Page 6 - Election Commission

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

Over half voters in most states may not have documents in SIR: EC officials

More than half the electorate in most of the states may not have to provide any document as they will be covered in the electoral roll of the last special intensive revision (SIR) held in their states, Election Commission officials said on Wednesday. They pointed out that most states had the last special intensive revision of the voters' list between 2002 and 2004. That year will be considered their cutoff date for the next SIR. The Election Commission will soon decide on the date to roll out special intensive revision pan-India, and the exercise to clean up the voter list across states may take place before the end of the year, officials had earlier said. Chief electoral officers have been told to keep the electoral rolls of their states, published after the previous SIR, ready. Some state CEOs have already put up the voter list published after their last SIR on their websites. The website of the Delhi CEO has the 2008 voter list when the last intensive revision took place in the

Will scrap SIR if illegality found in methodology, says Supreme Court

The Supreme Court has said Bihar's voter roll revision will be invalidated if illegalities are found in the Election Commission's process, with its ruling to apply nationwide

EC should have probed instead of using offensive words for Rahul: Ex-CEC

Coming down hard on the Election Commission for its response on "vote theft" allegations, former chief election commissioner S Y Quraishi on Sunday said the poll body should have ordered a probe into Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's charges instead of "shouting" at him in a language that was "objectionable and offensive". In an interview with PTI, Quraishi said much of the terms used by Gandhi while making the allegations such as likening them to a "hydrogen bomb" were "political rhetoric" but asserted that the complaints which he was raising need to be investigated in detail. The former chief election commissioner slammed the Election Commission (EC) over the manner in which it carried out the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, and said it is not only "opening a pandora's box" but the poll body has put its hand in the "hornet's nest" which will hurt it. The EC has rejected all the allegations of "vote theft" in the past. It has also all along maintaine

Centre appoints Pawan Kumar Sharma as Deputy Election Commissioner

Senior IAS officers Pawan Kumar Sharma and V Lalithalakshmi were on Saturday appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner and Joint Secretary in the Vice President's Secretariat, respectively, according to an official order. Sharma is a 1999-batch Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer of the Madhya Pradesh cadre and Lalithalakshmi is a 2008-batch officer of the West Bengal cadre. Sharma, Additional Secretary in the Defence Ministry, has been appointed as Deputy Election Commissioner in the rank and pay of Additional Secretary to the government of India, an order issued by the Personnel Ministry said. The Centre also carried out a major Joint Secretary-level bureaucratic reshuffle, with 35 civil servants appointed to various government organisations. Aman Sharma, an Indian Postal Service officer of the 2002 batch, has been named as Joint Secretary, Department of Pharmaceuticals, the ministry order said. Madhya Pradesh cadre IAS officer Tarun Kumar Pithode has been appointed as J

Kerala Election Commission to meet political parties on SIR of voter lists

Lauding 100 per cent digital literacy in the state, CEO Kelkar said that the exercise will be "easy" and will be conducted with the support of the stakeholders, including public, media, and parties

EC to take call on pan-India SIR rollout soon, may be held before year-end

The Election Commission will soon decide on the date to roll out special intensive revision on a pan-India basis and the exercise to clean up the voter list across states may take place before the end of the year, officials said Wednesday. After a day-long meeting of EC's state chief electoral officers here, officials said that with as many as five assembly polls due next year, the all-India SIR could take place in the coming months in 2025. At the meeting, the CEOs suggested documents for the purpose of ensuring that no eligible citizen is left out of the electoral roll and no ineligible person is included in it. It was reiterated that these documents should promote ease of submission for the eligible citizens. This assumes significance as the Supreme Court has directed the EC to accept the Aadhaar card as the 12th document, besides 11 others, as proof of identity of the elector. The CEOs were told to keep the electoral rolls of their states, published after the last SIR, ready.

