News Analysis India

Tag: Election Commission

  • Election Commission releases final electoral roll ahead of West Bengal Assembly elections 2021

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday released the final electoral roll for 2021 Assembly elections in West Bengal with the inclusion of 20.5 lakh new electorates comprising 2.68 first-time voters aged between 18 and 19.

    According to the November draft roll, the total number of voters in the state was 7,18,49,307 but after the final voter-list was released –  the number stood at 8,32,94,960.

     Among the total electorates, 3,63,7,307 are male, 3,59,26,064 are female and 1,590 are third gender voters. The total number of voters in Bengal increased by 2 per cent comparing to the previous final electoral roll.    

    However, the ECI said that so far, if anyone wants to add their name to the voter list or correct the name and anything can be done offline and online.  “This name attachment can be done till the day before the notification in the respective area,” said an EC official.  As usual, the final voter list was released on January 15, but the full bench of the ECI is likely to visit Bengal at the end of this month.

    According to the Election Commission, people will not have to suffer in the scorching heat of summer this time as the upcoming Assembly elections in the state will be held much earlier.

    The ECI may announce the election schedule in mid-February, keeping in mind the Covid-19 pandemic situation.

    Sources said that right now it is not possible to say the number of phases but there is no doubt that the number will increase in this Bengal election.

  • EC nod to use its data for COVID vaccination drive; wants data to be deleted after exercise is over

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Election Commission will extend “full assistance” to the government in identifying targeted beneficiaries at the polling station level for the COVID-19 vaccination drive, but wants health authorities to delete the data once the inoculation exercise is over, sources privy to the development said on Friday.

    On December 31 last year, Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla wrote to Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora requesting the commission’s help in identifying people above 50 years of age at the polling station level, the sources said.

    On the issue of data security, the home secretary wrote that the government is complying with the current best practices for ensuring cybersecurity.

    He has assured the poll panel that the data will be used only for the purpose of vaccination, the sources said.

    The Election Commission (EC), after detailed deliberations, wrote back to the home secretary on January 4, saying it has decided to render “full assistance” in the vaccination drive.

    But asked the government to ensure that the data is strictly used for the limited purpose for which it has been sought, the sources said.

    The commission also said that the data should be deleted by health authorities once the vaccination exercise concludes, they said.

    Some senior EC officials will be in touch with nodal officers of the Union home ministry and the Union health ministry to settle day-to-day issues, the sources said.

    Last month, officials of the Union health ministry and the Niti Aayog had met the EC top brass seeking their help in the distribution of COVID-19 vaccine given the poll panel’s robust network at the booth level.

    The letter by the home secretary is a follow up to the meeting, the sources said.

    According to guidelines for the COVID-19 vaccination drive, the latest electoral roll for Lok Sabha and assembly elections will be used to identify the priority population over the age of 50 years.

    Twelve identity documents, such as Voter ID, Aadhaar card, driving licence, passport and pension document, will be required for beneficiary identification.

    According to the government, the shots will be offered first to an estimated one crore healthcare workers, and around two crore frontline workers, and then to persons above 50 years of age, followed by persons younger than 50 years of age with associated comorbidities.

    Cost of vaccination of healthcare and frontline workers will be borne by the central government.

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi will launch India’s COVID-19 vaccination drive on January 16 via video conference.

    The Drugs Controller General of India had recently approved Oxford COVID-19 vaccine Covishield, manufactured by the Serum Institute, and indigenously developed Covaxin of Bharat Biotech for restricted emergency use in the country, paving the way for a massive inoculation drive.

  • Full bench of Election Commission to visit West Bengal by end of January

    By Express News Service
    KOLKATA: The full bench of the Election Commission of India (ECI) is likely to visit Bengal at the end of this month, sources in the commission said. The ECI will hold a meeting with the superintendents of police, district magistrates, the Chief Secretary and the home secretary.

    The final voting schedule would be announced by the commission in February, said an ECI official.

    Deputy Election Commissioner Sudip Jain held two rounds of meetings with the DMs and the SPs of all the districts on Wednesday and another meeting with chief secretary Alapan Bandopadhyay, home secretary HK Dwivedi and health secretary Vivek Kumar.

    “In Wednesday’s meeting, Jain indicated that the state assembly elections would end in April by announcing the voting dates in February.  He also instructed the administrative officials to swing into action to organise the elections from now on.  Besides, he reminded that no chaos and negligence will be tolerated.  The SPs and other bureaucrats have been told the commission would remove any officer from his or her post if dereliction of duty is found. The commission will take all possible steps to hold peaceful elections in the state,’’ said an official.

    As the CBSE board exams are scheduled to be held in May, Jain told the Bengal administrative officials that the commission wanted to complete the election process in Kerala, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry and West Bengal by the last week of April.  Expressing concern over the alleged law and order situation in the state, he directed the police superintendents to execute the non-bailable arrest warrants as soon as possible. 

