Page 48 - Election Commission Of India

SC grants protection from arrest to Umar Ansari in Violation of MCC case

The Supreme Court on Thursday granted protection from arrest to Umar Ansari, son of gangster-turned-politician Mukhtar Ansari, in a criminal case registered against him during the 2022 assembly elections for alleged violation of the model code of conduct. A bench of Justices Hrishikesh Roy and P K Mishra issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on his plea challenging the Allahabad High Court order. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, appearing for Ansari, submitted that the main accused has been granted regular bail in the matter. The Allahabad High Court on December 19 last year had rejected the anticipatory bail application of Ansari, and said that looking at the facts and circumstances of the case, the offence is made out. An FIR was lodged on March 4, 2022 at Kotwali police station in Mau district against Abbas Ansari (SBSP candidate from Mau Sadar seat), Umar Ansari and 150 unknown people. It was alleged in the FIR that on March 3, 2022 at Pahadpura ground, Abbas Ansari, Umar

National Voters' Day: Election Commission marks 75 years of service today

The National Voters' Day is observed annually on January 25 to mark the foundation day of the Election Commission. The EC is a constitutional body, which overlooks the conduct of elections in India

Final electoral roll of J-K published with total of 8.69 million voters

The final electoral roll of Jammu and Kashmir has been published with the addition of more than 2.31 lakh voters, officials said. The final electoral roll has a total of 86.93 lakh voters -- 44.34 lakh males, 42.58 lakh females, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Jammu and Kashmir Pandurang K Pole said on Monday. The release of the electoral roll paves the way for holding of various polls in the Union Territory. "The final electoral rolls have been published here today in all polling stations, offices of electoral registration officers, district election officers and hosted on the website of CEO registering an addition of 2.31 lakh new voters," an official spokesman said. According to the CEO, 86,000 names have been deleted because of death, shifting or other reasons besides correction in details of 1.45 lakh electors during the process. "As of now, there are 86.93 lakh electors including 44.35 lakh male and 42.58 lakh female voters. The elector population ratio has improved from 0.

Bihar adds 1.2 mn voters in electoral roll released by state election body

The electoral roll also showed a significant increase of 779,360 number of young voters in the 18 to 19 years age group from 147,062 to 926,422

EC publishes final electoral rolls 2024 for Karnataka with 53.7 mn voters

The Election Commission (EC) on Monday published the 2024 final electoral rolls for 224 constituencies of Karnataka with a total electorate of 5,37,85,815, the data shared by the office of the Chief Electoral Officer showed. According to the Draft Electoral Rolls-2024, the total number of general electors was 5,33,77,162, comprising 2,68,02,838 male electors, 2,65,69,428 female electors, and 4,896 other electors. In the Final Electoral Rolls-2024, the total general electors increased to 5,37,85,815. This includes 2,69,33,750 male electors, 2,68,47,145 female electors, and 4,920 other electors. "The net increase in total electors compared to the draft roll is 4,08,653, with a significant rise in female electors by 2,77,717, male electors by 1,30,912, and other electors by 24," the EC said. According to the EC, among the 224 Legislative Assembly constituencies, Bengaluru South in Bengaluru Urban district has the highest number of electors at 7,17,201. Conversely, Sringeri in ...

Election Commission releases final summary rolls, TN has 61.8 mn voters

Tamil Nadu has an electorate strength of 6,18,90,348 with women voters outnumbering men as per the integrated final electoral roll of the special summary revision, 2024, released on Monday here. The final published electoral roll had reference to January 1, 2024 as the qualifying date, Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo said. Of the total electorate, male voters are 3,03,96,330, female voters constitute 3,14,85,724 and the third gender 8,294. The Shozhinganallur Assembly constituency in Chengalpattu district has the highest number of electors with 6,60,419 (male 3,30,522, female 3,29,783, third gender 114), followed by Kavundampalayam Assembly constituency in Coimbatore district which has 4,62,612 electors (male 2,29,950, female 2,32,538, third gender 124). The Kilvelur Assembly constituency in Nagapattinam district with 1,72,140 electors (male 84,702, female 87,435, third gender: 3) has the least number of voters followed by Harbour Assembly constituency in Chennai ...

