Page 137 - Lok Sabha Elections

Bias at the ballot box: The ways voters are influenced in elections

Authority figures to availability choice: Our voting decisions are often coloured by biases that are often unconscious

Kerala CM Vijayan blasts Rahul Gandhi for contesting election in Wayanad

Congress leader has pitted himself against CPI candidate, proves party's 'unreliability'

LS polls: ECI team meets Haryana officials to review election arrangements

A team of the Election Commission of India (ECI) held a meeting with the senior officials of the Haryana government to review the election arrangements for Lok Sabha polls in the state. The five-member team was led by Deputy Chief Election Commissioner Hirdesh Kumar. The meeting here on Monday was chaired by Haryana Chief Secretary T V S N Prasad, according to an official release. Polling for the ten Lok Sabha seats in Haryana will be held in the sixth phase of elections on May 25. During the meeting in which Director General of Police Shatrujeet Kapur was also present, Chief Secretary Prasad said that no stone will be left unturned to conduct free and fair elections in the state. Prasad said that to conduct impartial and peaceful elections in the state, Haryana has requested 200 companies of central security forces from the ECI, out of which 15 have already arrived. He stated that 19,810 polling stations will be set up in the state, equipped with all basic facilities. Additional

CM Kejriwal appeared restless, slept only for a while, says jail official

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who has been remanded in judicial custody till April 15 in the excise policy case, paced up and down his 14X8 feet cell on his first night in Tihar jail, managing only to sleep for a while, a prison official said. According to prison officials, Kejriwal was brought to Tihar jail at 4 pm on Monday and was medically examined before being sent to his cell where he is staying alone. His sugar level was below 50 at that time and medicines were given to him on the advice of doctors, he said. India's first sitting chief minister to be lodged at Asia's largest prison has been kept in jail number two. His wife and children are likely to meet him on Tuesday, an official said. The chief minister was given tea in the afternoon and was served home-cooked food for dinner, a source said on Tuesday, adding that he has been given a mattress, blankets and two pillows. He slept on a cement platform for some time and was seen walking in his cell late in the night,

LS polls: EC appoints special observers to ensure level playing field

Election Commission on Tuesday appointed special observers for administrative, security and expenditure monitoring purposes in several states to ensure a level playing field during the upcoming elections. The special observers -- former civil servants with brilliant track record -- have been tasked with overseeing the electoral process with strict vigilance, particularly against the backdrop of challenges posed by the influence of money, muscle and misinformation, the poll panel said. Special Observers (General and Police) have been deployed in West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Bihar where the population is more than seven crore and also in Andhra Pradesh and Odisha where the simultaneous elections to the Assemblies are to be held, the poll authority said. Special Expenditure Observers have also been deployed in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and Odisha, it said.

LS polls: Amit Shah interacts with JD(S) leaders for campaigning in K'taka

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held a joint meeting with JD(S) and state BJP leaders, as the campaign of the alliance partners for the Lok Sabha polls is set to gain momentum in Karnataka. The meeting is being seen as a move by the BJP and JD(S) to have better coordination on the ground and thrash out potential issues of conflict. JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy and some of his party's core committee members including its chief G T Devegowda, veteran BJP leader B S Yediyurappa, saffron party state President B Y Vijayendra and its General Secretary in-charge of elections in Karnataka Radha Mohan Das Agarwal, along with several other leaders from the two parties were part of the meeting. Kumaraswamy on Monday said he along with his party colleagues will apprise Shah and share feedback on poll situation in various constituencies across Karnataka ahead of Lok Sabha polls. "Preparations are going well in all constituencies. We don't want small minor issu

Senior Odisha Cong leader Behera resigns from party, likely to join BJD

Senior Congress leader and former Odisha minister Ganeswar Behera on Tuesday resigned from the primary membership of the party. Behera, who hails from Kendrapara district, sent his resignation letter to Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Sarat Pattanayak. He, however, thanked the party for giving him an opportunity to serve the people of Odisha as an MLA and Congress worker. Sources said that Behera is likely to join the BJD. The BJD is likely to field Behera from the Kendrapara assembly segment which is reserved for the scheduled caste candidates. In the 2019 polls, Shashi Bhusan Behera of BJD had won the seat by defeating Ganeswar Behera by a margin of 6,320 votes. Ganeswar Behera has said that his well-wishers and voters of his constituency have been urging him to join the BJD. Several Congress leaders former OPCC former working president and ex-MLA Chiranjib Biswal, former minister Surendra Singh Bhoi, sitting MLA Adhiran Panigrahi, ex-MLA K Surya Rao and Ans

LS polls: Congress targets PM Modi on issue of development in Uttarakhand

The Congress on Tuesday said the Modi government has "failed" to make any meaningful improvements in Uttarakhand, claiming the state has been plagued by rampant unemployment, unprecedented out-migration, crumbling infrastructure, and a deteriorating law and order situation in recent years. The opposition party's attack came ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modis rally in Uttarakhand. Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh noted that PM Modi is visiting the city of Rudrapur in Uttarakhand on Tuesday. "We hope that the PM will take this opportunity to address three key questions about why his government has failed to make any meaningful improvements in the state," Ramesh said and listed the questions on X. "The BJP government has been disappointingly ineffective in addressing Uttarakhand's biggest challenges of unemployment and migration. In 2021, an RTI revealed that 5 lakh people have migrated out of the state in the last 10 years - and the rate of migration is only increasing,"

