Eci

SC refers plea on including political parties under POSH Act to ECI

The Supreme Court on Monday disposed of a plea seeking direction to political parties to follow the procedure for protection of women at workplace under the 2013 POSH Act. A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Manmohan asked the petitioner to approach the Election Commission of India (ECI) with a representation for the application of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 (POSH Act). Senior advocate Shobha Gupta, representing PIL petitioner Yogamaya MG, said there were six national parties in the country that did not have a grievance redressal mechanism against sexual harassment in line with the directions of the apex court and the 2013 law. The PIL arrayed 10 political parties including six national level parties -- BJP, Congress, BSP, CPI(M), National People's Party and AAP. The bench, however, observed political parties were registered under the Representation of Peoples Act and the competent authority under the law should be E

If goal is to strip itself of neutrality, EC is doing remarkable job: Cong

The Congress on Friday hit out at the Election Commission after it rejected allegations over irregularities in the Haryana assembly polls, saying if the poll panel's goal is to "strip itself of the last vestiges of neutrality", then it is doing a "remarkable job" at creating that impression. The opposition party claimed that the EC's reply was written in a tone that is condescending and warned that if the poll panel persists with such language then it would have no choice but to seek legal recourse to expunge such remarks. The Congress's response came days after the EC rejected allegations levelled by it over irregularities in the just-held assembly polls, saying the party was raising "the smoke of a generic doubt" about the credibility of an entire electoral outcome like it did in the past. In its letter to the EC signed by nine senior Congress leaders, including general secretary in-charge communications Jairam Ramesh, the party said, "We have carefully studied your response to ou

SC notices ECI after plea claims RP Act provision prevents choosing NOTA

The Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from the Centre and Election Commission of India (ECI) on a plea challenging a provision of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, claiming it prevents voters from choosing the "none of the above" (NOTA) option if there was only one candidate. The plea, which came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan, challenged Section 53 (2) of the Act. Section 53 deals with procedure in contested and uncontested elections and Section 53 (2) says if the number of contesting candidates is equal to the number of seats to be filled, the returning officer shall forthwith declare all such candidates to be duly elected to fill those seats. The apex court issued notices to the Centre and the ECI seeking their responses on the petition. Senior advocate Arvind Datar along with advocate Harsh Parashar appeared for petitioner legal think-tank Vidhi Centre for Legal Policy. The plea further sought that Rule 11 read with Forms

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'Ill-founded': ECI refutes Congress's claim of delay in Haryana results

Haryana Assembly elections: The Congress had alleged that the Election Commission is delaying the uploading of current vote counting trends for the Haryana Assembly elections on its website

Assembly election result: Counting of votes in J-K, Haryana to begin soon

Media centres have been set up at the counting centres for the press to access the latest updates. Only authorized personnel would be allowed entry into the counting centres.

ECI gives aggrieved candidates choice on how they want to check EVM

Aggrieved candidates, who have applied for Supreme Court-directed checking of EVMs for tampering post Lok Sabha and assembly results, have been given various choices by the Election Commission, including picking machines from any polling station in an assembly segment and opting for a mock poll and mock VVPAT slip count. According to standard operating procedure issued on Tuesday by the Election Commission, the candidates who came number two and three have been given a vast number of random tests to choose from. The Election Commission said that by going beyond controlled environment check and verification process of burnt memory eliminates the possibility or apprehension of any bias or hidden functionality in the firmware. The Election Commission has received eight applications from aggrieved candidates, including those from the BJP and the Congress, for verification of tampering or modification in micro-controller chips embedded in the EVMs post declaration of the Lok Sabha electi

Ensure full transparency of EVMs or abolish them: Rahul Gandhi to EC

Raising questions on the reliability of EVMs, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Monday asked the Election Commission to ensure complete transparency of the machines and processes or abolish them. The demand came a day after the Congress leader had alleged that the electronic voting machine is a "black box" and nobody is allowed to scrutinise them while further alleging that serious concerns are being raised about transparency in our electoral process. "When democratic institutions are captured, the only safeguard lies in electoral processes that are transparent to the public," Gandhi said in a post on X. "EVM is currently a black box. EC must either ensure complete transparency of the machines and processes or abolish them," the former Congress president also said. Another Congress leader Gaurav Gogoi said, "Before treating the Electronic Voting Machines as infallible, the Election Commission of India should put out data on how many Electronic Voting Machines were found faulty ...

INDIA bloc, BJP flag demands to ECI ahead of vote counting | Lok Sabha Election | Election Results

Lok Sabha elections: What is Form 17C that EC has refused to make public

The ECI's decision has sparked controversy, especially amidst concerns over delays in releasing final voter turnout data and discrepancies between provisional and final figures

ECI seizes nearly Rs 9,000 crore during Lok Sabha Polls | Lok Sabha Elections 2024

EC seeks response from PM Modi, Rahul on allegations of hate speech

'Political parties will have to take primary responsibility for the conduct of their candidates, especially star campaigners,' says EC

ECI warns Tripura BJP candidate for calling CPI(M) party of murderers'

The Election Commission of India has warned BJP candidate Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency, Kriti Devi Debbarman, for violating the model code of conduct by branding the opposition CPI(M) a party of murderers. The CPI(M) on Wednesday lodged a complaint against her with Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar in this regard. The video footage of the speech also corroborated that the (BJP) candidate has made the speech against which the complaint was made, said Saju Vaheed, Returning Officer of the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat. Based on the available evidence, it is convinced that the statement was made in violation of the model code of conduct, he said in a statement. Smt Kriti Devi Debbarman is hereby warned to abstain from making such statements in future which violates the MCC. Otherwise, appropriate action will be taken as per the provisions of MCC the returning officer said. Debbarman, a member of the erstwhile royal family of Tripura, is the sister of Pradyot Debbarma, the

Lok Sabha polls: Not even 40% of 18 or 19-year-olds registered to vote

According to the Election Commission data, less than 40 per cent of the voters between 18-and-19-years-old have registered for the 2024 elections across the country

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

BJP writes to EC, seeks 'stringent action' against Rahul over EVM remark

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi had accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of engaging in 'match-fixing' in the Lok Sabha election

Election Commission publishes electoral bond data with matching numbers

The 552 page list of parties that redeemed these bonds is of the duration April 12, 2019 to January 24, 2024. The EC said it has uploaded the data received from the SBI on "as is where is basis"

SBI submits all electoral bond details, including unique numbers, to ECI

The unique numbers would match the buyers and the recipient political parties of the electoral bonds

LS polls: Gujarat govt appoints new home secretary following ECI order

Indian Administrative Service official AK Rakesh was on Monday appointed as additional chief secretary of the home department in Gujarat following an order of the Election Commission of India. Earlier in the day, seeking to ensure a level-playing field in the Lok Sabha elections, the ECI ordered the removal of the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Rakesh, a 1989 batch IAS official, will replace Pankaj Joshi, as per a Gujarat government order. "AK Rakesh, Additional Chief Secretary to Government Agriculture, Farmers Welfare and Co-operation Department, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar would hold the additional charge of Additional Chief Secretary to Government, Home Department, Sachivalaya, Gandhinagar until further orders relieving Pankaj Joshi, IAS of additional charge of the post," the state government order said. The ECI order had noted that the home secretaries of Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh ..

ECI moves SC seeking modification of March 11 order; hearing on Friday

The five-judge bench on Monday asked the Election Commission of India to publish the details of the information supplied to the court in pursuance of its interim order, on the commission's website