Tag: Election Commission

Rajasthan elections

Rajasthan Assembly Elections To Be Held From Nov 23-25

By LokMarg

The Election Commission of India on Wednesday changed the poll dates of Rajasthan Assembly elections from November 23 to November 25.

“The change in the date of the poll was made following representations from various political parties, and social organisations and also issues raised in various media platforms considering large-scale wedding/social engagement on that day which may cause inconvenience to a large number of people, various logistic issues and may lead to reduced voters participation during the poll,” Election Commission said.

The EC said, “The Commission, having considered these factors and representations, has decided to change the date of the poll from November 23, 2023 (Thursday) to November 25, 2023 (Saturday).”

The counting of votes will take place on 3 December.

The Election Commission on Monday announced the schedule for Assembly polls in Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana.

Earlier, the Election Commission said that the Assembly polls in Rajasthan will be held on November 23. (ANI)

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J&K Omar Abdullah

EC Should Spell Out Factors For Not Holding Elections in J-K: Abdullah

By LokMarg

The National Conference (NC) Vice President Omar Abdullah on Monday raised questions regarding the delay in conducting elections in Jammu and Kashmir and called on the Election Commission of India to clarify the reasons behind this delay.

He emphasized that the ECI owes an explanation to the people of J-K as to why they are being deprived of their democratic rights.

“They (ECI) are not being given the permission to hold elections in Jammu-Kashmir. If asked about the elections, you (ECI) said that you are considering the factors. Tell us what are the factors (for not holding elections in J-K) for it. Is the situation so bad that elections can’t be conducted? But the Government of India across the world is telling the story that J&K is peaceful and thousands of tourists are coming. ECI has to answer to the people of J-K why are they keeping them away from democracy,” Omar Abdullah said.

He further said that the ECI has no plausible reasons not to hold elections in J-K.

He further said that the results of the Kargil Hill Council results are “a verdict against the Centre’s move made on August 5, 2019, to bifurcate J-K”.

With the results of all 26 seats declared in the counting for Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (Kargil) polls, the National Conference and Congress alliance on Sunday won 22 seats, comfortably crossing the halfway mark.

The Congress-National Conference alliance bagged 22 seats out of 26 seats (10 Congress and 12 National Conference) while the BJP just won 2 seats and 2 seats were won by independent candidates. This was the first election in the Union Territory Ladakh after Article 370 was scrapped from the Indian constitution.

There are a total of 30 seats in the council, of which 26 are elected members and the remaining four are nominated. (ANI)

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Election Commission

EC To Announce Poll Schedule For Five States Today

By LokMarg

The Election Commission of India is set to announce the schedule for the upcoming Assembly elections of Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Telangana on Monday.

The Election Commission will hold a press conference in this regard.

In Madhya Pradesh, the state will elect legislators from 230 Assembly constituencies. In the 2018 elections, Congress won 114 seats with a vote share of 41.5 per cent while the BJP came second and managed to win 109 seats. Its vote share was 41.6 per cent. However, in 2020, the Congress government lost the majority after the resignations of some MLAs belonging to a faction led by Jyotiraditya Scindia, who later joined the BJP. After this, the BJP formed the government in the state and Shivraj Singh Chouhan was reinstated as the Chief Minister.

The Congress party holds the majority in the Rajasthan Assembly, which comprises 200 seats, with Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot leading the state government. The previous assembly elections in the state were held in December 2018, when the Indian National Congress emerged as the single-largest party. Congress managed to win 99 seats, falling short by 1 seat to secure the majority mark. With a vote share of 39.8 per cent, Congress, however, formed the state government after an alliance with the Bahujan Samaj Party and the support of independent MLAs. BJP managed to secure 73 seats and its vote share was 39.3 percent.

Telangana is set to witness a triangular contest between the BJP, the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi and the Congress in the upcoming assembly election. In the previous Assembly election held in 2018, BRS managed to win 88 seats out of 119 and had a dominant vote share of 47.4 per cent. Congress came at a distant second with 19 seats. Its vote share was 28.7 per cent.

Congress also managed to win 68 seats out of 90 in Chhattisgarh. The party garnered a vote share of 43.9 per cent. BJP won 15 seats and managed to gather vote share of 33.6 per cent.

In a 40-seat Assembly of Mizoram, Mizo National Front managed to win 26 seats with a vote share of 37.8 per cent. Congress secured 5 seats and BJP won a single seat. Zoramthanga is the current chief minister of the state. (ANI)

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West Bengal and Madhya Pradesh Vote

UP’s Ghosi Assembly Records 21.57% Polling Till 11 AM, U’khand’s Bageshwar At 26.03

By LokMarg

Over 20 per cent voter turnout was recorded till 11 am for the Ghosi assembly bye-election in Uttar Pradesh began on Tuesday morning, the Election Commission of India said.

