The Election Commission on Thursday expressed confidence on organising "free, fair and transparent" Lok Sabha elections, which is scheduled between April 16 and May 13.
The model code of conduct comes into immediate effect, he said.
In the backdrop of several political parties launching their own television channels for publicity during elections, the Election Commission is working on guidelines for the electronic media to ensure a level playing field.
The Election Commission on Saturday said that statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and elephants, the Bahujan Samaj Party's poll symbol, installed at a number of places in Uttar Pradesh would be covered during the state assembly elections. "The commission has decided that statues of the CM and elephants will be draped," Chief Election Commissioner S Y Qureshi told reporters.
Opposition leaders believe this entire plan has been put in place to ensure that Mamata Banerjee is kept out of office in West Bengal.
Senior advocate Sanjay Hegde, appearing for the petitioner, submitted the notifications issued by authority are being implemented now and the names of talukas (smaller administrative units) are also being changed.
The notification for the first phase of the seven-phase assembly elections in the state will be issued on Tuesday.
United Nations General Assembly on Friday appointed Antonio Guterres as the UN Secretary General for a second term beginning January 1, 2022, days after the powerful Security Council unanimously recommended his name to the 193-member body for re-election.
Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla has taken strong exception to the withdrawal of cases against Reddy brothers in Karnataka.
The Chief Election Commissioner said a legal framework was required to implement the idea of holding simultaneous polls.
Pakistan's Election Commission on Friday disqualified former prime minister Imran Khan for five years in the Toshakhana case for hiding proceeds from the sale of gifts he received from foreign leaders.
In this exclusive conversation with Rediff.com contributor Rajeev Sharma, exiled opposition leader Ahmed Naseem explains why the world should care about democracy in Maldives.
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday urged the Election Commission to postpone assembly elections in Uttarakhand in view of heavy snowfall in many parts of the hill state and also sought removal of certain officials from key positions in Uttar Pradesh said to be close to ruling Bahujan Samaj Party.
The lawyer of Zakia Jafri on Thursday alleged before the magistrate's court here that Special Investigation Team probing the 2002 Gujarat riots cases "ignored and manipulated" conclusions of National Human Rights Commission and Chief Election Commissioner.
"The polls were held absolutely peaceful and totally incident free," Deputy Election Commissioner Vinod Zutshi told media persons at the end of polling.
The nodal officer for EVMs in Varanasi, a returning officer (RO) in Sonbhadra district and an additional election officer in Bareilly district have been pulled out from election duties, a day ahead of the counting of votes in UP.
The newly appointed Director General of Police of Maharashtra S S Virk, who was once removed by the Election Commission as Punjab police chief, will be kept off election duty, the central poll body said on Sunday.
The Election Commission on Friday ruled out postponing the April 13 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu as demanded by major political parties, including the Opposition All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, saying every issue was factored in before announcing the poll schedule.
Reasi district of Jammu region recorded 75.20 per cent voting, the highest in the union territory, State Election Commissioner (SEC) K K Sharma said, adding that 50.53 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the third phase of the maiden DDC polls in J-K.
The official also said that "re-polling will be held in booth no 126/5 in Sitalkuchi area" of the district, in view of the tragic incident.
An electorate of 17,40,576, including 8,82,236 woman voters, are eligible to exercise their franchise to choose their representatives from among 279 candidates in the 10th assembly polls.
Its workers are on their toes to win over the voters once again, with idea of 'Amrit Kaal'.
According to the schedule, candidates will have to file nomination papers from November 21 to 26, while the final list of candidates will be displayed on December 15.
An average of nearly 78 per cent voters exercised their franchise to elect new assemblies in the key southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and the Union territory of Puducherry on Wednesday.
During the pendency of suit filed by Odisha, the top court had on December 2, 1968 directed both the states to maintain status quo till the disposal of suit and said, "there shall be no further ingress or egress on the territories in dispute, on the part of either party".
Chief Election Commissioner Naveen Chawla has taken strong exception to the withdrawal of cases against Karnataka ministers and mining magnates Reddy brothers.
After several months of consistent campaigning, Indian-American Himesh Gandhi has been elected to a city council in Texas, United States. Gandhi, 35, elected to an 'At Large' seat on the Sugar Land City Council in Houston, received 2,468 votes (52.11 per cent) while Naomi Fulan Lam, a real estate broker, was in second place with 1,525 votes (32.20 per cent).
Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Delhi has been sent as a special officer to oversee the counting process in Meerut and Bihar's CEO to Varanasi.
The assembly elections in the states of Haryana, Maharashtra and Arunachal Pradesh will be held in a single phase on October 13.Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla announced the dates in a press conference on Monday.The counting of votes will take place on October 22.Electronic Voting Machines will be used in the electoral process in all three states, he said. The electoral battle will be fought in 288 seats in Maharashtra, 90 seats in Haryana and 60 seats in Arunachal.
C P Joshi pips Ruchir Modi to become RCA president
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday slammed the Maharashtra government saying that "Mughal rule" was prevailing in the state, and declared that he would contest the next assembly election from Thane, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's bastion.
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.
The voluminous report has proposed redrawing of the Anantnag Parliamentary seat by including Rajouri and Poonch from the Jammu region, besides carrying out massive changes in the Kashmir division, they said.
The People's Alliance for Gupkar Declaration (PAGD) swept the maiden District Development Council (DDC) polls by winning 110 seats, while the Bharatiya Janata Party emerged as the single largest party by getting 75 seats after securing the largest vote share in Jammu and Kashmir, officials said on Wednesday.
Praful Patel has no mandate to continue as All India Football Federation (AIFF) president as he has already served three terms and the national body should hold elections without further delay, the Sports Ministry informed the Supreme Court.
Asserting that the dharma yudham is on, Panneerselvam, popularly known as OPS said he and his followers would go to the people to seek justice.
The Election Commission has decided to set up call centres across in the five poll-bound states -- Kerala, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu, Assam and Puducherry -- which will operate round the clock. These centres will receive complaints about the violation of the model code of conduct by the various candidates and their supporters.
The results of the assembly elections in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh are also likely to play out during the start of the session.
The bypolls were conducted for two Assembly seats in Uttar Pradesh, one each in Meghalaya and Odisha and the Jalandhar Lok Sabha constituency in Punjab.
Left parties on Monday approached the Election Commission demanding that West Bengal's borders with other states be sealed during the coming assembly polls there to ensure that Maoists do not trigger violence.