Election Commission asks Centre to stop Viksit Bharat WhatsApp campaign

After receiving several complaints from citizens and Opposition parties, the ECI directed MeitY to stop the delivery of 'Viksit Bharat' WhatsApp messages since the Model Code of Conduct is in force

'Viksit Bharat' takes centre stage at first BJP manifesto committee meet

The road map for the government's "Viksit Bharat" agenda took centre stage at the first meeting of the BJP's election manifesto committee on Monday as eight Union ministers and three chief ministers joined other party leaders to deliberate on its key promises for the Lok Sabha elections. Defence minister and former BJP president Rajnath Singh chaired the meeting, with Union minister Piyush Goyal telling reporters that the party has received over 3.75 lakh suggestions through its missed call service and nearly 1.70 lakh on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's app (Namo). "The road map for Viksit Bharat by 2047 was discussed in the meeting. People's enthusiastic participation for our manifesto shows their trust in the prime minister and their expectations from him," he said. BJP leaders said all the suggestions received from people will be sorted out under different categories and narrowed down for the committee's next meeting. With Modi constantly highlighting his government's priority fo

Pak defence min optimistic of improving ties with Delhi post elections

Most recently, India abstained from the adoption of a resolution on 'Measures to Combat Islamophobia' introduced by the Pakistan envoy at the UNGA

After son denied ticket, here's what Menaka Gandhi said about being in BJP

After the BJP denied a ticket to Varun Gandhi, his mother and BJP leader, Maneka Gandhi, expressed happiness to be a part of the party

Cong declares Kadiam Kavya as party's candidate from Warangal LS seat

The Congress has announced Kadiam Kavya, daughter of former Telangana Deputy CM Kadiam Srihari, as its nominee from Warangal in the Lok Sabha polls. The AICC announced the candidature of Kadiam Kavya on Monday night. Kavya and Srihari, who is a sitting BRS MLA, joined the Congress on Sunday in the presence of Chief Minister and state Congress president A Revanth Reddy. For various reasons, people are moving away from BRS. So, to serve the people and to do something for the constituency, he will take a call (on joining the Congress party), Srihari had said. Kavya, who was BRS candidate from Warangal, had recently opted out of the contest citing recent allegations of corruption and phone tapping against the previous K Chandrasekhar Rao-led regime. Several senior leaders have quit BRS and joined either the ruling Congress or the BJP in Telangana in recent weeks. Polling in the general elections in Telangana would take place on May 13.

India will grow with growth of Odisha, says BJP's Dharmendra Pradhan

Pradhan is set to contest in the Lok Sabha polls from the Sambalpur constituency

SC seeks EC response on 'complete count' of VVPAT slips, Congress lauds

The Congress on Monday hailed as an "important first step" the Supreme Court's notice to the Election Commission and the Centre on a plea seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips and said the matter should be decided before the Lok Sabha polls commence. In a post on X, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said, "The Supreme Court has issued a notice today to the Election Commission on the issue of VVPATs. It bears constant repetition that the Election Commission has refused to meet a delegation of INDIA (bloc) party leaders who have been demanding 100 per cent VVPATs in order to increase public confidence in EVMs and to ensure the integrity of the electoral process." The court on Monday sought responses from the commission and the central government on the plea seeking a complete count of VVPAT slips in polls as opposed to the current practice of verification of only five randomly-selected EVMs through VVPAT paper slips. "The notice is an important first step, but for it to be ..

Lok Sabha elections: MCD removes over 520,000 political ads in Delhi

The Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) has removed 5,20,042 political advertisements from across its 12 zones in view of the Model Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha elections, according to an official document. The advertisements were in the form of hoardings, posters, banners, wall paintings, signages and flags, it stated. The Model Code of Conduct (MCC) came into force on March 16 with the Election Commission (EC) announcing the schedule for the general elections. Delhi will vote on May 25 in the sixth phase of the seven-phase polls. Counting of votes is on June 4. The civic body has taken down 2,57,280 hoardings, 1,92,601 banners or wall paintings and posters, 40,022 removable signages and 30,139 removable flags, the document issued on Monday said. The action pertains to the EC's directives to take down all political advertisements from government, public and private properties in view of the MCC being in force till the elections conclude. According to the EC's order, any kin

Highlights: PM Modi to kick off Uttarakhand poll campaign from Rudrapur

Lok Sabha elections 2024 latest news: Catch all the latest updates on the announcements related to General Elections here

Sensex can hit 77,000, Nifty 23,500 as bull-run to continue in FY25

The broader indices, the Nifty MidCap and SmallCap need to sustain above 48,000 and 7,100 levels, in order to reverse the recent negative sentiment at the counters, suggests technical charts.

Lok Sabha polls: Drinking water to ORS, EC's advisory to tackle heatwave

Provide polling officials and voters with oral rehydration salts (ORS)

Election 2024 promises to be a sizzler as IMD predicts extreme heatwave

Above normal heatwave projected for next 3 months, coinciding with 7-phase LS polls from April 19 to June 1