Page 25 - Elections

Pakistan's Election Commission to hold presidential poll by March 9: Report

A senior Pakistan Peoples Party office-bearer said, 'The president will be elected by the present senators after setting up all four provincial assemblies,'

New Pak govt likely by March 2; presidential election before Mar 9: Report

With a power-sharing deal already inked, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and the Pakistan Peoples Party are moving ahead with plans to form a coalition government by March 2 and hold the presidential election before March 9, according to a media report on Friday. The Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) led by three-time prime minister Nawaz Sharif will be backed by the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) of former foreign minister Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari has agreed to form a new government after the February 8 elections resulted in a hung Parliament. Former prime minister Shehbaz Sharif, 72, is set to return to the top post after his elder brother Nawaz, decided to nominate the PML-N president for premiership. The party has clarified that the three-time former prime minister did not want to lead a government in which the PMN-L does not have a majority in Parliament. Both parties won fewer seats than candidates backed by jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan. Quoting sources, The News .

Lok Sabha polls: Congress offers Trinamool a new seat-sharing deal

In Bengal, the Congress is keen to contest four or five of the state's 42 seats in alliance with the ruling Trinamool

Aam Aadmi Party, Congress set to clinch seat-sharing in three states

It would also mean that the Congress is set to contest the least number of seats since 1952

Pak election committee completes inquiry into poll rigging allegations

A high-level committee formed by Pakistan's election commission has completed its inquiry into the allegations of poll rigging in the garrison city of Rawalpindi levelled by a senior government officer and will submit its report to the electoral body, a media report said on Thursday. On Sunday, the Election Commission of Pakistan (ECP) formed the committee to probe the explosive allegations levelled by former Rawalpindi Commissioner Liaquat Ali Chattha that widespread rigging aided by the judiciary and the top election body took place against jailed former prime minister Imran Khan's party in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. Chattha alleged on Saturday that the candidates who were losing the February 8 elections were made to win in the city. Before resigning from his post, he claimed that 13 candidates from Rawalpindi were forcefully declared winners. The ECP's inquiry committee formed to investigate the allegations completed its work within the stipulated period of three days and .

Iran begins first election campaign since 2022 protests over Amini's death

Candidates for Iran's parliament began campaigning on Thursday in the country's first election since the bloody crackdown on the 2022 nationwide protests that followed the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini in police custody. State television said 15,200 candidates will compete for a four-year term in the 290-seat chamber that hardliners have controlled for two decades. That is a record number and more than twice the candidates who contested the 2020 election, when voter turnout was just over 42 per cent, the lowest since 1979. Amini died on September 16, 2022, after her arrest by Iran's morality police for allegedly violating the country's strict headscarf law that forced women to cover their hair and entire bodies. The protests quickly escalated into calls to overthrow Iran's clerical rulers. In the severe crackdown that followed, over 500 people were killed and nearly 20,000 arrested, according to human rights activists in Iran. On Wednesday, the Guardian Council election watchdo

Election Commission aiming for more than 83% polling in Andhra Pradesh

The Election Commission is working towards ensuring more than 83 percent polling in the forthcoming general elections in Andhra Pradesh, said Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Mukesh Kumar Meena on Wednesday. As part of this goal, the CEO noted that several programmes are being undertaken to educate voters on the importance of exercising their franchise. "During 2019 polls, the state recorded an average polling percentage of 79.77 while the national average was 69 percent," said Meena in a press release. Meanwhile, an Election Commission team from New Delhi arrived to evaluate Systematic Voters' Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programmes in Andhra Pradesh. Meena called on the team, and observed that SVEEP programmes are being undertaken to ensure a polling percentage greater than 83 . He highlighted that extensive SVEEP programmes are being executed in the districts to enlighten every citizen and voter on the election process and make them stakeholders in the forthcoming

76.4 million eligible to cast votes in Bihar in Lok Sabha polls: Chief EC

Rajiv Kumar informed at a press conference in Patna on Wednesday that there are 9.26 lakh first time voters in the age group of 18-19 in the state. There are 21, 680 voters above the age of 100 years

S African prez sets May 29 as election day as polls show a drop in support

South Africa will hold its national election on May 29, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday. Ramaphosa's ruling African National Congress, the party once led by Nelson Mandela, is expected to face a stern test to retain its majority in South Africa's seventh fully democratic national election since the end of the apartheid system of forced racial segregation in 1994. Before 1994, Black people were not allowed to vote. The ANC, which led the anti-apartheid movement, has won every national vote by a clear majority since the racist system was dismantled and has been in government for 30 years. But several polls this year have predicted it may slip below 50 per cent of the vote in a general election for the first time. South Africans have grown weary of a troubled economy and record unemployment, a stream of corruption allegations against ANC figures, and an electricity crisis that has resulted in daily rolling blackouts for homes and businesses. If the ANC slips below 50 p

SC declares AAP's Kuldeep Kumar as 'validly elected' Chandigarh mayor

The Supreme Court noted that the eight ballots which were invalidated by Returning Officer Anil Masih were valid