The voting for the bye-elections to the other six assembly constituencies of several states, including Uttarakhand, Kerala, Tripura, West Bengal, and Jharkhand, started on Tuesday at 7 am.

Voting is slated to go on till 5 pm.

Voting for bye-elections is being held for Kerala’s Puthupally, Dhupguri seat in West Bengal’s Jalpaiguri, Dumri in Jharkhand and Uttarkhand’s Bageshwar, and Boxanagar and Dhanpur in Tripura.

In the Bageshwar Assembly by-election, the voter turnout was recorded at 26.03 per cent while in Tripura’s Dhanpur, it was recorded at 39.48 per cent, and in West Bengal’s Dhupguri, it was at 34.26 per cent.

The Election Commission will release the results of bye-elections on Friday, September 8.

Notably, this is the first election between the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) and the Opposition bloc’s newly formed Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA).

Bypolls in five states were necessitated due to the deaths of the sitting MLAs, while the two other MLAs resigned from their posts. In Uttar Pradesh’s Ghosi, Dara Singh Chauhan’s reelection as Samajwadi Party (SP) MLA necessitated bypolls. Chauhan joined the BJP after leaving the SP. The BJP has filed Chauhan against SP’s Sudhakar Singh for the Ghose byelections.

Bye-election in Tripura’s Dhanpur was necessitated after the BJP’s Pratima Bhoumik resigned to retain her Lok Sabha seat, leaving the assembly vacant. Bhoumik’s brother Bindu Debnath will be fighting for the BJP against Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) candidate Kaushik Chanda in Dhanpur for the bypolls.

The BJP and CPI (M) will contest against each other in Tripura’s Boxanagar seat, which fell vacant after the death of CPI (MK) MLA Samsul Haque.

In Uttarakhand’s Bageshwar seat, the battle will be between the SP, Congress, and BJP against each other. A bye-election in Bageshwar was prompted by the death of BJP MLA Chandan Ram Dass.

Congress veteran Oomen Chandy’s death necessitated the bypolls in Kerala’s Puthupally seat. Congress has fielded Oommen Chandy’s son, Chandy Oomen, while the ruling party CPI (M) has fielded Jaick C. Thomas from this constituency.

The by-poll in Jharkhand’s Dumri was necessitated after the death of Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM) MLA Jagarnath Mahto. JMM has filed Mahto’s wife, Bebi Devi, who is representing the India bloc, against NDA’s Yashoda Devu and All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Abdul Rizvi.

In West Bengal’s Dhupguri, the bye-election was necessary after the death of the BJP’s Bishnu Pada Ray. Tapas Ray from the BJP is contesting against Nirma Chandra Roy and CPI (M) candidate Ishwar Chandra Roy. (ANI)

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Manipur DGP

SC Refuses To Stay delimitation Exercise Underway In Assam

By LokMarg

The Supreme Court on Monday refused to stay the ongoing delimitation exercise underway in Assam but agreed to hear a challenge made to it by opposition leaders of the state.

A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra issued notice to the Centre on the plea and asked Centre to file affidavit within three weeks.
Refusing to stay the delimitation process of Election Commission initiated in Assam, the bench said it wouldn’t issue any order restraining poll panel to take any further steps regarding delimitation exercise in the state.

“At this stage when delimitation has commended having due regard to issuance of the draft proposal on June 20, 2023, it would not be proper to interdict the process at this stage. Hence, while reserving the constitutional challenge, we are not issuing any orders restraining the Election Commission to take any further steps”, the apex court stated in its order.

The apex court was hearing a plea filed by ten opposition leaders from Assam challenging the recent draft proposal of the Election Commission of India (ECI) for the delimitation of Assam’s 126 Assembly constituencies and 14 Lok Sabha constituencies.

The petition also challenged Section 8A of the Representation of People Act, 1950 as per which the Election Commission is exercising its power in conducting the delimitation process.

The petitioners filing the petition through advocate advocate Fuzail Ahmad Ayyubi challenged the provision on the grounds of the same being arbitrary and opaque apart from also being discriminatory to the State of Assam.

