The Supreme Court Friday rescheduled the dates of West Bengal panchayat elections and directed the State Election Commission to conduct the exercise in five phases starting July 11.
The Lt Governor conveyed to the Delhi government that the rules will have to be amended for shunning the EVMs and it was not possible to make the changes as little over a month is left for the polls.
A total of 74,44,260 voters will exercise their franchise using ballot papers to elect their representatives.
'We have learnt lessons from Mamata Banerjee who overcame the BJP's canard by reciting Chandi Path and playing up her Brahmin origins in her campaign. We need to adopt strategies like asking Muslims to lie low and distributing tickets prudently so that we are not accused of favouring one community.' Radhika Ramaseshan reports.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for Uttar Pradesh, said the state has taken several steps to contain the spread of coronavirus but to "lockdown five cities by a judicial order may not be the right approach".
First came the Supreme Court's stay on Tuesday on the municipal elections on December 18, directing the state election commission to notify the election dates on February 18 after the electoral rolls are revised. The Uttar Pradesh government had challenged the Allahabad high court order fixing the elections on December 18.
In Mumbai and nine other civic corporations, polling will be held on Thursday, a working day, while counting would be held the next day, on February 17. Polls will also be held for Ulhasnagar, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Solapur, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur civic bodies. Counting of votes for the zilla parishad polls would be held on February 8, she said.
Bharatiya Janata Party was surging ahead in all the three municipal corporations of Delhi leaving the Congress behind as counting of votes progressed for the polls held two days ago.
If you are an elected representative of a civic body, having more than two children may cost you your job.
Trinamool Congress General Secretary Mukul Roy on Tuesday filed two defamation cases against West Bengal minister Gautam Deb, including a civil suit seeking damages of Rs 15 crore, for alleging that the Opposition party used black money for its election campaign.
The focus now shifts to smaller parties and Independents who will play an important role in government formation.
Ahead of the upcoming assembly polls in Tamil Nadu, chief election commissioner SY Quraishi has said that the money seized in raids by the state election commission is only the tip of the iceberg. chief election commissioner SY Quraishi said, "flow of money is our biggest challenge. Even the money confiscated in the recent seizures does not cover it all."
While the BPF and the UPPL are considered rivals in the Bodo-dominated areas, there was no pre-poll alliance among other parties as well.
The court asked the SEC to issue a fresh notification extending the date for filing nominations.
Amid rising coronavirus cases in India, the government has asked people not to panic, saying no community transmission of the virus has been observed and there has only been a few cases of local transmission so far and that it is "not a health emergency" in India at present.
The first-ever district development council (DDC) elections will be held in eight phases to elect 280 members in 20 districts from November 28 to December 22.
The point of contention is that the three ministers are holding office of profit being the ministers in the state cabinet.
In a major boost to the party ahead of next year's Assembly polls, the Trinamool Congress on Saturday scored a landslide victory in the newly formed Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation, bagging 37 of the 41 wards and winning all the 16 wards in Bally Municipalty under Howarah district.
The Gujarat government and State Election Commission have decided to introduce e-voting in the next local body elections becoming the first state in the country to enable citizens to cast their franchise online.
Communist Party of India-Marxist and Trinamool Congress workers clashed on Sunday during the fiercely-contested West Bengal civic polls, which recorded a high voter turnout of around 75 per cent. The polls, seen as a semi-final before the 2011 Assembly elections, were held in 81 civic bodies and in the 141-ward Kolkata Municipal Corporation involving an electorate of 85 lakh.
The Gujarat government on Friday said it has no plans to give right to recall elected representatives of local self-government bodies to voters as suggested by the State Election Commission (SEC) which has prepared a report on electoral reforms.
The main opposition Telugu Desam party has stepped up its opposition to the use of Electronic Voting Machines saying they were vulnerable to the manipulation and the people did not have confidence in the machines after the non governmental organizations exposed their unreliability.
Needing 46 seats to secure a simple majority in the 90-member state assembly, Bharatiya Janata Party led in 52 seats pushing the Congress to distant second place with a lead in 33 seats, as per the official website of the state election commission.
The Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Examinations have been postponed.
With the announcement, the Model Code of Conduct has come into force in the state.
The ruling Congress was on Tuesday ahead of the Bharatiya Janata Party in the taluk panchayat and zilla panchayat elections in Karnataka as the two parties were locked in a keen contest.
The Election Commission will hold a series of meetings, after which, they will determine if the stipulations of the delimitation report can be implemented in time to hold elections in Karnataka in May.
The polls were slated to be held in October last year but cancelled by Justice N Kirubakaran on a petition by the Dravida Munnetra Kazagham seeking among others appropriate reservation as per latest census and rotation of seats according to the norms.
This year promises to offer ample opportunities on the electoral turf to the SP, BSP and Congress to get their act together and play the "semi-final" of sorts before the "final match" two years later, reports Virendra Singh Rawat
The party has demanded immediate dismissal of the state government.
The resumption of the drive assumes significance as it comes ahead of the April five MCD elections, with the ruling Congress wary of resuming the action fearing that it may harm its poll prospects.
In some constituencies like Jowai, Mylliem, Mawlai and Jaiaw, women voters were about 20-25 per cent more than men. Observers attribute this to the matrilineal system followed by the society, unlike in other parts of the country.
"We have come to realise that these elections are being held to facilitate only one party -- ruling party," Congress leader Ghulam Ahmad Mir said.
The Supreme Court had previously stayed sealing.
Congress General Secretary Digvijaya Singh on Thursday challenged yoga guru Ramdev to have a debate with him on any issue in an open forum.
Results of the panchayat polls indicated a paradigm shift in state politics with the baton of main opposition party passing from the Left to the BJP.
The elections are not only a means for TMC to prove its wide, unopposed mass allegiance but also a way to bargain for national leadership among regional political parties in the road to New Delhi.
The court had on November 20 last year allowed the complainant's plea seeking direction to the officials of EC and DU to bring the records of Irani's qualifications.
The counting of votes for the high-stakes assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and Manipur will begin at 8 am.