Kovind panel gets 21K responses, 81% 'affirm' idea of simultaneous polls

The committee on 'one nation, one election' headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind has received nearly 21,000 suggestions from the public out of which 81 per cent "affirmed" the idea of simultaneous polls, an official statement said on Sunday. The statement further said that suggestions were also invited from 46 political parties. "Till date, suggestions have been received from 17 political parties," it said. Various opposition parties, including the Congress and the TMC, have opposed the idea of holding simultaneous polls. On January 5, the panel had issued a public notice inviting suggestions from citizens for making appropriate changes in the existing legal-administrative framework to enable simultaneous elections in the country. The Kovind-led committee, which was constituted in September last year, held its third meeting on Sunday. "Altogether 20,972 responses were received out of which 81 per cent affirmed the idea of simultaneous election," the committee said after its

SC refuses to stay law excluding CJI from panel to select CEC, ECs

Through the Act, the Chief Justice of India was dropped from the committee to appoint the CEC and ECs

Number of voters in Sikkim rises 1% to 462K; 3,856 PWDs in electoral rolls

Sikkim recorded a nearly 1 per cent increase in its total voters this year, according to the latest electoral rolls. According to the Final Electoral Roll dated January 1, the total number of voters in Sikkim rose by 4,050 or 0.88 per cent to 4,62,456. Of them, 2,32,117 were men, 2,30,334 were women and five transgenders. During the revision of rolls, 13,716 names were added, and 9,666 names were deleted for various reasons, primarily deaths. Also, 3,856 persons with disabilities were marked in the electoral rolls. The total number of service voters in the state was 1,992.

Number of voters in Tripura rises to 2.85 million, sex ratio improves

The total number of voters in Tripura rose to 28.56 lakh after the revision of the electoral rolls, election officials said on Saturday. Names of 32,218 people were added to the rolls, while names of 13,231 voters were deleted because of their deaths, Additional Chief Electoral Officer UG Mog told PTI. As per the final electoral rolls dated January 1, there are 28,56,925 voters in the state. Of them, 14,35,172 are male, 14,21,679 are female, and 74 transgenders. Following the revision of rolls for the 60 assembly seats, the number of voters in the state increased by 18,987 or 0.66 per cent. Mog said that there has been an improvement in the sex ratio as well in the voters' list. "In the final electoral rolls, the sex ratio has gone up from 989 to 991, which is encouraging, given that more women cast votes than men," he said. The Badharghat assembly seat has the highest number of voters at 62,723, and the Simna seat has the lowest at 38,974. Both are in the West Tripura district.

3 EC members from India reach Dhaka to observe Jan 7 Bangladesh polls

More than 100 foreign observers, including three from India, reached Dhaka on Friday to monitor Sunday's general election in Bangladesh boycotted by the main Opposition party which has called for a 48-hour nationwide general strike. Foreign Ministry officials said a three-member delegation from the Election Commission of India reached Dhaka on Friday while 122 others from different countries were set to be here ahead of the January 7 polls, which the United Nations said would watch closely. "So far 60 foreign observers or experts have arrived here and all together 127 have scheduled to come. Besides, 73 foreign journalists have received accreditations and among them, 17 have already arrived," Foreign Secretary Masud Bin Momen told reporters late Thursday. He said the observers will monitor the polls in the capital Dhaka and elsewhere in the country. But we have suggested to them that they choose the destinations having air connectivity (for convenience)," the foreign secretary said

EC dismisses Jairam Ramesh's concerns on VVPATs, asserts full faith in EVMs

Dismissing Congress leader Jairam Ramesh's concerns on the VVPATs, the Election Commission on Friday said that it raised "no new assertions or reasonable and legitimate doubts which require further clarifications", adding the rules governing paper slips were introduced by the grand old party-led government in 2013. In a communication to Ramesh, the poll body also expressed "full faith in the use of the EVMs in the elections" and made it clear that the latest updated Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) answer "adequately and comprehensively" all reasonable and legitimate aspects on the use of the EVMs in the Indian elections. "Rule 49A and 49M of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, governing VVPAT and handling of paper slips was introduced by INC (Indian National Congress) on 14th August, 2013," said the letter signed by Pramod Kumar Sharma, Principal Secretary in the Election Commission. Ramesh had written to the Election Commission on December 30 last year, requesting that a ...

EC refutes Congress' allegations on EVMs, says has full faith in their use

The Election body further stated that current EVMs in use in Indian elections are compliant with the extant legal framework created and strengthened by the successive Union Governments

Rajasthan Karanpur Assembly elections: 24.41% voter turnout till 11 am

A voter turnout of 24.41 per cent was recorded in Rajasthan's Karanpur assembly constituency in the first four hours of polling, which began at 7 am, on Friday, officials said. The voting will continue till 6 pm. Till 11 am, 24.41 per cent voters had exercised their franchise in Karanpur constituency. This shows that voters are coming to cast their votes despite severe cold and fog, said Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Gupta. Voting for 199 out of the 200 assembly seats in the state was held on November 25. The election in Karanpur was postponed due to the death of Congress candidate Gurmeet Singh Koonar. The Congress has fielded Koonar's son, Rupinder Singh, from the seat. He is pitted against the BJP's Surendra Pal Singh. The BJP has already inducted Surendra Pal Singh into the cabinet led by Chief Minister Bhajanlal Sharma as a minister of state (independent charge), a move criticised by the Congress. Former chief minister Ashok Gehlot had called it a "clear violation of the c

