Page 32 - Election Commission Of India

Rangeela, viral for Modi's mimicry, says nomination bid denied in Varanasi

Comedian alleges the authorities are not accepting his nomination papers from the Varanasi constituency where PM Modi is the leading candidate

LS polls: 7.5% dip in Indore LS seat turnout as Cong called for Nota

The voter turnout in Madhya Pradesh's Indore Lok Sabha constituency, where the Congress was out of poll race, has decreased by about 7.5 per cent compared to the 2019 parliamentary election, as per official data. While the BJP said voters in Indore did not like Congress' "negative appeal" to press the 'None of the Above' option on EVMs, the grand old party claimed no matter which candidate wins the Indore seat, NOTA will create a new national record. Polling in Indore and seven other Lok Sabha seats in Madhya Pradesh was held on Monday during the fourth and last phase of the general elections in the state. The Congress had urged voters to press the NOTA button on the electronic voting machines (EVMs) after its candidate Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination at the last minute and joined the BJP. An official at the district election office, quoting provisional figures, on Tuesday said out of the 25.27 lakh eligible voters, 61.75 per cent exercised their franchise on Monday. In t

NGOs urge SC to list PIL seeking SIT probe into electoral bonds scheme

Two NGOs on Tuesday urged the Supreme Court to consider listing their PIL seeking a court-monitored probe by a special investigation team into alleged instances of "apparent quid pro quo" involving political parties, corporate entities and officials of investigative agencies in the electoral bonds scheme. A bench comprising Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGOs Common Cause' and the Centre for Public Interest Litigation (CPIL), that the plea needed to be listed for hearing at the earliest. The CJI's office is seized of it. It will be listed, Justice Khanna told Bhushan. A five-judge Constitution bench had on February 15 scrapped the electoral bonds scheme of anonymous political funding introduced by the BJP government. Terming it a "scam", the plea filed by the NGOs has sought a direction to the authorities to investigate the source of funding of "shell companies and loss-making companies which made ...

Channi's remark on Poonch terror attack in violates MCC, says Punjab CEO

Punjab Chief Electoral Officer Sibin C on Tuesday said that Congress leader Charanjit Singh Channi terming the Poonch terror attack, in which an IAF soldier was killed, a "poll stunt" violated the model code of conduct. The Punjab chief electoral officer (CEO) has written to the Election Commission of India for further action on the matter. "According to a report of the Jalandhar District Election Officer, it (Channi's remark) is the violation of MCC (model code of conduct)," Punjab CEO Sibin C told PTI on Tuesday. One soldier was killed and four were injured as terrorists ambushed an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district on May 4. Replying to reporters' questions on the attack on the IAF convoy, Channi had said, "These are all stunts, not attacks ('Yeh stuntbaazi ho rahi hai, hamle nahi ho rahe' ). Whenever elections are near, such stunts are performed to make the BJP win. There is no truth in it." "The BJP knows how to play with people's lives and

Lok Sabha polls fourth phase highlights: Voter turnout for assmebly polls reaches 62.7% by 7pm

Lok Sabha elections live: Voting is underway in 96 LS seats across 10 states. Andhra Pradesh and Odisha also have their assembly polls scheduled today

Lok Sabha elections: 52.6% voter turnout recorded till 3 pm across 96 seats

Lok Sabha elections 2024: A total of 96 Lok Sabha constituencies in nine states and one Union territory went to polls on Monday

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Telangana records 40.38% voter turnout till 1 pm

Telangana recorded 9.51 per cent voter turnout till 9 am on Monday as polling was underway for 17 Lok Sabha seats in the state, according to an Election Commission app. Polling which began at 7 am will end by 6 pm, barring at a few places where it will conclude two hours earlier. Former Vice President M Venkaiah Naidu, Telangana BJP president G Kishan Reddy, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi, film actors Chiranjeevi, Allu Arjun and Junior NTR were among the prominent persons who voted. BJP general secretary Bandi Sanjay Kumar and the party candidate from Hyderabad Lok Sabha seat K Madhavi Latha also exercised their franchise.

