Page 6 - Election Commission

EC may appoint volunteers to assist in SIR of West Bengal electoral rolls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) may appoint volunteers to assist booth-level officers (BLOs) during the probable special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in West Bengal, a senior official said on Sunday. The volunteers are likely to be drawn from among government employees in each block for the exercise that may be launched soon, he said. "This is at the planning stage... These assistants will help the BLOs fill out enumeration forms and may also be deployed as substitutes, if required," the official told PTI. The volunteers will primarily be assigned to polling stations having more than 1,200 voters, he added. "As a result of this cap on the number of voters per booth, the number of polling booths in the state is likely to increase by around 14,000, from the existing 80,000 to around 94,000," the official said. For the exercise, the block development officers (BDOs) in several districts have written to school inspectors seeking lists of permanent teachers, clerk

EC top brass meets state chief poll officers to discuss pan-India SIR

The Election Commission top brass is meeting its state chief poll officers here on Wednesday to firm up its plans to roll out a pan-India special intensive revision to clean up voter lists. The two-day meet is the second since September to decide on the massive exercise. Officials said Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Election Commissioners S S Sandhu and Vivek Joshi are meeting all state chief electoral officers here. The confabulations will continue till Thursday. One strong opinion within the top EC brass is to hold SIR in phases, beginning with the states going for assembly elections next year. More states may be included in the first phase. At the same time, it will not hold the electoral roll cleanup exercise in states where local body elections are taking place or are due, as the grassroots poll machinery is busy with it and may not be able to focus on SIR, officials said Assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are due in ...

Bihar polls: Bulk SMSes, voice messages during 'silence period' on EC radar

As Bihar prepares for phase one of assembly polls on November 6, the Election Commission has warned that bulk SMSes and audio messages during the 48-hour 'silence period' which starts before the conclusion of voting, is prohibited. In a note issued on October 9 outlining campaigning restrictions, the poll authority said, political advertisements on any election matter in TV, cable networks, radio, cinema halls, use of bulk SMS/voice messages, audio visual displays in any polling area during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for the conclusion of the poll for any election in the polling area is prohibited. Separately, in a statement on Tuesday, the EC said it has issued orders on October 9, requiring every registered and national and state political party and every contesting candidate to apply to the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) for pre-certification of all political advertisements on electronic media, including social media before ...

Maharashtra SEC asks EC to defer voter list revision until local body polls

The Maharashtra State Election Commission has requested the Election Commission to defer its plan, if any, to roll out Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in the state until January 2026, citing the upcoming local body polls. The State Election Commission (SEC), in its letter dated September 9, stated that officials will be busy conducting the elections to local bodies. "The honourable Supreme Court of India has vide its order dated 6th May 2025 directed the State Election Commission to make an endeavour to conclude the elections to local bodies in Maharashtra within a period of four months while granting liberty to the State Election Commission to seek extension of time in appropriate cases," it said. Elections to all 29 municipal corporations, all 247 municipal councils, 42 nagar panchayats out of 147 town councils, 32 out of 34 zilla parishads, and 336 out of 351 panchayat samitis are due in Maharashtra, a senior official said on Monday. The SEC also pointed out

SC seeks Centre, EC's reply on PIL for restoring undertrials' voting rights

The Supreme Court on Friday sought responses of the Centre and the Election Commission on a PIL seeking recognition of voting rights for nearly 4.5 lakh undertrial prisoners lodged in jails across India. A bench comprising Chief Justice B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran took note of the submissions of lawyer Prashant Bhushan that the present blanket ban imposed under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, violates constitutional guarantees and international democratic norms. The petition filed by Sunita Sharma, a resident of Patiala in Punjab, made the Centre through the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Election Commission as respondents. It seeks judicial intervention to ensure that prisoners, who have not been convicted of electoral offences or corruption, are not arbitrarily deprived of their democratic right to vote.

