The Election Commission defends its directive to verify the identity of burqa-clad women at Bihar polling stations, citing a 1994 order issued during T N Seshan's tenure.
Is the unusually and unbearably scorching Sun and the general laxity, bordering on laziness, among voters, responsible, asks N Sathiya Moorthy.
A total of 199 candidates, including nine women and 69 independents, are in the fray.
As votes for the Delhi assembly polls were counted on Saturday, latest data of the Election Commission showed that NOTA option got 0.57 per cent vote share as compared to 0.55 pet cent of the Bahujan Samaj Party and 0.01 per cent of Communist Party of India-Marxist.
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.
Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar has asserted the integrity of India's electoral process, stating that no discrepancies have been found between the votes counted on electronic voting machines (EVMs) and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) slips. Addressing concerns about mismatches in polling figures, Kumar attributed the issue to limitations in the data reported by the Voter Turnout Reporting (VTR) app, which excludes postal ballot votes. He emphasized the robust mechanisms in place to ensure accuracy, including reconciliation of every vote with Form 17C and thorough review of any minor errors. Kumar highlighted that the Election Commission rigorously follows guidelines for all aspects of the electoral process, including electoral rolls and machine handling.
'This uniqueness of Jammu and Kashmir has to be respected by New Delhi. If it is not done, then it puts question-mark on the very basis of the relationship,' Jammu and Kashmir People's Conference chairman Sajjad Gani Lone tells Pervez Majeed.
The None of the Above (NOTA) option once again found few takers, with 0.75 per cent of the electorate pressing the button in Maharashtra and 1.32 per cent in Jharkhand. Votes for the assembly elections in these two states were counted on Saturday.
A significant enrolment of young voters in the electoral rolls has resulted in the unusually high voter turnout in the state assembly elections, Chief Election Commissioner V S Sampath has said.
Polling for one Lok Sabha and 31 assembly seats spread across seven states started on Saturday morning amid tight security. As polling started at 8 am, voters were seen trickling in at some booths. The most hi-profile electoral battle is being held between Congress' actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar, who is pitched against Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav's daughter-in- law Dimple, in the Firozabad Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh.
Three unidentified persons allegedly opened fire at Shiv Sena candidate Bhausaheb Kamble's car in Maharashtra's Shrirampur in the early hours of Wednesday. The bullets, however, didn't hit the car and Kamble, a police official said.
Over 60 per cent voter turnout was recorded on Monday in 49 constituencies in six states and two Union territories in the fifth phase of Lok Sabha elections, with Baramulla in Jammu and Kashmir recording its highest-ever voting percentage.
"As long as PoK exists, terrorist activities will continue. I request Prime Minister Narendra Modi that if Pakistan does not hand over PoK, we must declare war against them," Athawale said, calling for another surgical strike against the neighbouring country.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that the record turnout in the first phase of the Bihar assembly polls indicates people's trust in the NDA government. He predicted victory for the NDA, led by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, and lauded the Election Commission for conducting successful elections.
The EC said polling percentage in the Anantnag-Rajouri seat in Jammu and Kashmir is the highest in 40 years.
It's all about women power. According to data compiled by the Election Commission, women have outnumbered men in casting their vote in five of the 13 states and union territories, which went to polls in the first four phases of the Lok Sabha elections. Additionally, an increase in aggregate voter turnout was also witnessed as compared to the last general elections.
Khan also insisted on protecting 'Form 45' to guard the people's mandate and expressed confidence over his victory, saying, "no force can defeat an idea whose time has come."
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has attributed the recent state assembly election victory to the role of Hindutva and counter-polarization. He described BJP's Hindutva as a way of life and said it played an important role in mobilizing voters. Fadnavis also alleged that the opposition alliance had an agreement to withdraw riot cases against Muslims. He further commented on PM Modi's inclusive Hindutva and the increased voter turnout in the election.
Nine seats are going to polls in Uttar Pradesh, four in Punjab and one in Kerala.
Widespread violence between supporters of the Trinamool Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party over alleged electoral malpractices in strife-torn Sandeshkhali marred the final phase of Lok Sabha polls in West Bengal on Saturday, resulting in injuries to a number of people.
The National Democratic Alliance was set to sweep the Bihar assembly polls, surging ahead in over 200 of 243 seats on Friday with the Bharatiya Janata Party emerging as single largest party with about 90 per cent strike rate, reaffirming the popularity and campaign clout of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the face of the ruling alliance through the poll battle in the highly sensitive political state.
Campaigning has concluded for the second and final phase of the Bihar assembly elections, marking the end of a month-long intense political battle. Key candidates and prominent leaders from various parties held rallies and roadshows to woo voters.
The counting of votes in three out of four states on Sunday showed that less than 1 percent of the voters exercised the 'none of the above' option in the just-concluded assembly polls, according to the election commission.
An average voter turnout of 20 per cent was recorded in the first four hours of voting in the bypolls to 15 assembly seats spread across Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala and Uttarakhand on Wednesday amid an incident of stone pelting in a village in UP's Meerapur and allegations of police personnel deterring voters from casting their ballot.
The BJP won 37.70 per cent of votes in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections while the Congress vote share declined to 19.67 per cent.
The Mumbai district election officer has said all establishments, businesses and other workplaces within the Brihanmumbai limits are mandated to grant leave to their employees for voting in the Maharashtra assembly polls on November 20.
Dev Uthani Ekadashi will be observed on November 23, when voting for the 200-member Rajasthan assembly will also be held.
19 wards of Srinagar Municipal Corporation, having an electorate of 1.78 lakh, witnessed a turnout of just 2.3 per cent, officials said.
Voting for this crucial phase, covering 40 assembly segments across seven districts -- Jammu, Udhampur, Samba and Kathua in the Jammu region and Baramulla, Bandipora and Kupwara in north Kashmir -- is scheduled for October 1.
The record voter turnout in Rajasthan has forced politicians and psephologists to junk their pre-poll calculations. Now, all eyes are on the December 8 counting, says P B Chandra
If implemented after stakeholder consultations, migrant voters do not need to travel to their home district to exercise their franchise.
"The voting percentage is likely to go upwards when reports from all polling stations are obtained as polling is scheduled till 6 pm in many constituencies. Final figures will be known on Saturday after the scrutiny of form 17A," the EC said.
In 2019, the voter turnout saw a decreasing trend from the first to the seventh phase, which took place on Sunday.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that the Congress had been unwilling to accept Tejashwi Yadav as the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) chief ministerial candidate and relented only after the Rashtriya Janata Dal pointed a 'katta', an unlicensed country-made gun, at its head.
The electorate in the mineral-rich state rejected the call for poll boycott given by Maoists and turned in larger numbers than in the previous 2005 assembly polls, which recorded a 55 per cent voter turnout. An estimated 58 to 60 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballot in the fifth phase for the remaining 16 seats in the 81-member assembly.
The overall voting percentage in the bypolls to 51 assembly seats was nearly 56.84 per cent, the Election Commission said while releasing data available till 7 pm, adding that the polling passed off peacefully.
Moderate to high turnout was recorded in 13 assembly constituencies across seven states where bypolls were held on Wednesday amid sporadic incidents of violence in Uttarakhand, Bihar and West Bengal.
The change in Anantnag's demographic after delimitation has added layers of political complexities to the constituency with Pahari-Gujjar, Jammu versus Kashmir dimensions.
'Handling or mitigating a rebellion is not a corporate plan with quarterly, half-yearly and annual goals and results but an aggregation of the effort of several years.'
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