Cong leader Sonia Gandhi elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan

Congress leader Sonia Gandhi was elected unopposed to Rajya Sabha from Rajasthan on Tuesday, officials said. Bharatiya Janata Party's Chunnilal Garasiya and Madan Rathore were also elected unopposed to the Upper House from the state, Assembly Secretary Mahaveer Prasad Sharma said. Tuesday was the last day for withdrawing nominations. As no other candidates were contesting, the three leaders were elected to Rajya Sabha unopposed, the officer said. The tenure of Rajya Sabha members Manmohan Singh (Congress) and Bhupendra Yadav (BJP) is ending on April 3. The third seat fell vacant after the BJP MP Kirodi Lal Meena resigned from the House in December after being elected MLA. The BJP has 115 members and the Congress 70 in the 200-member assembly. There are 10 Rajya Sabha seats in Rajasthan. After the results, Congress has six members and the BJP four.

BJP supporters should understand how party is winning elections: Akhilesh

The returning officer who conducted the Chandigarh mayoral polls "accepting the crime of rigging" the elections shows how hungry the BJP is for power, Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav said on Monday after the Supreme Court came down heavily on the officer for allegedly defacing ballot papers. BJP supporters should understand how the party is winning every election through "theft and scams". Neither the country nor the future of their own children is safe in the hands of such people, Yadav said in a post on X in Hindi. Earlier in the day, the Supreme Court posed searching questions to Returning Officer Anil Masih and said that putting a mark on ballot papers cannot be allowed in an electoral democracy. During the hearing, Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud voiced displeasure over the way the January 30 mayoral polls were held and told Masih that he could be prosecuted in case of any falsehood. "The (pro-)BJP presiding officer's accepting the crime of rigging the Chandigarh .

Pak court suspends election result of three constituencies in Islamabad

The general elections were held on February 8 and the results were delayed which caused widespread concerns that the delay was on purpose to change the results

Highlights of the day: Cong dismisses Kamal Nath's BJP switch speculation

Latest news updates: Catch all the latest updates from around the world here

Congress dismisses speculation of former MP CM Kamal Nath switching to BJP

The Congress on Monday dismissed as "misinformation" the speculation over party leader Kamal Nath's possible switch to the BJP and asserted that the former Madhya Pradesh chief minister will participate in the Rahul Gandhi-led Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra in the state. The assertion by Congress general secretary in charge of Madhya Pradesh Jitendra Singh came amid speculation that Kamal Nath and his son Nakul Nath, a Lok Sabha MP, may cross over to the ruling BJP. "Kamal Nath ji is a senior leader of our party. All these speculations have been made by the BJP and the media. I spoke to him yesterday and the day before yesterday also and we discussed the preparations of the Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra," Singh told reporters at the Congress headquarters here. "I am going to Bhopal tomorrow and meetings are taking place with MLAs, various committees and MPs. Kamal Nath ji will also join those meetings and his suggestions for the yatra's passage will be taken note of. Kamal Nath will prominently .

Pak's major parties struggle to form coalition after inconclusive election

Monday's talks will be the fifth such round after former Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was named by his Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party to lead the country again

In global election year, Indian women have less political heft than peers

Around 64 countries are going to polls in 2024

Bilawal Bhutto rejects power-sharing formula for the post of Pakistan PM

Bhutto revealed that the PML-N suggested a time-sharing formula, proposing that they lead the government for three years, with the PPP taking over for the remaining two years

Hold LS, assembly polls together but not with local body: JD(U) to panel

Nitish Kumar's Janata Dal (United) on Saturday supported holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies but not with local body polls. The party told the high-level committee on 'one nation, one election' that it supports holding Lok Sabha and state assembly polls together. It also said that all local body polls -- municipalities and panchayats -- should be held together. However, the local body polls should not be held alongside elections to the Lok Sabha and state assemblies, it underlined. "... JD(U) would like to extend its support of having simultaneous elections in House of People (Lok Sabha), state legislature together and the election for the third tier, that is, Panchayats and Municipalities should be held simultaneously but separately and not with House of People and state legislature," the JD(U) told the panel headed by former president Ram Nath Kovind. Set up in September last year, the committee is mandated to examine and make recommendations for

Ghulam Nabi hints at not contesting LS polls, says will campaign for DPAP

Senior political leader Ghulam Nabi Azad on Saturday indicated that he would not be contesting in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections as he would be campaigning for the candidates of his newly formed Democratic Progressive Azad Party (DPAP) candidates. Azad, who has refrained from contesting Lok Sabha elections after his defeat in 2014 Lok Sabha polls, asked his party men to gear up as 2024 would be the election year for Jammu and Kashmir. Talking to reporters on the sidelines of a function in Nagrota, Azad, who resigned from Congress after decades of association, also appealed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to resolve the issues of agitating farmers "once for all" as the protest is neither good for the government nor the farmers. "Parliament election is 100 percent taking place on its time and I can only guess about the assembly polls (in J&K) as I have no contact with the Election Commission or government. But it (assembly elections) has to take place as the Supreme Court has set .