EC to start reviewing LS polls preparations, will visit states from Jan 7

The Election Commission (EC) will start reviewing preparedness of states for the Lok Sabha elections with a visit to Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu next week. The Commission led by Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and comprising Election Commissioners Anup Chandra Pandey and Arun Goel will be in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu between January 7 and 10. Ahead of the visit, deputy election commissioners will brief the full commission about the preparations in the two states on January 6. The deputy election commissioners have visited almost all the states to oversee the preparation for the Lok Sabha polls. It is usual for the EC to tour states ahead of assembly or Lok Sabha elections to meet political parties, senior police and administrative officials and its ground poll machinery. It is, however, not yet certain whether the EC will visit all the states and union territories. It may skip states where assembly polls were held recently. In 2019, the Lok Sabha elections were anno

Uttarakhand HC questions state govt on delay in announcing municipal polls

The Uttarakhand High Court has sought a reply from the state government as to why the schedule of municipal polls has not yet been announced despite the tenure of municipalities having come to an end on December 2. A division bench of the high court comprising Acting Chief Justice Manoj Kumar Tiwari and Justice Vivek Bharti Sharma on Wednesday asked the urban development secretary to appear before the court to give a reply on January 9. The order came on a PIL filed by a Jaspur resident, Anees, saying that the tenure of municipalities of the state ended on December 2. However, the state government has not yet made an announcement for polls. The Supreme Court has laid down the rule that the election schedule should be declared six months before the end of the five-year tenure of municipalities. This would ensure that the new board can be formed within the stipulated time. But the government has not yet announced the election schedule.

Digvijaya questions ECI's transparency, calls for release of source code

"Why is ECI stonewalling opposition meeting with them? How do we trust ECI who refuses to meet Principal Opposition Parties?" Singh said in a post on X

President Murmu grants assent to Bill for appointment of CEC, ECs

President Droupadi Murmu has given her assent to a bill that seeks to put in place a mechanism for the appointment of Chief Election Commissioner and other Election Commissioners, according to a government notification issued Friday. The Chief Election Commissioner and Other Election Commissioners (Appointment, Conditions of Service and Term of Office) Bill, 2023, has provisions to set up a search committee chaired by the law minister and two other persons not below the rank of secretary, to prepare a panel of five persons for consideration of the selection committee for appointment as CEC or ECs. The bill also has provisions for a Selection Committee, chaired by the prime minister, leader of the opposition and a Union minister, to make recommendations to the President for appointment of CEC and other ECs. The President also granted assent to the Press and Registration of Periodicals Bill, to replace a British-era law governing the publishing industry and simplify the process of ...

ECI reviews poll preparedness in AP, stresses on error-free electoral rolls

A team of Election Commission officers on Saturday reviewed the preparedness for next year's general elections and directed officials to ensure that the electoral rolls are free of any errors and maintain transparency while conducting polls. The ECI team led by Senior Deputy Election Commissioners Dharmendra Sharma and Nitish Kumar Vyas issued these directives to officials of Nandyala, Anantapur, Sri Satyasai, NTR, Annamayya, Chittoor and Tirupati districts during a two-day review meeting that ended on Saturday. The Election Commission officers told the district officials to be ready to conduct elections without errors or any scope for any untoward incidents and stressed maintaining transparency and accountability, an official release said. They noted that maintaining error-free electoral rolls is the key to holding elections peacefully. The EC officials directed the collectors and superintendents of police to properly train the election officials.

Election Commission to release final voters' list of Bengal in January

The Election Commission of India (ECI) will release the final voters' list of West Bengal early next month, a senior official said on Saturday. Once the list is published, the poll panel will send its full bench to the state, he said, adding that communications have been sent to the chief secretary and chief electoral officer (CEO) asking them to start preparations for the Lok Sabha polls. "The final list will be published early next month followed by the visit of the full bench of ECI to the state. We have directed the chief secretary and CEO of West Bengal to start preparations for the 2024 general elections," he told PTI. A top bureaucrat said the poll panel has directed the chief secretary to prepare a list of administrative officials (IAS officers) and police officers (IPS and WBPS) detailing their current postings and the duration of their stay in the particular position. "Preparing lists of IAS and IPS officers mentioning their current postings before any election is routine