I think we are just too complacent about our electoral system. There's a lot that is very wrong with it. But we continue to parrot the boring mantra of this being the greatest electoral exercise in the world. Things are not going to change. Next election let's just boycott the whole process en masse, says Sherna Gandhy.
He alleged that India "lost access to 26 out of 65 Patrolling Points" which was not the case before May 2020, and questioned the Modi government's "silence" on the issue.
One hopes in his next term, Narendra Modi will take up the mission of inculcating respect for following rules in Indians as a mission. Therein lies the chance for India to become a developed country, asserts Colonel Anil A Athale (retd).
The Election Commission on Tuesday deliberated on holding the assembly polls in Maharashtra, Haryana, Jharkhand and Jammu and Kashmir before or after Dussera.
Kumar said the Commission will follow the time-tested methods of consultations and consensus building in bringing about any reforms and will not shy away from tough decisions, according to an Election Commission (EC) statement.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Saturday hailed the party's performance in the Karnataka assembly polls as the victory of politics that unites the country.
The top court also said that the upcoming general election and exercise of NRC should not be affected, and asked the competent authorities to sit together to plan them.
But it would be unwise on the government's part not to heed the suggestions made by the experts group, set up by the Supreme Court, in particular the one on involving the states and giving them the flexibility in designing and implementing the farm laws, observes A K Bhattacharya.
Two crucial witnesses in the Mumbai attacks trial, including an electoral officer who gave evidence about the Pakistani origin of one of the Laskar-e-Tayiba terrorists involved in the assault on India's financial hub, have been cross-examined in an anti-terrorism court.
Two crucial witnesses in the Mumbai attacks trial, including an electoral officer who established the Pakistani origin of one of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba terrorists involved in the assault on India's financial hub, have been cross-examined in an anti-terrorism court.
The Assam government has set up an eight-member committee to prepare a framework for implementation of all clauses of the 36-year-old Assam Accord, especially the Clause-6 report prepared by a central panel pertaining to protecting the cultural, social and linguistic identity and heritage of the indigenous people, officials said on Saturday.
Counting of votes will take place on February 23. Model code comes into force.
The CEO office said that the Returning Officer took such a long time due to the rush of candidates on the last day of filing nomination papers. The response came hours after a number of AAP leaders alleged that around 35 candidates with incomplete set of papers were insisting that they would not allow the CM to file his nomination unless their nominations were filed.
Trinamool Congress floor leader Derek O'Brien was suspended from the Upper House of Parliament on Tuesday for the remaining part of the Winter session after he threw a Rajya Sabha rule book at the Chair.
The exercise to add the inmates' names to the electoral roll was initiated in February this year.
Simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and state assemblies can help reduce difficulties in terms of expenditure and management, President Pranab Mukherjee said on Wednesday and asked the Election Commission to take the initiative in bringing political parties on one platform to discuss the issue.
"The situation has become irretrievable", Azad, 73, said in his parting shot to Sonia Gandhi, whose trusted confidante he remained right from the time of Sitaram Kesri's unceremonious exit as the party's chief in 2000.
Senior Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Friday resigned from all party positions, including its primary membership, delivering another blow to the embattled party that has seen a series of leaders leave it.
It should announce its candidates 45 days before the elections; trust rooted leaders; start its campaign focused on five guarantees six months before elections.
Even as the race for the Congress president's post is hotting up, its veteran leader and Rajya Sabha member Digvijaya Singh on Friday said he is not interested in becoming the party chief.
The Chief Election Commissioner pointed out that the exercise involved nearly 7.3 crore voters and over 1.06 lakh polling stations.
President Pranab Mukherjee has given his assent to a bill which maintains the right of those in jail to contest polls, thus overruling a Supreme Court order.
Political observers are keen to see if the BJP will now be guided by its more firmly entrenched ideological dominance in picking a face solidly identified with its core planks, or if it will choose a person tilted more to its electoral calculations. Or, whether its pick will be an ode to its core supporters or a outreach to relatively new groups of votaries.
In a mistaken zeal to bolster the BJP's electoral base, the party - or at least its rabid followers - appear to have convinced themselves that the Hindu rashtra is already here. It's grave mistake, warns Amulya Ganguli.
The Assam finance minister said that it is not possible for the person to go back to his country of origin and collect a copy of police report to show that he was subjected to religious persecution.
Negating a Supreme Court order, Parliament on Friday passed a bill that maintains the right of those in jail to contest polls, with the government saying the court verdict was wrong and the legislature has constitutional duty to correct it.
Just ten days after shifting in, a transgender has been asked to move out of her flat in suburban Jogeshwari at the behest of its owner who did not want a "gay" tenant.
'I do not want to get into the number game. This time, the BJP will get unprecedented seats and vote percentage in Gujarat.'
Vaccinating 100-200 people in each session per day, monitoring them for 30 minutes after administering the shots for any adverse event and allowing only one beneficiary at a time are among the guidelines issued by the Centre for the COVID-19 inoculation drive.
Will Annamalai's attacks on the DMK revert the anti-BJP feeling in Tamil Nadu, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
In a historic judgement, the Meghalaya High Court has said that Bangladesh nationals who have settled in this north eastern state before March 24, 1971, should be treated as Indians and they be enrolled in the voters' list.
Medical seats for under-graduates and post-graduates remaining vacant in the NEET era, together with the Centre 'freezing' the number of medical colleges and seats in (Dravidian) Tamil Nadu and the launch of the PM's 'Vishwakarma Scheme' for the nation's craftsmen, are all seen as a bid to further reverse the state's progressive socio-economic agenda of and its achievements of the past hundred-plus years, argues N Sathiya Moorthy.
Election Commissioner V S Sampath announced that Delhi will go to polls on February 7.
Celebrities and politicians made a beeline for polling stations in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, as both the states go to the polls on Monday.
It is not unlikely that ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, the BJP government comes up with more imaginative schemes aimed at constituency-building. The party under Modi's leadership has a more modern thinking in such matters unlike its rivals, which are still steeped only in ideology, points out N Sathiya Moorthy.
The Committee of Administrators (CoA) on Tuesday said it was surprised at FIFA's 'unfortunate' decision to ban the All India Football Federation (AIFF) despite closing in on a consensus on matters concerning the elections and structure of constitution.
On compilation of six crucial documents, it was found that around two lakh of them from one crore were forged.
The Election Commission has decided to grant two more hours to people to cast their votes in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Drawing on his technological expertise, Hajela, who has a BTech degree in Electronics from IIT, Delhi, introduced an innovative mechanism for collecting and collating data of the family tree of every resident of Assam.
The Election Commission has ordered a re-poll at four booths spread across three Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra on April 27 citing non-clearance of votes cast during mock polls, as it had a bearing on the actual numbers reflected in the EVMs.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances