Page 41 - Election Commission Of India

25,000 CAPF personnel to be deployed for 1st phase polling in West Bengal

Around 25,000 central forces personnel will be deployed for the elections in the three Lok Sabha constituencies in northern West Bengal in the first phase on April 19, an official said on Saturday. Polling will be held in Cooch Behar, Alipurduar and the Jalpaiguri Lok Sabha seats in the first phase. "Around 250 companies of central forces will be deployed in the first phase of elections on April 19. There will be a control room in each of the districts, and senior officers will be in charge of those," the official said. One company of Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) consists of around 100 personnel, meaning that around 25,000 personnel will be deployed for elections in these three seats. Chief Electoral Officer Ariz Aftab said all steps were being taken to ensure a free, fair and peaceful election in the state. "No disturbances will be tolerated," he said. He also urged leaders to have "control" over the statements they make during campaigning. "The Election Commission will

Number of voters in Andhra Pradesh rises to 40.9 mn from 40.7 mn: EC data

The total number of voters in Andhra Pradesh as of March 16 is 4.09 crore, an increase from 4.07 crore recorded on January 22, state Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena said on Saturday. The total voters include two crore men, 2.08 crore women and 3,346 of the third-gender, he said at a press conference here, on a day the Election Commission announced the Lok Sabha polls. Andhra Pradesh will witness simultaneous legislative assembly and general elections on May 13. He said data on polling stations in the state will be sent to the commission. Currently, there are 46,165 polling stations in Andhra Pradesh, Meena said. The CEO said that 179 women-managed and 50 youth election officers-managed polling stations have been proposed to be set up. Some will be managed by specially-abled personnel, he said. Of the 25 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state, four are reserved for scheduled castes (SC) and one for scheduled tribes (ST), Meena said. He added that 29 assembly ...

Highlights of the day: LS election counting on Jun 4 after 6 wks of voting

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General Election 2024: Here's what it will take to elect 18th Lok Sabha

Lok Sabha polls: To conduct the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, 1.048 million polling booths will be set up, and 5.5 million electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be used

Lok Sabha elections: Polling to be held in 7 phases, result on June 4

Voting will begin on April 19 till June 1 in seven phases. The counting of votes will take place on June 4

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 7: Voting on June 1; check details here

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Elections for the seventh will be held on June 1 in 57 constituencies. The seventh phase will cover 8 States and Union Territories

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 4: Voting on May 13, full details here

Lok Saha polls 2024: 96 constituencies in 10 states and Union territories will go to polls in the fourth phase of the 2024 general elections

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 6: Voting on May 25; check details here

Lok Sabha polls 2024: Elections for the sixth will be held on May 25 in 57 constituencies. The sixth phase will cover 7 States and Union territories

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 3: Voting on May 7, full details here

94 constituencies in 12 states and Union territories will go to polls in the third phase of the 2024 general elections

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 5: Voting on May 20; check details here

Lok Sabha polls 2024: 49 constituencies across 8 states and union territories will go for polls on May 20

Lok Sabha elections 2024 Phase 2: Voting on April 26, details here

89 constituencies in 13 states and Union territories will go to polls in the second phase of the 2024 general elections

Round 14 of India-UK FTA talks put on hold ahead of election schedule

The 14th round of the free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between India and the UK has now closed, with formal negotiations being put on hold as India heads into election campaign mode as the general election schedule is announced on Saturday. According to UK officials familiar with the discussions, a lot of progress has been made but the teams are not in a position to conclude an agreement which led to the Round 14 closing on Friday. The next round of formal trade talks can commence only after the Lok Sabha polls have concluded. The India-UK FTA negotiations, which opened in January 2022, are aimed at securing an ambitious outcome for bilateral trade currently worth around GBP 38.1 billion a year as per official statistics from last month. We anticipate that while some talks might happen between rounds, the next round of negotiations will take place after the Indian elections, official sources in the UK said. Neither side is walking away from talks. It's just that we don't h

Congress demands Supreme Court monitored probe on electoral bonds issue

Stepping up its attack on the government over the electoral bonds issue, the Congress on Saturday alleged that thousands of crores have been "extorted" from corporate India and asserted that the need for a Supreme Court-monitored independent probe is pressing. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the BJP's four "corrupt tactics" -- "Chanda Do, Dhandha Lo (give donations, get business), Hafta Vasuli (extortion), Theka Lo-Rishvat Do (get contracts after paying bribe), Farzi Company - Dakait Sangni (loot through shell companies) -- emerged after a quick first analysis of the data on the "electoral bond scam". These four patterns of corruption that have emerged are of grave concern and the need for a Supreme Court-monitored independent probe is pressing, Ramesh said in a post on X. "In fact, since yesterday, we have seen dozens of examples of these kinds of corruption emerge. Thousands of crores have been extorted and extracted from corporate India, and thousands of crores of

Before LS poll announcement, Andhra govt orders releasing DA to employees

Less than 24 hours before the announcement of the Lok Sabha and Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections schedule, the state government issued orders for releasing dearness allowance (DA) to employees pertaining to multiple time periods. Special Chief Secretary (Finance) Shamsher Singh Rawat issued a government order (GO) on Friday night for the release of DA to government employees for the period from July 1, 2019 to December 31, 2021. He issued orders for the release of DA with effect from January 1, 2022 to eligible government employees. Also, the Special Chief Secretary said the government has issued orders to release DA raising it from 22.75 per cent to 26.39 per cent of the basic pay with effect from July 1, 2022. Similarly, the state government issued orders to revise the DA for government employees from 26.39 per cent to 30.03 per cent of the basic pay with effect from January 1, 2023. The state government issued orders to revise DA rates with respect to employees drawing revised

Election Commission set to announce Lok Sabha elections dates today

The dates for the polls will be announced at a press conference scheduled for Saturday at 3 pm

Ex-CEC S Y Quraishi bats for more transparency in political funding

Former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Friday pitched for enhanced transparency in political funding, saying people should know who is giving money to parties. In a video interview with PTI, he said transparency of political funding is extremely important for free and fair elections. "Free and fair elections are the basic structure of the Indian Constitution," he underlined. He said it is important for people to know what kind of money -- dirty money or drug money -- is coming. He said it was important to know the nexus between the donors and government policies "as there are no free lunches". People want to know who is funding the government (apparently referring to the ruling party), he said. He said there may be instances that those donating may end up grabbing licences, contracts, bank loans "on which they default." "All these things have to be in the public domain," he said. His remarks come against the backdrop of the Supreme Court on Friday admonishing the St

Electoral bonds: 100 listed firms across 32 sectors are donors, shows data

The top five sectors accounted for over 60 per cent of the total donations

Electoral bonds: Four financial service firms bought bonds worth Rs 87 cr

Electoral bonds: SBI has issued electoral bonds worth Rs 16,518 crore in 30 tranches since the inception of the scheme in 2018

'Why malign India Inc? Electoral bonds just tip of poll funding iceberg'

While most companies have mentioned about their spending in electoral bonds in some form in their annual reports, very few have been upfront and categorical about their disclosures

SBI 'duty bound' to disclose electoral bond number: Supreme Court

SBI shared the data with the EC on March 12, following a Supreme Court directive, which allowed the EC until 5 PM on March 15 to upload the information on its website