Lok Sabha polls 2024: 30.85% voter turnout in Maharashtra until 1 pm

A voter turnout of 6.45 per cent was recorded till 9 am on Monday as polling was underway in 11 of the 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in Maharashtra during the fourth phase of the general elections, as per data shared by authorities. Polling began at 7 am and will end at 6 pm in Nandurbar, Jalgaon, Raver, Jalna, Aurangabad, Maval, Pune, Shirur, Ahmednagar, Shirdi, and Beed constituencies, an official said. Union minister Raosaheb Danve, BJP leader Pankaja Munde and actor-turned-politician Amol Kolhe are among the prominent candidates. A total of 298 candidates are in the fray with Beed constituency having the highest number of candidates at 41, while Nandurbar has the lowest number at 11. Altogether 2.28 crore voters are eligible to participate in the fourth phase elections in the state. They comprise 1.18 crore men, 1.09 crore women, and 1,272 third-gender voters. In the 11 constituencies, there are 23,284 polling centres, 83 of which are deemed critical. Voting is underway using 5

LS polls 2024: Madhya Pradesh records 48.52% voter turnout until 1 pm

Eight parliamentary seats- Dewas, Ujjain, Mandsaur, Ratlam, Dhar, Indore, Khargone and Khandwa- are undergoing polling in the fourth phase of LS polls on Monday from 7 am in the state

Delhi HC dismisses plea on direction to ECI to take action against PM Modi

The Delhi High Court on Monday dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Election Commission of India to take action against Prime Minister Narendra Modi for allegedly delivering communally divisive speeches during Lok Sabha poll campaigning in violation of the Model Code of Conduct. Justice Sachin Datta said the plea was misconceived and devoid of merits and the ECI can take an independent view on the complaint of the petitioner in accordance with law. The court also referred to its earlier order passed in a plea pertaining to a speech given by the prime minister allegedly seeking votes in the name of religion and deities and went on to say that making any presupposition is unjustified. The counsel for the ECI submitted that it has issued a detailed advisory to all political parties. It said that appropriate action shall be taken if necessary on the reply. The petitioner's counsel said the ECI cannot have different standards for taking action against different politicians. The pl

LS polls: Crackdown on corruption to continue, says PM Modi in Bihar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday vowed to continue with his government's crackdown on corruption, notwithstanding allegations of misuse of central agencies from the opposition. Addressing an election rally in Hajipur Lok Sabha constituency of Bihar, Modi said the money recovered in raids against politicians belonged to the country's poor. I will tell you why they are crying hoarse against the action of agencies like the ED. During the previous Congress regime, the ED seized only Rs 35 lakh, which could be contained in a school bag. Ever since we took over, the agency has recovered Rs 2,200 crore, which would require 70 small trucks to be carried, said the PM. Modi said unlike his opponents, who were concerned about promoting their offspring, I have no waaris' (successor). The common people are my waaris. He reiterated the charge that parties like the Congress and RJD, which allowed extortion and kidnapping to flourish while in power, will give away reservations to Muslims to

LS polls: SC to hear NGO's plea for release of voter turnout data on May 17

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear on May 17 a plea of an NGO seeking a direction to the Election Commission to upload polling station-wise voter turnout data on its website within 48 hours of conclusion of polling for each phase of the Lok Sabha elections. A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and Dipankar Datta said the matter will be listed on Friday after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for NGO Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), sought urgent listing of the petition. Last week the NGO filed an interim application in its 2019 PIL seeking directions to the poll panel that "scanned legible copies of Form 17C Part-I (Account of Votes Recorded)" of all polling stations be uploaded immediately after the polls. "Direct the Election Commission to provide tabulated polling station-wise data in absolute figures of the number of votes polled as recorded in Form 17C Part- I after each phase of polling in the ongoing 2024 Lok Sabha elections and also a tabulation of ...