The petitioners who have filed the petition are Lurinjyoti Gogoi (Assam Jatiya Parishad), Debabrata Saikia (INC), Rokibul Hussain (INC), Akhil Gogoi (Raijor Dal), Manoranjan Talukdar (CPI(M)), Ghanakanta Chutia (Trinamool Congress), Munin Mahanta (CPI), Diganta Konwar (Anchalik Gana Morcha), Mahendra Bhuyan (Nationalist Congress Party), and Swarna Hazarika (Rashtriya Janata Dal).

The petitioners have challenged recent proposals of the ECI readjusting the extent of 126 Assembly and 14 Lok Sabha Constituencies in Assam by a draft order issued on June 20.

The petition challenged the methodology adopted by the ECI by taking different Average Assembly Size for different districts and argues that population density or populous-ness has no role to play in the process of delimitation.

“While the Constitution of India envisages an exercise whereby Constituencies are to be readjusted so as to ensure that all constituencies are comprised of an almost equal population, by relying on 2001 census figures, the Election Commission has created three categories of districts and has taken different yardstick for the three categories resulting in possible deviation of up to 33 per cent between the population of largest and smallest constituency,” the petition stated.

Petition contended that delimitation for the rest of the country has been conducted by a high powered body headed by a retired Supreme Court Judge and the same Commission was formed for Jammu and Kashmir as well.

“However, the provision of Section 8A discriminates against Assam and three North-Eastern States, for which the Election Commission has been prescribed as the authority to conduct delimitation,” it further stated.

The petition has also highlighted certain statements of the Chief Minister of Assam who has publicly stated that the present exercise will be beneficial to one party i.e., BJP while being damaging to other opposition parties.

Such statements, the petition submitted, while do not inspire any confidence in the exercise, also give rise to apprehensions that the ECI exercise has not been independent and has been heavily dictated by the State government, it added.

The apex court is also seized of two PILs regarding the delimitation of four North-Eastern States including Assam.

In December of last year, the Election Commission began the delimitation of Assembly and Parliamentary Constituencies in Assam by using 2001 Census as per Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1950. (ANI)

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Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma

WB Poll Violence: 133 People Sought Refuge In Assam, Says Biswa Sarma

By LokMarg

Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Tuesday said that 133 individuals who feared for their lives sought refuge in Assam’s Dhubri district amid violence in West Bengal during panchayat polls.

“Yesterday, 133 individuals who feared for their lives due to violence in the panchayat election in West Bengal sought refuge in Dhubri District of Assam. We have provided them shelter in a relief camp, food, and medical assistance”, CM Sarma shared in a tweet.

The people have now taken shelter at Ronpagli MV School of Jhapusabari area in Dhubri district, the CM added.

Assam Chief Minister Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma said that the state government has provided them with shelter in a relief camp, as well as food and medical assistance.

West Bengal State Election Commission on Sunday said the Police have confirmed 10 deaths in poll-related violence across the state.

The West Bengal State Election Commission stated that the police confirmed 10 deaths in the poll-related violence on Saturday that broke out in several parts of West Bengal on the day of the Panchayat Polls.

“Police have confirmed 10 deaths in poll-related violence,” said the West Bengal State Election Commission on Panchayat polls.

On Sunday, coming down heavily on the Mamata Banerjee government over the widespread violence during the panchayat elections in West Bengal on Saturday, Union Minister Nishith Pramanik said the single-phased polls were not a festival of the republic but a festival of death.

Multiple incidents of violence earlier on Saturday cast a long shadow on the conduct of the panchayat polls across the state. A person received fatal injuries after being hit by a crude explosive in the Phul Malancha polling booth in South 24 Pargana district.

“The person is feared dead but the same hasn’t been confirmed by the doctors as yet. The crude bomb had struck the victim’s head. He was admitted to Basanti rural hospital (in the South 24 Parganas district),” Dibakar Das, the SDPO, said. (ANI)

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Bengal Governor after meeting Shah

Good Will Happen In Days To Come: Bengal Gov After Meeting Shah

By LokMarg

The darkest hour is just before dawn, good will happen in the days to come, said West Bengal Governor CV Ananda Bose on Monday following his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah here in the national capital.

The meeting is significant as it was scheduled just two days after the violence in West Bengal Panchayat elections which has claimed over a dozen lives in the state.
Bose met with the Home Minister at his North Block office in the national capital. The meeting lasted for nearly 30 minutes.

“The darkest hour is just before dawn. There will be light at the end of the tunnel. The only message I could get today is -if winter comes can spring be far behind? Good will happen in the days to come,” said West Bengal Governor after his meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Bose didn’t speak about the violence in West Bengal during the Panchayat polls on Saturday. Several incidents of violence were reported during the Panchayat polls in Bengal on Saturday. Repolling took place at 697 booths across five districts of the state on Monday.

