The Union Budget 2025-26 has allocated more than Rs 1,400 crore to the law ministry to meet carry forward expenditure for holding the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and purchase of new electronic voting machines for the Election Commission. The legislative department in the law ministry is the nodal agency for the Election Commission (EC), polls, electoral laws and appointment of members to the poll panel. According to the Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday, the law ministry has been allotted Rs 500 crore for Lok Sabha elections, another Rs 300 crore for identity cards for voters, and Rs 597.80 crore for "other election expenses". Separately, it has been allocated Rs 18.72 crore for the purchase of new electronic voting machines (EVMs) by the election watchdog. One control unit, at least one ballot unit and one paper trail machine make up for an EVM. Carry forward expenses have been described by law ministry officials as a "book keeping" exercise where
Aam Aadmi Party has also prepared a separate team to keep an eye on the arrangements outside the election booth
A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sanjiv Khanna will hear a plea filed by former Haryana minister and five-time MLA Karan Singh Dalal seeking a policy for the verification of Electronic Voting Machines. When the matter came up for hearing on Friday before Justices Dipankar Datta and Manmohan, the bench said the case shall be placed before the Chief Justice along with similar petitions. "This can go before the Chief Justice's bench," the bench said. Dalal has approached the Supreme Court seeking a policy for the verification of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs). He has sought compliance of an earlier judgement of the top court delivered in the case of 'Association for Democratic Reforms v. Union of India'. Dalal and co-petitioner Lakhan Kumar Singla secured the second-highest votes in their respective constituencies and have sought a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to implement a protocol for examining the original "burnt memory" or microcontroller of the four
The Supreme Court on Friday said the plea seeking a policy for verification of electronic voting machines will be heard by a bench headed by Justice Dipankar Datta in January next year. A bench comprising Chief Justice of India (CJI) Sanjiv Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar said the fresh plea of former Haryana minister and five-time MLA Karan Singh Dalal and one Lakhan Kumar Singla on the issue will be heard by a bench headed by Justice Datta in the week commencing January 20, 2025. A bench comprising Justice Khanna and Justice Datta had delivered a verdict earlier in April rejecting the demand for bringing back the old paper ballots. At outset, senior advocate Maninder Singh, appearing for the Election Commission, sought dismissal of the plea, saying that similar petitions for same reliefs were rejected earlier. The CJI said the bench headed by Justice Datta would hear this now. Earlier on December 13, a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale had refused to hear the plea, sa
Opposition members staged a demonstration on the steps of the Maharashtra Vidhan Bhawan here on Monday and raised slogans against the use of EVMs in elections. The protest was held on the opening day of the winter session of the state legislature in Nagpur. Leader of opposition in the state legislative council Ambadas Danve led the demonstration of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders, who called for "saving" the Constitution and democracy and opposed the use of EVMs. They raised slogans like "EVM Hatao Desh Bachao", "EVM Hatao Constitution Bachao" and "EVM Hatao Democracy Bachao". Danve was joined by Congress legislators Vijay Wadettiwar, Nitin Raut, Bhai Jagtap and Vikas Thakre, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Bhaskar Jadhav, Varun Desai and Sachin Ahir, and NCP (SP) MLA Jitendra Awhad. Talking to reporters, Danve claimed the Electronic Voting Machines were "dangerous" for democracy and that people were opposing the use of EVMs in elections. "We think the EVMs should be remov
Opening another point of friction with an important ally, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has dismissed the Congress party's vehement objection to Electronic Voting Machines, and echoed the BJP's defence -- you can't accept election results when you win, and blame EVMs when you lose. "When you get a hundred plus members of Parliament using the same EVMs, and you celebrate that as sort of a victory for your party, you can't then a few months later turn around and say... we don't like these EVMs because now the election results aren't going the way we would like them to," Abdullah told PTI in an exclusive interview on Friday. Told that he sounded suspiciously like a BJP spokesman, Abdullah reacted with God forbid! He then added: "No, it's just that... what's right is right." He said he speaks based on principles rather than with partisan loyalty and cited his support for infrastructure projects like the Central Vista as an example of his independent thinking. "Contrary