Lok Sabha polls: Akhilesh, Owaisi, Mahua key names in fourth lap. Full list

Lok Sabha elections: Voting for the fourth phase of Lok Sabha elections is in progress. There are 1,717 candidates in the fray on 96 seats. We bring you a brief profile of a few high-profile candidate

Lok Sabha polls phase 4 today, 177 mn eligible to cast vote. Top 10 updates

Lok Sabha elections: A total of 96 constituencies across ten states and Union territories went to polls on Monday in the fourth stage of elections. Here are ten latest election updates for May 13

LS polls 2024: EC rescues 3 kidnapped TDP polling agents in Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena on Monday said three TDP polling agents who were allegedly kidnapped in Chittoor district have been traced and secured. According to a press release from the CEO's office, the TDP agents were kidnapped from Bokaramanda village in Chittoor district's Sadum mandal, which falls under the Punganuru Assembly constituency. "TDP district in-charge Jagan Mohan Raju complained that TDP agents belonging to polling stations 188, 189 and 199 were kidnapped by YSRCP leaders while going to the polling stations," said Meena. Consequently, the CEO noted that Chittoor district election officials and the Police department responded quickly, rescuing the kidnapped agents from Pileru and later enabled them to attend to their duties. Further, Meena observed that a probe is underway to identify the kidnappers. Simultaneous polls for 25 Lok Sabha and 175 Assembly seats are underway in Andhra Pradesh today.

Checking a 'routine exercise', Shah's chopper was also searched: Bihar CEO

The Bihar Chief Electoral Officer on Sunday dismissed charges that checking of Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge's helicopter on Saturday was an "instance of targeting the opposition", asserting it was a "routine procedure" and those of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and BJP chief J P Nadda were also searched. Kharge had addressed a couple of election rallies in the state on Saturday and his helicopter was checked by authorities at Samastipur, the venue of his first public meeting, triggering protests from his party and alliance partners. The Bihar CEO, in a social media post, said, "The allegation that only the helicopter of a leader of one national party was checked is baseless." In the post, the CEO did not mention Kharge or Congress by name but pointed out that helicopters of Shah and Nadda were similarly checked when they were in Bihar last month. "The checking of helicopters during elections follows the SOP laid down by the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS). The ...

LS polls: Kejriwal hits Delhi streets, RaGa 'ready' to debate PM. Updates

The ongoing Lok Sabha elections have gained momentum following the release of Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal from Tihar jail on Friday. Here are major election updates for May 11

Kejriwal lashes out at Modi, accuses him of "torturing" AAP, its leaders

Arvind Kejriwal holds his first press conference in Delhi after walking out of Tihar jail, accuses Modi of "orchestrating a political conspiracy" against him and topple his government

LS polls: Phase 4 campaigning ends, 96 constituencies to vote on May 13

ECI further mentioned that the average number of contesting candidates in a parliamentary constituency for the fourth phase is 18

Electoral bonds used as bribe by companies for contracts: Prashant Bhushan

Lawyer Prashant Bhushan on Saturday labelled the electoral bonds as the biggest scam in the history of Indian democracy and alleged that they were used as bribes for contracts, shielding people from central probe agencies, manipulating policies, and influencing drug regulators. He said the Supreme Court will soon commence hearing on a petition filed before it seeking a probe by a Special Investigation Team (SIT) into alleged quid pro quo arrangements between corporates and political parties. "The electoral bonds were used (by companies) as bribes to get contracts, to protect themselves from the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the CBI and to save themselves from drug regulators," Bhushan said. Out of the Rs 16,500-crore electoral bonds, half went to the BJP and the rest to parties like the TMC and the Congress. However, those who were not ruling did not get any money, he said. "I see that Rs 5,000-crore worth of electoral bonds were issued, resulting in the sanctioning of contracts