Page 26 - Election

Here is what exit polls predict for Gujarat, Himachal, Delhi civic body

The outcome of the Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh Assembly elections will be declared on December 8 while Delhi civic body reults will be declared on December 7

How the BJP's formidable election machinery is trying to retain Gujarat

As the western province of Gujarat holds state elections, Patel is on a mission to ensure that most of the 1,400 people in his village of Umber vote for the BJP

Mainpur bypoll: EC raps police officers for failing to transfer officials

The Election Commission on Thursday rapped SSPs of Etawah and Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh and sought explanations for them for failing to follow its transfer and posting policy ahead of the Mainpuri Lok Sabha bypoll. It also directed transfer of six sub-inspectors. The commission's action came a day after the Samajwadi Party (SP) urged it to look into the failure of the state police to randomise police forces ahead of the December 5 bypoll necessitated following the death of party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav. SP chief Akhilesh Yadav's wife Dimple Yadav is pitted against BJP's Raghuraj Singh Shakya in the by-election. In a letter to the Uttar Pradesh chief electoral officer (CEO), the Election Commission (EC) directed the senior superintendent of police (SSP) of Mainpuri to submit an explanation to it as to why disciplinary proceedings should not be initiated against him for "non-compliance of the commission's extant instructions and relevant provisions of Model Code of Conduct while

PM Modi's home state vote could show trends for 2024 Lok Sabha elections

PM Narendra Modi ruled Gujarat for over a decade before moving to the national stage in 2014

Nepal's destiny

The election offers some new signals for India

Donald Trump likely to announce his 2024 presidential election bid: Reports

Former US president Donald Trump is likely to announce his 2024 presidential election bid on Tuesday from his sprawling Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, according to media reports. A select group of Indian Americans invited for the potential presidential race announcement have reached Mar-a-Lago, to be part of what they view as an important marker in national politics. Trump, 76, lost to President Joe Biden, 79, in the 2020 presidential elections. Trump and his supporters have not yet acknowledged the results of the elections and they were accused of massive voter fraud. Both the election officials and courts have not given credence to their allegations. While the next presidential elections are still two years away, those close to the former president believe that his announcement would give momentum to the party and his ambition to return the White House. Trump, who is seeking his third presidential bid, the previous two being in 2016 (won) and 2020 (lost), appears to be undeterred

2,021 candidates file paper for MCD polls, includes 507 Independents

A total of 2,021 candidates have filed their nomination papers with the poll authorities for the upcoming civic elections in Delhi, sources said on Tuesday. The 250-ward Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) goes to polls on December 4 while the results will be declared on December 7. Of the total nominations, Independent candidates have the maximum share with 507 candidates, followed by AAP with 492 candidates. On Monday, the last day to file nominations, all candidates from the three major parties -- the AAP, BJP and the Congress -- and nominees from other parties and many Independents submitted their papers. The tabulation of data from nominations filed went on till the early hours, the sources said. The poll authorities have received 2,585 nominations from 2,021 candidates, a source said. Of the total nominations received, 1,462 are from women and 1,123 men, according to data shared by officials. Among the other parties, 423 candidates have filed their papers for the BJP, 334

US midterm polls: Amid high scrutiny, people vote without major hitches

Americans voted without major hitches Tuesday in midterm elections receiving intense scrutiny after two years of false claims and conspiracy theories about how ballots are cast and counted. With polls open across the country, no widespread problems with ballots, long lines or voter intimidation were reported early on, though there were hiccups in some places, which is typical on any Election Day. Vote tabulators malfunctioned in a county in New Jersey and one in Arizona, prompting assurances from officials that ballots would be counted. Some voting sites in North Carolina were delayed in opening because workers showed up late, though officials may extend voting hours. And in one Pennsylvania county, polling places scrambled to replenish low supplies of paper ballots. These are things we see in every election cycle, said Susannah Goodman, director of election security at Common Cause, a group that advocates for voting access. There's nothing majorly concerning this morning. Since th

Growing unemployment: Battle of two parallel realities

The duality between the ground reality of tangible unemployment and the perception created by events like "rozgar melas" will likely continue till the next general election

His outlook towards democracy inspiring: PM on death of India's first voter

Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed condolences over the death of India's first voter Shyam Saran Negi, who died aged 106 at his residence in Himachal Pradesh's Kinnaur on Saturday morning. Two days ago, Negi had cast his vote for the state's Assembly polls through postal ballot, the Election Commission said earlier in the day. Addressing a poll rally here in Mandi district for the November 12 assembly polls in the hill state, Modi said, "When I started from Delhi in the morning, I got to know about the death of Shyam Saran Negi. The 106-year-old had voted more than 30 times in his life." "Just a few days ago, Negi had cast his vote through postal ballot for the Himachal Pradesh polls. Even before his demise, he discharged his duty," Modi said, adding Negi's outlook towards democracy will inspire the country's youth. "With a heavy heart, I bow my head to pay homage and express my deepest condolences to his kin," the prime minister said. In the morning, Chief Minister Jai Ram Th

EC mourns demise of first voter of independent India, Shyam Saran Negi

Negi, 106, died of natural causes at his residence in morning and will be cremated with full state honours later in the day.