ECI allows 12 alternative IDs for voting, special measure for veiled women

Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar said Aanganwadi workers will assist in verifying the identity of 'burqa-clad' or voters in 'ghunghat' at all Bihar polling booths

Bihar govt spent ₹3,200 crore on pre-poll welfare schemes, shows data

Bihar announces ₹3,200 crore pre-poll welfare schemes, including ₹10,000 for 15 million women, ahead of election schedule announcement

Don't misuse AI-based tools in Bihar poll campaigning: EC to parties

The Election Commission has warned political parties against misusing AI to create deepfakes or distort information in the Bihar assembly polls. In a statement on Thursday, the poll authority also reminded parties of its instructions to prominently label Al-generated or synthetic content being shared for campaigning through their social media platforms or in the form of advertisements. Parties, star campaigners and candidates should prominently declare that the content is "Al-Generated", "Digitally Enhanced", or a "Synthetic Content". It cautioned that a strict watch on social media posts is being kept to ensure that the election atmosphere is not vitiated. "The Commission advised the parties against misuse of AI based tools to create deep fakes that distort information or propagate misinformation over social media platforms emphasizing the need to uphold the integrity of the electoral process," it said. Amid the last Lok Sabha elections, EC had come out with a set of directives

Poll code applicable to Central govt too for policy decisions on Bihar: EC

The Election Commission on Wednesday said the provisions of model code of conduct are also applicable to the Central government as far as announcements and policy decisions on Bihar are concerned. The poll code came into force immediately after the Election Commission (EC) announced the schedule for the Assembly elections in Bihar on Monday. The polls will be held on November 6 and 11, and the counting of votes will be taken up on November 14. In a statement issued here, the EC said, "The MCC shall also be applicable to the Central government so far as announcements/policy decisions for Bihar are concerned." The poll authority also said that privacy of citizens must be respected, with no demonstrations or picketing outside private residences. "Land, buildings, or walls shall not be used for flags, banners or posters without the owner's consent," it said. The EC has also issued directives to the Bihar chief secretary related to the removal of defacement from government, public and

EC couldn't tell how many non-citizens removed from Bihar roll: Congress

The Congress on Tuesday said much was made of the need of the SIR exercise to remove non-citizens from the electoral roll but the Election Commission has not had the integrity or the courage to enlighten the country on how many such non-citizens in Bihar were removed from the voter list. The opposition party also said if the poll body had informed as to how many such non-citizens in Bihar were removed from the electoral roll, it would have been even more exposed than it already is. Congress general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh noted that the Supreme Court hearing on the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) resumes Tuesday. He also shared on X an analysis of the SIR exercise published in a newspaper. "This fine analysis shows that the entire SIR exercise bulldozed through by the Election Commission has failed on all three counts of completeness, equity, and accuracy," Ramesh said. "Much was made of the need of the SIR exercise to remove non-citizens from the .

Bihar Assembly Elections 2025: Check phase-wise constituency list here

Out of 243 seats, 121 constituencies will go to the polls in the first phase, while the remaining 122 constituencies will vote in the second phase

Bihar BJP seeks single-phase polls, urges verification for burqa-clad women

Bihar BJP president Dilip Jaiswal on Saturday urged the Election Commission to conduct the upcoming assembly polls in one or two phases and ensure that faces of women turning up at booths in burqas were tallied with voter cards. Jaiswal, who led a BJP delegation that met the visiting EC team headed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, also requested adequate deployment of paramilitary forces in areas that were vulnerable to booth capture and intimidation of voters. "We have urged the EC to conduct the elections in one or two phases. The election process need not be staggered. Also, tallying of faces of voters, especially burqa-clad women, must be ensured with respective EPIC cards so that only genuine voters get to exercise their franchise," he told reporters after the meeting. "We have also requested that paramilitary forces be deployed in villages with a heavy population of weaker sections like extremely backward classes, a few days in advance and a flag march-like exerci

Political parties to hold talks with EC team in Patna on October 4

Political parties in poll-bound Bihar are scheduled to hold talks with a team of the Election Commission here on Saturday, an official said. The EC team, headed by Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, is likely to kick off its two-day visit to the state on Saturday, and receive feedback from representatives of recognised national and state parties. Dates for the assembly polls are likely to be announced by the EC soon. The BJP, Congress, JD(U), RJD and CPI(ML) Liberation are prominent among the parties, which will be permitted to send "up to three representatives each" for the meeting. The poll panel had on September 30 published its final electoral roll in Bihar, containing details of 7.42 crore voters, a drop of more than 47 lakh since June, when the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) was launched. While the BJP-led NDA has been of the view that the exercise was needed to remove "impurities" from the voters' list, in which illegal foreign immigrants may have been included in

EC to deploy 470 observers for upcoming Bihar Assembly elections, bypolls

The Election Commission will deploy 470 officers as its observers for the upcoming assembly elections in Bihar and seven assembly bypolls to ensure a level playing field in the electoral contest. In a statement on Sunday, the poll authority said out of the 470, 320 are IAS officers, 60 are IPS and 90 are from other services. General, police and expenditure observers are deployed during elections to serve as eyes and ears of the election watchdog. A briefing of these observers is scheduled here on October 3, a day before the EC visits Bihar to review poll preparedness there. The term of the 243-member Bihar assembly ends on November 22 and polls are likely to take place in November.

