Page 46 - Election Commission Of India

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

Favourite electoral bond denominations vary between parties, shows data

The Bharatiya Janata Party got over Rs 6060 crore through electoral bonds, showed ECI data

Future Gaming and Hotel: The story of the largest electoral bond donor

Future Gaming purchased electoral bonds worth Rs 1,368 crore between April 2019 and January 2024, as per the details shared by ECI

No link between ED raids and political donations to BJP: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Friday denied any link between the functioning of investigative agencies, including ED raids, and electoral funding to the ruling party, saying these allegations are just assumptions. "What if the companies gave the money, and after that, we still went and knocked at their doors through ED (Enforcement Directorate). Is that a probability or not...It is an assumption that the ED went and knocked at their doors, and to save themselves they came up with funds. The second assumption is that are you sure that they have given (electoral bonds) to BJP. What if they probably gave to regional parties," she said while speaking at India Today Conclave. The finance minister's comments came a day after the Election Commission of India published a list of subscribers of the electoral bonds and funds mobilised by various political parties. The list provided by State Bank of India, the issuer of electoral bonds, was published after the order of the Supreme ...

Regional parties together raised Rs 5,221 crore through electoral bonds

Regional parties received over Rs 5,221 crore in donations through electoral bonds between April 2019 and January 2024 which was Rs 839 crore less than the Rs 6,060.51 crore raised by the BJP alone in the period under review. According to the data of the electoral bonds published by the Election Commission, two national parties - the Congress and the AAP - have raised Rs 1,421.86 crore and Rs 65.45 crore respectively in the period under review. The other national parties - the BSP, the CPI(M) and the NPP - did not receive any funds through electoral bonds. Among the regional parties, the Trinamool Congress alone raised Rs 1,609.53 crore, which was 30 per cent of the total donations received by 22 regional parties who got funds through electoral bonds. The Bharat Rashtra Samithi raised Rs 1,214.70 crore through electoral bonds, the BJD got Rs 775.50 crore, the DMK Rs 639 crore, the YSRCP Rs 337 crore, the TDP Rs 218.88 crore and the Shiv Sena raised 159.38 crore. The RJD raised Rs

SC orders SBI to disclose full electoral bond data to EC by 5 pm on Mar 16

The Supreme Court granted the EC's request for the unique identification numbers that will help link donors to the donations made to political parties under the now-scrapped electoral bond scheme

Electoral bonds data proves BJP is most corrupt party: RJD's Manoj Jha

Senior RJD leader Manoj Jha on Friday alleged that the data on electoral bonds has proved that the ruling BJP at the Centre is "the most corrupt political party in the history" of the country. Jha, the party's national spokesperson, also claimed that the data, which has been put up on the Supreme Court's website, flies in the face of the "nationalistic pretensions" of the BJP, while lending credence to the charge that central investigating agencies were being misused for political ends. "The data shows that shortly after the Pulwama terror attack, a Pakistani agency purchased electoral bonds. So much for the nationalistic pretensions of the BJP, which stands exposed as the most corrupt party in the history of Independent India," Jha told PTI video. The Rajya Sabha MP also pointed out that "a private company was raided by the Enforcement Directorate and, a few days later, it ended up purchasing electoral bonds. Anybody can join the dots and make out what the so-called largest politic

Electoral bonds: BJP received more funds than the next 6 parties combined

The ruling party received Rs 6,060 crore in electoral bonds, constituting 47% of the total donations, followed by TMC Rs 1,609.50 crore (12.6%) and Congress Rs 1,421.9 crore (11.1%)

Supreme Court refuses to stay appointments of new ECs under 2023 law

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to stay the appointments of new election commissioners (ECs) under a 2023 law that excluded the chief justice of India from the selection panel. A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna, Dipankar Datta and Augustine George Masih told the petitioners, who pointed out that a meeting for the selection of ECs was pre-poned, to file a separate application pointing out the fact. Refusing to stay the appointments made in accordance with the 2023 law, the bench said, "Normally and generally, we do not stay a law by way of an interim order." It deferred the hearing on a batch of pleas challenging the appointment of two ECs under the 2023 law. Senior advocate Vikas Singh, appearing in the court on behalf of petitioner Jaya Thakur, said when a judgment is passed, there cannot be any transgression. He contended that there was a clear-cut transgression in the Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term o

SC to examine EC rule on grant of symbols on first come, first served basis

The Supreme Court on Friday sought a response from the Election Commission on a plea of Tamil Nadu-based unrecognised political party, Naam Tamilar Katchi, challenging the allotment of free symbols to unrecognised political parties on a first come, first served basis. A bench comprising Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra also issued a notice to another unrecognised political party which was granted the poll symbol which was earlier with the Naam Tamilar Katchi (NTK). The high court, on March 1, had dismissed the petition of NTK challenging the allotment of free symbols by the poll panel to unrecognised political parties on first come, first served basis. It had rejected the contention of the petitioner, NTK, that the Election Symbols Order to this effect was arbitrary and unconstitutional, saying a contrary view would operate against the very essence of having free symbols. The petitioner was aggrieved by the allotment of free symbol 'ganna kisa

RIL denies links with Qwik Supply the third largest electoral bond buyer

Qwik Supply Chain Private Limited, a little-known company with registered address at Navi Mumbai's Dhirubhai Ambani Knowledge City (DAKC) and having links to Reliance Industries, was the third largest donor to political parties using electoral bonds. It bought Rs 410 crore of electoral bonds between financial years 2021-22 and 2023-24 but Reliance said the company is not a subsidiary of any Reliance entity. Electoral bond purchases and donations by Qwik Supply were behind Rs 1,368 crore of Future Gaming and Hotel Services - another little-known lottery company - and Rs 966 crore of Hyderabad-based Megha Engineering & Infra, according to information uploaded by the Election Commission on its website. Publicly available information describes Qwik Supply as a manufacturer of warehouses and storage units. The unlisted private company was incorporated on November 9, 2000 with an authorised share capital of Rs 130.99 crore. Its paid-up capital is Rs 129.99 crore. The firm had a revenue .

Lok Sabha election 2024 poll schedule to be announced on Saturday: ECI

The Election Commission of India will also announce key dates for State Assembly elections