In a letter to Ramesh, the poll panel has asked him to share details regarding his claim by 7 pm on Sunday.
The BJP also wrote to the EC, urging it to postpone the date of counting as Sunday is a sacred day for Christians, and the entire day is devoted to church services throughout the state.
'The EPS camp feels assertiveness will help the AIADMK keep the BJP's seat-share ambitions to the minimum,' observes N Sathiya Moorthy.
Moreover, the CEO said that citizens can also lodge complaints through the cVIGIL application, where the complaint needs to be addressed within a 100-minute time frame.
The electoral fortunes of top leaders-- Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai of the BJP, Congress heavyweights Siddaramaiah and D K Shivakumar and JD-S' H D Kumaraswamy, among many others will be known on Saturday.
Candidates from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance in Maharashtra have decided to seek verification of the EVM-Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trails (VVPATs) units in their segments, following their defeat in the recent assembly polls. The move comes after several losing candidates, including those from the Shiv Sena (UBT), alleged that the Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) might have been tampered with. The MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP, lost to the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Shiv Sena, BJP, and NCP. The MVA candidates are seeking verification based on a Supreme Court ruling that allows for checking the burnt memory/microcontroller in 5% of EVMs after the announcement of results.
Majority of these constituencies are in Uttar Pradesh and the party that is on the third slot even as the counting is still underway on several seats is the Bahujan Samaj Party, a party neither with the National Democratic Alliance nor the opposition INDIA bloc.
The Election Commission of India has dismissed claims by the Congress party alleging voter list irregularities during the recent Maharashtra assembly elections. In a detailed response, the EC asserted that there were no arbitrary additions or deletions of voters and that the electoral process was conducted with transparency and adherence to rules.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) chief Arvind Kejriwal on Monday hailed the party's performance in the Gujarat and Punjab bypolls, calling them a 'semi-final to 2027' and a clear sign that voters would reject both the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress.
A majority of over 50,000 internally displaced people are currently staying at relief centres across five valley districts and three hill districts.
The crucial, neck-to-neck contest was necessitated as the Bharatiya Janata Party fielded three candidates while Shiv Sena put up two and Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party one each.
'The protection of secrecy and anonymity gets lost with this linking.'
Till now, the postal ballots were counted in the beginning followed by votes polled in voting machines.
The plea is likely to be heard on Wednesday by a vacation bench.
FIR has also been registered against a polling personnel Dinesh Gurav, who was an Encore (poll portal) operator with the Election Commission.
'...when they feel that they need me for any format, they would summon. My job is to perform and be ready for call ups.'
The Congress party suffered a crushing defeat in the Delhi elections, failing to secure a single seat in the 70-member assembly for the third consecutive time. Key candidates, including Sheila Dikshit's son, Sandeep Dikshit, lost their deposits. The only consolation for the party was a slight improvement in its vote share, which they attribute to a vigorous campaign and a renewed focus on contesting elections independently. However, the defeat raises questions about the party's ability to compete in the upcoming 2024 Lok Sabha elections, particularly in light of its performance in other recent state elections.
Zohram Kwame Mamdani would be the city's first Muslim and Indian American mayor if elected New York mayor this November.
The Bharatiya Janata Party's Chandrabhanu Paswan was leading by 3,991 votes over the Samajwadi Party's (SP) Ajit Prasad after the first round of counting for the Milkipur assembly bypoll on Saturday, according to the Election Commission website.
Trump is confident the US will eventually emerge the winner from whatever turmoil his policies cause, notes T T Ram Mohan.
Results of the Delhi assembly election are not a vindication of Prime Minister's Narendra Modi's policies but a referendum on Arvind Kejriwal and Aam Aadmi Party, the Congress said on Saturday as it vowed to bounce back from another whitewash.
Several exit polls have given the BJP an edge over the AAP, which has been ruling in Delhi since 2015.
More than 50,000 officials have been deployed for the counting of votes on Thursday in the five states where assembly polls were held recently.
NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar has thrown his weight behind villagers in Solapur, Maharashtra, who are demanding a repoll using ballot papers after raising doubts about the accuracy of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). Pawar met with villagers in Markadwadi, where a police case was filed against over 200 people for attempting to conduct an unauthorized re-election. He expressed support for their concerns, claiming that the villagers were "the ones who thought of conducting polls using ballot papers." Pawar criticized the police action, calling it a restriction on the villagers' right to assemble and vowing to raise the issue with the Chief Minister, the state Chief Electoral Officer, the Prime Minister, and the Election Commission of India.
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.
Senior Congress leader and former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot said the proposed scheme would be a game-changer as it will provide comprehensive health coverage to families, covering medical expenses for critical illnesses, hospitalisations, and treatments.
In a first, BJP crossed the 10 per cent vote share-mark in Tamil Nadu and has so far registered a share of 10.21 per cent, though it could not emerge in lead positions anywhere.
Officials said most of the preparations are complete and the counting will start at 8 am on Saturday.
Women can have abs too, and Shilpa is all the proof you need.
Putin received more votes in comparison to the 2018 elections where he bagged 76.69 per cent of the total votes counted. The performance of the other candidates was lower than that of the previous competitors of Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2018, according to reports.
New IOC head already counting down to LA 2028
However, in 950 booths, voting will end at 4 pm, though people standing in the queue at that time will be able to exercise their franchise.
There has been speculation within state's political circles, especially within the ruling Congress, for some time now about the CM change later this year, citing the power-sharing agreement involving incumbent Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar.
'We accept EVMs cannot be hacked because it is not connected, but can they be manipulated?' 'Are you allowing us to check if EVMs can be manipulated?'
The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday returned to power in Delhi after more than 26 years to sweep away the Arvind Kejriwal-led Aam Aadmi Party with a two-thirds majority on the back of a hyper localised campaign and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'AAP-da'(disaster) blitzkrieg.
See the following table to know which state, UT will vote in how many phases and when.
Counting began at 8 am under multi-tier security cover. At first, postal ballots will be counted and then EVMs opened.
The final turnout in the Maharashtra assembly polls was 66.05 percent, up from 61.1 percent in 2019, according to the Election Commission. The polling percentage for the Nanded Lok Sabha bypoll was 67.81 percent. The increase, excluding postal ballots, highlighted the EC's efforts to engage a broader electorate, the statement added. Kolhapur led with 76.63 per cent, followed by 75.26 per cent in Gadchiroli, while the lowest was in Mumbai island city at 52.07 per cent and 55.95 per cent in the metropolis' suburban district. More than 68,000 citizens aged over 85 and 12,000 individuals with disabilities cast their votes through home voting.
While acknowledging that they needed strong allies for a chance in the assembly polls, AIADMK cadres seemingly prefer actor-politician Vijay's Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam to the BJP, owing to the latter's 'communal agenda' and consequent hardline Hindutva image, explains N Sathiya Moorthy.
Outgoing Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has expressed concerns about long-pending cases questioning electoral processes, arguing they fuel distrust and should be scheduled with consideration for election periods. He also advocated for enhanced transparency in political promises, with clear disclosures on financial viability and impact on state finances. Kumar further stressed the need for a totaliser system to maintain polling station-wise voting confidentiality and urged the empowerment of NRIs to vote remotely. He highlighted the potential of biometric authentication and technology to address issues like impersonation and multiple voting.
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