EC rolls out e-verification system to prevent misuse of voter name deletion

The Election Commission has rolled out an e-verfication procedure to ensure that the provision to seek deletion of names from voters' list is not misused. Those seeking removal of names or claiming objection to inclusion of names in the electoral roll will get a one-time password on their registered mobile phones. "There could be cases where a person seeking removal of a name gives someone else's name or phone number while filing objection online. This added feature will present such a misuse," an official explained. The feature was rolled out a week ago with poll authority officials insisting that it is not a reaction to wrongful attempts to delete names in Aland assembly constituency in Karnataka. The EC said although the elector of the constituency can fill Form 7 online to apply for deletion of an entry from that particular constituency, it does not mean that the entry gets automatically deleted merely by submitting the Form 7. In Aland, 6,018 Form 7 applications for deletion

Watch: EC is defending 'murderers' of democracy, alleges Rahul Gandhi

Leader of Opposition (LoP) in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi on Thursday accused Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those responsible for “destroying Indian democracy".

EC asks state poll officers to get ready for SIR rollout by Sept 30

The Election Commission has asked its state election officers to be ready for the SIR by September 30, in an indication that the poll authority could launch the voter list cleanup exercise as early as October-November. According to officials, at a conference of state chief electoral officers (CEOs) here earlier this month, the EC top brass asked them to be ready for the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) rollout in the next 10 to 15 days. But for the sake of greater clarity, the deadline of September 30 was set. The CEOs have been told to keep voter lists of their states, published after the last SIR, ready. Several state CEOs have already put up the voter lists published after their last SIR on their websites. The website of the Delhi CEO has the voter list from 2008, when the last intensive revision took place in the national capital. In Uttarakhand, the last SIR took place in 2006 and the electoral roll from that year is now on the state CEO's website. The last SIR in states wil

AAP alleges 'vote theft' in Delhi polls, claims EC trying to cover up

The AAP on Saturday reiterated its allegations of "vote theft" in the Delhi assembly elections and claimed that the Election Commission was covering up irregularities and withholding information on voter deletions. This comes two days after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi accused Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those behind "vote theft" and claimed that the names of party voters were being systematically deleted from the electoral rolls in Karnataka. The Election Commission (EC) dismissed the former Congress chief's allegations as "incorrect and baseless", stressing that no deletion of votes can take place without following due process. Addressing a press conference on Saturday, AAP's Delhi unit chief Saurabh Bharadwaj said the party had flagged "vote-chori" in the high-profile New Delhi constituency, which saw a contest between AAP convenor Arvind Kejriwal, BJP's Parvesh Sahib Singh Verma and Congress' Sandeep Dikshit in the February polls. "We even submitted

Rahul takes a dig at ECI with Karnataka data, repeats 'vote chori' charge

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday reiterated his "vote chori" allegations and took a swipe at the Election Commission, calling it an "election watchman" who "stayed awake, watched the theft, and protected the thieves". His remarks came a day after he ramped up his attack on the issue of vote theft, accusing Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar of protecting those who "destroyed democracy". To buttress his allegation, he cited data from a Karnataka assembly constituency to claim that votes of Congress supporters were being systematically deleted. The Election Commission dubbed the allegations "incorrect and baseless" and said. "No deletion of any vote can be done online by any member of the public, as misconceived by Gandhi." In a post in Hindi on X on Friday, Gandhi said, "Wake up at 4 a.m. Eliminate two voters in 36 seconds, Then go back to sleep - this is how vote theft happens!" "Chunaav ka chawkidaar jaagta raha, chori dekhta raha, choron ko bachata raha (The electi

Who is ECI shielding?: Kharge questions after Rahul's voter deletion charge

Kharge asked who the EC has been shielding to allow for alleged vote theft, asked if the BJP is 'hollowing' out institutions meant to protect democracy