Lok Sabha Elections

Meta's Zuckerberg to face Parliamentary summons over India elections remark

BJP MP Nishikant Dubey accused CEO Mark Zuckerberg of spreading misinformation through his earlier comments on the 2024 Indian general election

I&B minister Vaishnaw fact-checks Zuckerberg on Lok Sabha poll results

Union minister Ashwini Vaishnaw hit back at Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg on Monday for making a "factually incorrect" statement that the incumbent government in India lost the election in 2024 due to its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Zuckerberg, chairman and CEO of Meta Platforms, triggered a row by claiming in a podcast interview that the Indian government lost the election in 2024 due to its weak COVID-19 response. Vaishnaw opted for Meta's Facebook platform to call out Zuckerberg for spreading "misinformation". "It is disappointing to see misinformation from Mr Zuckerberg himself. Let's uphold facts and credibility," the Union information and broadcasting minister said, tagging Meta on X and other social media platforms. "From free food for 800 million, 2.2 billion free vaccines, and aid to nations worldwide during COVID, to leading India as the fastest-growing major economy, PM Modi's decisive 3rd-term victory is a testament to good governance and public trust," he ...

Rift within INDIA bloc even during 2024 Lok Sabha elections: Arjun Meghwal

Union Minister further hit out at the AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal over Sheesh Mahal stating that he has been exposed

As India nears 1 bn electors, it seeks solutions to freebies, black money

Estimates of election related expenditure of political parties and candidates, and EC's seizures, reveal barely the tip of the total election spends of candidates and political parties

From memes to AI: How digital tools reshaped India's 2024 general elections

The general election in 2024 saw artificial intelligence tech and social media transform campaigns, with tech-driven messaging, thereby sparking debates on misinformation and electoral integrity

From India to US: Key lessons from elections held in 70 countries in 2024

When voters around the globe had their say in 2024, their message was often: You're fired. Some 70 countries that are home to half the world's population held elections this year, and in many incumbents were punished. From India and the United States to Japan, France and Britain, voters tired of economic disruption and global instability rejected sitting governments and sometimes turned to disruptive outsiders. The rocky democratic landscape just seemed to get bumpier as a dramatic year careened toward its end, with mass protests in Mozambique and Georgia, an election annulled in Romania and an attempt to impose martial law in South Korea. Cas Mudde, a professor of international affairs at the University of Georgia who studies extremism and democracy, summed up 2024 in Prospect magazine as a great year for the far right, a terrible year for incumbents and a troublesome year for democracy around the world. Incumbents battered One message sent by voters in 2024: They're fed ...

Overseas Indian voters show poor participation in 2024 LS polls: EC data

Overseas Indians showed great enthusiasm in registering as electors, with nearly 1.2 lakh enrolling in the voter list, but a minuscule turned up to exercise their franchise in the Lok Sabha elections this year. According to the data released by the Election Commission, as many as 1,19,374 registered as overseas electors in 2024, with Kerala witnessing the highest registrations at 89,839. In 2019, as many as 99,844 had registered as overseas electors. The poll authority said only 2,958 overseas electors flew down to India to participate in the largest democratic exercise in the world. Of these, an overwhelming 2,670 were from Kerala alone. Several large states such as Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh, and Tamil Nadu saw zero turnout of overseas electors. Gujarat, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's home state, saw only two out of 885 overseas electors casting their votes in the Lok Sabha elections. The same was the story in Maharashtra, where only 17 of the 5,097 NRI electors voted. Despite an

One-third of Lok Sabha MPs elected with 30% or fewer votes in 2024: ECI

Party wise, BJP received a total of 23.59 crore votes, Congress secured a total of 13.67 crore votes, and Samajwadi Party received 2.95 crore votes in the 2024 General Election

28% of Lok Sabha seats had no woman candidate in 2024, shows ECI report

The highlight of the 2024 LS election was again the better turnout of woman electors in percentage terms than men