The State Election Commission on Sunday said that police have confirmed 10 deaths in poll-related violence.

There were reports of booth capturing, damage to ballot boxes and assault of presiding officers from several districts such as Murshidabad, Cooch Behar, Malda, South 24 Parganas, North Dinajpur and Nadia.

Counting of votes will start at 8 am on Juy 11. All counting centres will have a deployment of Central forces and CCTV cameras installed.

To conduct a fair, safe and impartial election for 3317 Gram Panchayats, 341 Panchayat Samitis and 20 Zila Parishads in West Bengal on Saturday, security forces from the Centre, as well as the state, were deployed on all 61,636 polling booths.

The state Election Commission had set up a total of 61,636 polling booths across West Bengal to conduct the election.

A total of 59,000 personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) and other State Armed Police (SAP) forces have been deployed at sensitive polling booths and the rest of the troops of CAPF and SAP along with local State Police were given the responsibility of security at the remaining polling booths.

Amid the polling on Saturday in the state, several incidents of violence were reported despite the security arrangements.

Several other incidents of ballot box and ballot paper looting and destruction were reported on Saturday from numerous polling booths in the state.

The repolling in West Bengal concluded today to choose representatives for nearly 928 seats across 22 Zilla Parishads, 9,730 Panchayat Samiti, and 63,239 Gram Panchayat seats.

The number of village Panchayat Election centres is 58,594. There are 63,239 seats at the Gram Panchayat level, 9730 at Panchayat Samiti and 928 at the Zila Parishad level.

In 2018, the Trinamool Congress (TMC) won uncontested, 34 per cent of the seats in panchayat elections, which also saw various instances of violence. Trinamool Congress has won many seats uncontestedly in the 2023 elections as well.

Following the violence, a war of words escalated between Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the ruling Trinamool Congress.(ANI)

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Pawar EC Staking

Pawar Moves EC Staking Claim To NCP, Party Symbol

By LokMarg

Election Commission has received a petition from Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar staking claim to Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the party symbol, sources said.

The sources said the Election Commission has also received a caveat from Jayant Patil, who is with the Sharad Pawar group. He also informed the panel that they have initiated a disqualification process against nine MLAs who joined the Eknath Shinde-BJP government in the state on Sunday.
The sources said action will be taken by the poll panel as per the extant legal framework.

They said ECI had received a petition under Para 15 of the Symbols Order, 1968 from Ajit Pawar on June 30, 2023 followed by 40 odd affidavits of MPs/MLAs/MLCs dated June 30 (received in Commission on July 5).

The sources said the poll panel also received a resolution unanimously electing Ajit Pawar as NCP president.

They said the poll panel has received an email, dated July 3, from Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant R. Patil, filing a caveat.

“The Commission has also received a letter dated on July 3 from Jayant Patil informing that disqualification proceeding has been filed before the competent authority for disqualification of nine members of Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” a source said.

The crisis in Nationalist Congress Party escalated on Wednesday with the two groups holding simultaneous meetings in a show of strength.

The NCP led by Sharad Pawar held a meeting of its members at YB Chavan Auditorium in Mumbai while Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was at a meeting of NCP MPs, MLAs, MLCs, district heads and state delegates at Mumbai Education Trust (MET) Bandra.

The parallel meetings came after the two factions announced crucial appointments to assert their control over the party.

The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar has taken affidavits from party workers to show their allegiance at MET Bandra.

Sharad Pawar loyalists raised slogans in his support at YB Chavan Centre.

The crisis in Nationalist Congress Party was triggered by Ajit Pawar switching sides on Sunday and joining the Eknath Shinde-BJP government as Deputy Chief Minister. Eighth other NCP MLAs took oath on Sunday with Pawar as ministers.

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar has moved a disqualification petition against the nine MLAs to Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar.

Apart from Ajit Pawar, Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Patil, Hasan Mushrif, Dhananjay Mundo, Dharmaraobaba Atram, Aditi Tatkare, Sanjay Bansode and Anil Patil joined Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis Maharashtra government as ministers on Sunday.

Sharad Pawar has removed Praful Patel, who was his close aide, and Sunil Tatkare from the party for “anti-party activities”.

“Your actions of supporting Ajit Pawar and the eight other MLAs, who have sworn oath as Ministers in violation of the party’s direction and mandate, ex-facie amount to anti-party activities and that you deemed to have voluntarily left the membership of Nationalist Congress Party,” Pawar said in a communication which was also sent to the two party MPs.

“I formally remove your names from the Membership Register of the Party in view of your actions of voluntarily giving up membership of the Nationalist Congress Party,” it said.