EC top brass reviews pan-India SIR preparedness with state poll machinery

A crucial meeting of the Election Commission with its state officials is underway to discuss preparations for a pan-India roll out of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. While senior EC officials are expected to make a presentation on the SIR policy of the Commission, the chief electoral officer of Bihar would share the state's experience in implementing SIR. This is the third meeting of CEOs after Gyanesh Kumar took over as the chief election commissioner in February. However, Wednesday's day-long meeting assumes significance as the preparedness of a pan-India SIR are being discussed, officials said. The Commission has said that after Bihar, SIR will be carried out in the entire country. There are indications that the exercise would commence later this year ahead of assembly elections in Assam, Kerala, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal in 2026. The primary aim of the intensive revision is to weed out foreign illegal migrants by checking their place of ..

Accept Aadhaar card as 12th document: EC tells Bihar poll authority

The Election Commission has asked its Bihar poll machinery to accept Aadhaar card as an additional document to establish the identity of electors following the Supreme Court's directives. In a letter to the state Chief Electoral Officer on Tuesday, the Commission said "The Aadhaar card shall be treated as the 12th document, in addition to the 11 documents listed..." The EC made it clear that the Aadhaar card is to be accepted and utilised as a "proof of identity and not as a proof of citizenship", in terms of Section 9 of the Aadhaar (Delivery of Financial And Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act. Under Section 23(4) of the Representation of People Act, 1950, the Aadhaar Card is already one of the documents enumerated for the purpose of establishing the identity of a person. The poll panel also cautioned that "any instance of non-compliance or refusal to accept Aadhaar in accordance with this directive shall be treated with utmost seriousness". The Supreme Court on Monday .

Priyank Kharge seeks court-monitored audit, hackathon of EVM-VVPAT process

Karnataka's Minister for Information Technology Priyank Kharge has said that the state is ready to host a transparent evaluation of the entire EVMVVPAT process in partnership with judicial and industry oversight. Kharge had posted a copy of the letter he had written to the Election Commission of India again on September 6 on the social media platform X on Monday. In his letter, Kharge said he had written to the ECI on December 3, 2024, as well, outlining concerns regarding the function of EVMs and related procedural vulnerabilities, and suggesting a "constructive solution" in the form of a court-monitored ethical hackathon and audit, backed by the state. "With our strong technology and R&D ecosystem, I had proposed that Karnataka is well placed to carry out such a transparent exercise under judicial and industry oversight to rigorously test the EVM architecture and address public perception issues around electoral integrity," read the letter. He also said that on several ...

Shashi Tharoor calls EC's SIR exercise 'essential', urges transparency

Tharoor stressed that maintaining the credibility of the Election Commission was crucial and that any legitimate concerns raised by the opposition should be addressed fairly

Bengal CEO holds internal talks ahead of Election Commission meet in Delhi

In the run-up to a crucial meeting with Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar next week, West Bengal CEO Manoj Kumar Agarwal is set to hold internal discussions with officials concerned on the state's electoral preparedness on Saturday and Monday, a source in the poll panel said. The Election Commission of India (ECI) has "shown interest in replicating" Bihar's special intensive revision of electoral rolls in other states and the proactive steps are being viewed as "introductions to electoral readiness", he said. "The execution of the special intensive revision (SIR) in Bihar has garnered nationwide attention, with other states reportedly looking to learn from its approach. "Ahead of the Delhi meeting, the CEO's office is organising two rounds of consultations focused on the SIR and electoral preparedness. The first of these meetings will be an internal review on Saturday and then a comprehensive statewide assessment on Monday," the source told PTI. During these sessions, ...

Bihar SIR: Claims, objections can be filed beyond Sept 1, EC tells SC

The Election Commission of India on Monday said claims, objections and corrections in the draft electoral roll prepared in Bihar special intensive revision (SIR) exercise can be filed beyond September 1 but the same would be considered once the electoral roll was finalised. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi noted the submission of the Election Commission (EC) which said claims and objections could be filed till the last date of nomination forms in each assembly constituency. The top court while terming the confusion over the Bihar SIR as largely trust issue, directed the state legal service authority to deploy paralegal volunteers to assist individual voters and political parties in filling claims and objections to the draft roll, which was published on August 1. Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for EC, said, Any extension of deadline will lead to disruption of the entire exercise and finalisation of final electoral roll. The poll panel further said 99.5 p