He said that the INDIA alliance has faith in the apex court and hoped that it will give a decision in their favour
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Sunday hit out at the opposition, accusing it of misleading people about electronic voting machines and not accepting their mandate. Talking to reporters, Shinde said the ruling Mahayuti alliance won the November 20 assembly polls because of its work, and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi must accept the people's mandate and support the government in development works. The Mahayuti combine of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and NCP swept the recently held polls, winning 230 out of 288 seats, while the opposition bloc of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) managed just 46 seats. The opposition parties have alleged irregularities with EVMs for its poll losses and demanded the use of ballot papers. Slamming the opposition, the Shiv Sena chief said, "When you win, there is no EVM scam, but the machine becomes bad when you lose. This is not the right approach." He said the opposition must accept the people's mandate that they have been decisively
Heavy police security was deployed on Tuesday at a village in Maharashtra's Malshiras assembly segment after some locals cast doubt on the EVMs and insisted on conducting a "re-election" with ballot papers, officials said. The Malshiras sub-divisional magistrate on Monday imposed prohibitory orders, under section 163 of the Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, from December 2 to 5 in the area to avoid any conflict or law and order situation due to the "repoll" plan of some locals, an official said. Residents of Markadwadi village under Malshiras segment in Solapur district have put up banners claiming a "repoll" will be held on December 3. The village comes under the Malshiras assembly constituency, where NCP (SP) candidate Uttam Jankar defeated BJP's Ram Satpute by 13,147 votes in the November 20 state polls, the results of which were declared on November 2. Though Jankar won the seat, Markadwadi residents claimed he polled less votes in their village against Satpute which was not
Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge demands bringing back the traditional method of casting votes
All EVMs and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices used in Mumbai during the Maharashtra polls have been stored in strong rooms, one each in the city's 36 constituencies, the civic body said on Thursday. Elections to the 288-member state assembly were held in a single phase on Wednesday and votes will be counted on Saturday. About 10,000 personnel from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF), State Reserve Police Force (SRPF), and local police have been assigned for security arrangements at the counting centres, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) said in a release. These strong rooms are also under constant CCTV surveillance, said the release, quoting civic chief Bhushan Gagrani, who is also the district election officer for Mumbai. Across Mumbai, over 2,700 officials and staff have been deployed to count votes, which will begin on Saturday at 8 am. Postal votes will counted first followed by votes recorded by the Electroni
The Deputy Commissioner stated that the EVMs have been stored in four strong rooms within Kurukshetra University, which are under constant surveillance
The EC received eight applications for verification of EVMs used in the 18th Lok Sabha elections and three for the Assembly elections in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha
YSRCP supremo YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on Tuesday called for paper ballots to replace Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in elections. Following a humiliating electoral debacle in the recently held Assembly and Lok Sabha polls in Andhra Pradesh, the former chief minister claimed that almost every advanced democracy uses paper ballots. "In electoral practices across the world in almost every advanced democracy, paper ballots are used, not EVMs," Reddy said in a post on 'X'. To uphold the true spirit of our (India) democracy, the Andhra Pradesh opposition leader opined that 'we too must move towards the same (postal ballots)'. "Just as justice should not only be served, but should also appear to have been served, so should democracy not only prevail but must appear to be prevalent undoubtedly," he added. YSRCP was relegated to just 11 Assembly and four Lok Sabha seats in the recently concluded simultaneous elections in Andhra Pradesh. The NDA comprising TDP, BJP and Janasena won a lands
BJP's Rajeev Chandrasekhar termed Musk's post a "sweeping generalisation" and offered to "run a tutorial" for the Tesla chief on how India ensures its indigenously manufactured EVMs are hacking proof
Lok Sabha elections 2024: Here's is everything that you need to know about postal ballots, its eligibility criteria and the process of its application
Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly V D Satheesan said the elections in Kerala were "grossly mismanaged", leading to considerable delays in numerous polling booths
Supreme Court puts VVPAT controversy to rest