The communication said the action of MPs, “in a surreptitious manner, without the knowledge or consent of the party president, amounts to the desertion of the party, which in turn invites disqualification from primary membership”.

Praful Patel, a Rajya Sabha MP, has been a close associate of Pawar and was appointed working president of NCP last month. He was a minister in the Congress-led UPA government along with Pawar. (ANI)

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Elections In Pakistan

Elections In Pak Less Likely After Anti-Terror Ops Announced

By LokMarg

Amid a debate in political circles over the conduct of elections in Punjab in mid-May, the top civil and military leadership on Friday vowed to re-launch the National Action Plan (NAP) within 15 days to crush militants, Dawn reported.

Without directly blaming the previous PTI government for the resurgence of terrorism in tribal districts along the border with Afghanistan, top civil and military leadership agreed to initiate new multi-pronged and comprehensive operations and combined efforts on the diplomatic, security, economic and social fronts for the elimination of terrorism in all its forms and manifestations.
A committee formed for the purpose would present its recommendations within two weeks to implement the policy and draw its parameters, Dawn reported.

The decisions were made at the National Security Committee (NSC) meeting, presided over by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) Gen Sahir Shamshad Mirza, Chief of Army Staff Gen Asim Munir, Air Chief Marshal Zaheer Ahmad Baber, Naval Chief Admiral Muhammad Amjad Khan Niazi, chief ministers of four provinces and federal cabinet members attended the meeting.

The NSC’s decision to launch a massive operation may further shrink the chances of elections in Punjab, two days after the government had categorically refused to implement the court order regarding May 14 polls, Dawn reported.

Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb, while talking to Dawn, said that holding elections in Punjab was not on the agenda of the NSC meeting and that’s why the issue was not discussed in the civil and military leadership’s huddle. She, however, confirmed that a fresh NAP-like operation against militancy would start within 15 days.

Earlier, two similar plans had been launched in the country, one in 2002 and the second in 2014, Dawn reported.

An official press release issued by the PM Office said, “NSC approved a multi-pronged comprehensive operation with the support of the government and the nation to eradicate the menace of terrorism from the country with a new resolve, determination and valor”.

“The committee proclaimed that the recent wave of terrorism was the result of the soft corner and the absence of a well-thought-out policy against the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), which was declared a terrorist organization but against the public expectations and wishes, under the previous policy terrorists were allowed to return without any hindrance. In the name of confidence building, dangerous terrorists of the TTP were released from jails,” Dawn reported.

“It was noted that due to the return of the dangerous terrorists and support of different terrorist organisations to them from Afghanistan, peace and stability, which was the result of innumerable sacrifices and continuous efforts, was affected,” the official announcement said. (ANI)

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Ban On Kichcha's Movies

Karnataka: JD(S) Seeks Ban On Kichcha’s Movies

By LokMarg

Janata Dal (Secular) on Friday wrote to the Election Commission, seeking a ban on the screening and telecast of movies, shows and commercials featuring the Kannada superstar Kichcha Sudeep, claiming they might influence voters in upcoming Assembly elections.

On Wednesday, Sudeep confirmed he would campaign for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Speculations were rife about Sudeep and fellow bigscreen star Darshan Tugudeepa joining the BJP. However, the former clarified that he would only campaign for “his friends” in the BJP as opposed to joining the party and would also not contest the May 10 Assembly polls.

The superstar was in media spotlight for the better part of Wednesday amid speculations of his joining the ruling party.

Addressing a joint press conference with Karnataka Chief Minister Basavraj Bommai on Wednesday, Sudeep said, “I had no need to come here, and I an not here for any platform or money. I have here only for a person. I have high regard for CM Mama (Bommai). That’s why I am announcing my full support to Bommai sir”.

On whether he believes in the BJP’s ideology, Sudeep said, “As a citizen, I totally respect certain decisions PM Modi has taken, but that’s my perspective. But that has got nothing to do with me sitting here today.”

CM Bommai said further Sudeep doesn’t belong to any political party.

Reacting to the superstar’s statement on Wednesday, South star Prakash Raj said, “I am shocked and hurt by Kichha Sudeep’s statement.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, a lawyer based in Shivamogga, K P Sripal, wrote to the Election Commission, asking it to ban the screening and telecasting of movies, shows, and commercials featuring the superstar Kannada superstar Kichcha Sudeep till the declaration of results of Assembly polls.

The polling for the Karnataka Assembly is scheduled to be held on May 10 and the counting of votes will take place on May 13. (ANI)

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