SC to examine plea challenging decision to link electoral data with Aadhaar

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to examine a plea challenging the Centre's decision that enables linking electoral roll data with the Aadhaar ecosystem. A bench of Justices S K Kaul and Abhay S Oka tagged the petition filed by former Major General S G Vombatkere with a similar pending matter. "Petitioner has drawn attention to 2019 Aadhaar judgment to contend that only if some benefit is sought to be conferred then Aadhaar can be mandatory but not to deny rights, and the right to vote is the highest of such rights. "Two other petitions have also been filed by him and there may be some overlapping. Thus, this requires tagging. Tag this petition with that matter," the bench said. Senior advocate Shyam Divan, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that right to vote is one of the most sacred rights and it should not be denied if an individual lacks Aadhaar. The Centre had earlier amended the Registration of Electors Rules to allow linking Aadhaar details with a voters list to wee

In first election since 2018, will Malaysia's young voters use their power?

The dramatic ousting of the UMNO-led coalition, Barisan Nasional, four years ago was supposed to draw the line under identity politics and end the Malay nationalist par

About 9,500 PCC delegates cast their votes in Congress presidential polls

About 9,500 Pradesh Congress Committee delegates out of the total around 9,900 cast their votes in the Congress presidential polls, the party's central election authority chairman Madhusudan Mistry said on Monday. The overall voter turnout was about 96 per cent and in small states, it was nearly 100 per cent, he said at a press conference after voting ended in the Mallikarjun Kharge versus Shashi Tharoor contest. Mistry said by and large the voter turnout in all places was over 90 per cent. "The most satisfactory thing for us was that in all states where polling booths were set up, no adverse incident was reported. This is a big achievement...polls were held in an open process in a peaceful manner," Mistry said. "Congress party has shown what internal democracy is and other parties that want to take a lesson from it, can do so," he said. Mistry said no one should have any apprehensions as it is a secret ballot and nobody will get to know who voted for whom. Kharge is considered t

Congress will touch 150 seats in Karnataka polls, claims DK Shivakumar

Karnataka Congress President DK Shivakumar on Sunday claimed that the Congress would win more than 150 seats in the Karnataka Assembly elections next year

Shinde-led Shiv Sena submits tree, sword, sun as choices for poll symbol

Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena, the Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena, on Tuesday submitted its choice of three poll symbols to the Election Commission after its earlier choices were rejected by the poll panel. Sources said the three symbols submitted by the Shinde group are 'peepal tree', sword and Sun. On Saturday, the EC had barred the Uddhav Thackeray and Shinde factions from using the party name and its 'bow and arrow' symbol for the November 3 Andheri East assembly bypoll. The interim order said the party name and symbol stand frozen till the dispute between the two factions on which is the real Shiv Sena is adjudicated by the EC. On Monday, the EC had allotted 'flaming torch' (mashaal) election symbol to the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena and recognised it as 'ShivSena - Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray'. It recognised the Shinde faction as 'Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena' (Balasaheb's Shiv Sena) but rejected 'trishul', 'gada' (mace) and 'rising sun' as its poll symbols. Trishul

Reformists gain in preliminary results of Bosnia elections; change unlikely

Reformists who ran on fighting corruption and clientelism in public office appeared set to win an important race in Bosnia's elections Sunday that could give them greater sway over the direction of the country which has never fully recovered from its 1992-95 sectarian war and remains divided along ethnic lines. The first preliminary results released by Bosnia's central election commission early Monday showed cooperation-prone contenders Denis Becirovic and Zeljko Komsic on course to win respective Bosniak and Croat seats in the tripartite presidency. However, the reformists were likely to be joined by Zeljka Cvijanovic from the strongest Bosnian Serb party the secessionist and staunchly pro-Russian SNSD. Moscow has often been accused by the West of seeking to destabilize the country and the rest of the Balkans through its Serb allies in the region, and the Sunday ballot was held amid growing fears the Kremlin might attempt to reignite the conflict in Bosnia to deflect attention fro

K Raja Prasad Reddy of Telugu media group Sakshi elected INS president

Reddy succeeds Mohit Jain of the Economic Times at INS, the apex body of publishers of newspapers, magazines and periodicals in the country

Right to contest election neither fundamental nor common law right, says SC

The right to contest an election is neither a fundamental right nor a common law right, the Supreme Court has said while dismissing with a cost of Rs one lakh a petition which raised the issue regarding the filing of nomination for Rajya Sabha elections. Observing that an individual cannot claim that he has a right to contest an election, the apex court noted that the Representation of People Act, 1950, read with the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, has contemplated the name of a candidate has to be proposed while filling the nomination form. A bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and Sudhanshu Dhulia passed the order while hearing a plea challenging the June 10 order of the Delhi High Court which had dismissed a petition about deciding the candidature of the petitioner to file his nomination for the Rajya Sabha elections, 2022. The petitioner had said that a notification for election to Rajya Sabha was issued on May 12, 2022, to fill up the seats of members retiring from June 21, 2022,

SEC starts electoral roll revision process for VC election in TTAADC

The State Election Commission (SEC) of Tripura has initiated the process to prepare the final electoral rolls for conducting elections to village committees (VCs) of Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC). The VC elections are considered important as Assembly elections are due in the state next year. The elections were scheduled to take place by March 3, last year but could not be held due to the Covid pandemic. The tribal council has 587 Village Committees which are similar to gram panchayats and 68 per cent of Tripura's geographical area 10,491 square km falls under the autonomous district council. In July, the High Court of Tripura, while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), asked the state election panel to complete the VC elections by the first week of November. The draft publication of the electoral rolls will be published on September 16 while filing of claims and objections will be allowed from September 16 to 22, said a senior poll official on ...