EC data on LS polls: Women outshine men again in exercising franchise

As many as 64.64 crore voters exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year with women voters outnumbering men, according to statistical data released by the Election Commission on Thursday. The female voter turnout stood at 65.78 per cent as compared to 65.55 per cent for male electors, the EC said. EC functionaries asserted that such granular data is not shared by any of the election management bodies in democracies across the world. The data on Lok Sabha polls, 2024 and four assembly elections -- Andhra Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh -- held alongside parliamentary polls comes against the backdrop of allegations of non-disclosure by the EC. "This suo motu initiative is to enhance the public trust that constitutes the underpinning of India's electoral system," the EC said. Referring to women participation in the polls, EC said the number of female contesting candidates was 800, compared to 726 in 2019. Maharashtra had the highest number

86% of 8,300 candidates who contested LS polls lost deposit: EC report

As many as 86 per cent of the over 8,300 candidates who contested the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year lost their deposits. According to the statistical data issued by the Election Commission on Thursday, a total of 12,459 nominations were filed in 2024, compared to 11,692 in 2019. Out of the over 12,000 who filed nominations, 8,360 qualified as contesting candidates after rejection of nominations and withdrawals across the country. The number of contesting candidates in 2019 Lok Sabha elections was 8,054. According to the data, 7,190 of the candidates lost their deposits, which comes to 86 per cent. Of the 7,190 who lost their deposit, 584 were from the six recognised parties, 68 from recognised state parties, 2,633 from registered, unrecognised political parties and 3,095 independent candidates. In 2019 Lok Sabha polls, 6923 candidates had lost deposit. A total of 3921 independent candidates had contested but only seven were elected. The vote share in percentage terms po

ECI releases world's largest electoral dataset for 2024 LS & Assembly polls

As per the data, Lok Sabha Elections created world record with 646.4 mn voters exercising their franchise

Politics in 2024: Lotus blooms in North; South witnesses a 'son' rise

The year 2024 not just reshaped the Indian politics, but also forced the political thinkers to come up with new explanations to describe the electoral behaviour

Bill on simultaneous polls listed for introduction in LS on Tuesday

A constitutional amendment bill for holding Lok Sabha and assembly elections simultaneously has been listed for introduction in the Lower House of Parliament on Tuesday and could be referred to a joint committee of the two Houses. The Lok Sabha agenda said the Constitution (One Hundred and Twenty-Ninth Amendment) Bill, 2024, popularly being referred to as the Bill on "one nation, one election", will be introduced by Union Law Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal. After its introduction, Meghwal will request Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla to refer the Bill to a Joint Committee of Parliament for wider consultations. The minister will also introduce the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2024, which seeks to align the elections of the union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, Puducherry and the NCT of Delhi. The joint panel will be constituted on a pro-rata basis, based on the strength of MPs of various parties. As the largest party, the BJP will get the chairmanship of the committee, besides

Cabinet passes 'One Nation, One Election' Bill; to be tabled in Parliament

Government to introduce three bills, including two constitutional amendments

SC dismisses petition for reverting to ballot paper voting in elections

The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition seeking to revert to ballot paper voting in elections in the country. "What happens is, when you win the election, EVMs (electronic voting machine) are not tampered. When you lose the election, EVMs are tampered (with)," remarked a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and P B Varale. Apart from ballot paper voting, the plea sought several directions including a directive to the Election Commission to disqualify candidates for a minimum of five years if found guilty of distributing money, liquor or other material inducement to the voters during polls. When petitioner-in-person K A Paul said he filed the PIL, the bench said, "You have interesting PILs. How do you get these brilliant ideas?". The petitioner said he is the president of an organisation which has rescued over three lakh orphans and 40 lakh widows. "Why are you getting into this political arena? Your area of work is very different," the bench retorted. After Paul revealed he ha

Elon Musk slams delay in California vote count, praises India's poll system

Donald Trump won a second term as President of the United States after securing 295 electoral votes in the 2024 presidential election, defeating Democratic rival Kamala Harris, who garnered 226 votes

Wayanad bypolls: Priyanka Gandhi wins by over 400k votes in electoral debut

Priyanka Gandhi is up against Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Satyan Mokeri and Navya Haridas of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

SP will become Samaptwadi Party: Maurya taunts as BJP leads in UP bypolls

Bharatiya Janata Party leads in 4-5 out of the 9 Lok Sabha seats that went to bypolls in Uttar Pradesh

Can 'poll of polls' accurately predict election outcomes? May be not

'Poll of polls' has gained popularity for its ability to consolidate information and engage public interest during election times. But what do they actually reveal about voter choice? Let's find out