.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi is likely to take up the matter in which the EC has justified its ongoing SIR of electoral rolls in Bihar, saying it adds to the purity of the election by "weeding out ineligible persons" from the electoral rolls.
Underscoring the 'presumption of genuineness' of Aadhaar and voter ID, the Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the publication of draft electoral rolls in poll-bound Bihar and said it would once and for all decide pleas against Election Commission's special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.
The Election Commission has defended its Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court, refuting allegations of mass deletion of genuine voters as exaggerated and politically motivated.
A 30-year-old man in West Bengal's Howrah district died allegedly by suicide on Tuesday, as he was reportedly distressed over errors in his identity document amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, a police officer said.
Avoid donating without checking the receipt proforma showing the political party's ECI registration number and PAN.
The rally is being organised to protest against alleged electoral roll manipulation in the Maharashtra assembly elections, with opposition parties alleging that there were around 96 lakh fake votes which had been added in the 2024 assembly elections.
The Election Commission is set to introduce artificial intelligence-based verification systems during the ongoing Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral rolls in West Bengal to prevent the inclusion of fake or deceased voters, a senior official said on Tuesday.
The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has approached the Supreme Court, contesting the legality of the Election Commission's order for a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu, alleging it is arbitrary and unconstitutional.
'The long term strategy is that this government wants to create a second class citizen list.'
'If this is true, the Election Commission should come forward with data and officially confirm it.'
Mumbai suburban district saw an addition of 95,630 new voters, taking its tally to 77.81 lakh, while Mumbai city added 18,741 names, raising its voter base to 25.62 lakh.
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A resident of Bhojpur district in Bihar on Thursday called on the Chief Electoral Officer of the state to plead that he was alive.
Karnataka's Chief Electoral Officer has ordered an investigation into Rahul Gandhi's allegations of election fraud in the Mahadevapura Assembly constituency during the 2024 Lok Sabha polls. The CEO has requested supporting documents from Congress leader D K Shivakumar.
In some states, many women voters had enrolled themselves by their relationship with the male members of their family instead of providing their own names.
'This will split the Marathi and Shiv Sena vote.' 'The BJP has conducted 3 surveys indicating they shall secure 109 seats in the BMC.' 'They do not wish for the Shinde Sena to demonstrate excessive strength in the BMC.' 'If the Thackerays secure 60-70 seats, that will affect Shinde's seats.'
Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra has written to Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad requesting for expedited action on the electoral reform proposals pending with the government, including the one which seeks an enhanced two-year jail term for those furnishing incorrect information in their poll affidavit.
Days after rules were issued allowing linkage of Aadhaar with voters list to weed out duplicate entries, the Election Commission has warned of 'severe' disciplinary action against electoral registration officers for any leakages of physical forms filled by electors to share their Aadhaar details.
The government on Friday issued rules allowing linking of electoral roll data with Aadhaar, making electoral law gender neutral for service voters and enabling young citizens register as voters four times a year instead of the present one.
Seeking to check multiple entries in electoral rolls and to make them error-free, the Election Commission has embarked on an ambitious project to link Aadhar numbers with voters' electoral data.
The Election Commission has announced Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls in Andhra Pradesh as well as Telangana and the final rolls will be published on January 11, 2016, an official said in Hyderabad on Tuesday.
The Union Cabinet on Wednesday is learnt to have cleared a bill on electoral reforms, including the one to link electoral roll with Aadhaar on a voluntary basis to root out multiple enrolments.
'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.'