    “Besides, the deputy election commissioner has asked the administrative officials to report to the commission every week on the law and order situation,” said the official.

    This time at least 25 percent booths are going to increase in the state.  In terms of numbers, that would be close to 26,000.  This is a big challenge for the commission and the state administration.

  • Election Commission issues notification for biennial elections to 12 UP legislative council seats

    By PTI
    LUCKNOW: The Election Commission of India on Monday issued a notification for the biennial election to 12 legislative council seats in Uttar Pradesh, which will fall vacant later this month.

    The MLCs whose terms are ending include UP Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, Chairman of UP Legislative Council Ramesh Yadav, and UP BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh.

    The 12 seats in the UP legislative council will get vacant on January 30 as the term of the members is coming to an end, UP’s Chief Electoral Officer A K Shukla said.

    Polling will be held on January 28 and counting of votes will be done one hour after the completion of polls as per established practice.

    Nominations for the biennial polls can be filed till January 18 and scrutiny of the same will be held on January 19.

    The withdrawal of names can be done till January 21.

    Of the 12 MLCs whose tenure is expiring, six are from the Samajwadi Party (SP)–Ramesh Yadav, Ahmed Hasan, Ashu Malik, Sahab Singh Saini, Ramjatan Rajbhar and Virendra Singh.

    Deputy Chief Minister Dinesh Sharma, UP party chief Swatantra Dev Singh and Laxman Acharya are from the BJP.

    The tenure of BSP’s Pradeep Jatav and Dharamveer Ashok is also coming to an end.

    The term of Naseemudin Siddiqui, who left the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and joined the Congress, is also coming to an end.

    The poll panel had earlier issued guidelines to be followed during the entire election process.

    These guidelines state that every person shall wear a face mask during all election-related activities.

    At the entry of hall/room/premises used for election purposes, thermal scanning of all persons shall be carried out, and sanitiser made available at all locations.

    Social distancing shall be maintained as per the extant COVID-19 guidelines of the state government and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

    The chief secretary of Uttar Pradesh has been directed to depute a senior officer from the state to ensure that the extant instructions regarding COVID-19 containment measures are complied with while making arrangements for conducting the election, the Election Commission added.

  • Don’t deploy officials charged with lapses in previous elections: EC to poll-bound states

    The advisory, sent last month, said any officer, who is due to retire within the coming six months, should not be associated with any election-related duty.

  • Polls to 12 Uttar Pradesh legislative council seats to be held on January 28: EC

    Twelve seats in the UP legislative council are getting vacant on January 30 as the term of the members is coming to an end.

  • Article :- Shivaraaj Sarakaar ko Gherane ke lie Kamalanaath Ne Tveet Kee Pharjee Tasveer

    With elections coming closer, the Congress Party has begun to release Fake News. Congress, who lost its hold in the voters, feels that by lying, it will succeed in making its entry among the common people. In this endeavor, the name of Congress leader Kamal Nath has also been added to the people who spread the news on social media. Share this from the official Twitter handle of Madhya Pradesh Congress President, this photo tried to defame Shivraj Singh Chauhan
    Former union minister and state Congress chief Kamal Nath tweeted a fake picture on social media surrounding the Shivraj Sarkar of Madhya Pradesh. In fact, Kamal Nath, trying to surround the chief minister Shivraj Singh by sharing photos on Twitter. They tweeted a picture of Bangladesh for Madhya Pradesh. However, after this tweet, he got badly hit on social media.
    Kamal Nath wrote on Twitter, “In the reign of Mama ji, corrupt paths have started to flutter, and make a good velvety road from Washington to watch the clock. In front of the BJP, all records of corruption are laughed; It’s good. Epic_h__change
    Jharkhadhghadbahaddhaghahhridhahlh
    In the reign of Mama ji, the corrupt path has started,
    And take a good velvety road from Washington to watch
    In front of Bhajpa all records of corruption are shameful,
    Due to the so-called development going to the maternal uncle, they are taken together.
    It’s good. It’s time to change
    8:51 AM – Hrishal 15, 2018
    There has been controversy over Kamal Nath’s tweet about the sadness of the roads. Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan told the picture shown with tweet Bangladesh. Kamal Nath posted a picture with his tweet. Responding to this, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan tweeted this as a road to Bangladesh. Shivraj tweeted, “Initiatives Digvijay ji brought the bridge of Pakistan to Bhopal and now Kamal Nath Ji brought Bangladesh’s road to Madhya Pradesh.”
    In fact, the photo that Kamal Nath has tweeted is two years old and it has nothing to do with Madhya Pradesh. A man from Bangladesh tweeted the picture two years ago saying that.

    What our congressmen say!
    Initiatives Digvijay ji brought the bridge of Pakistan to Bhopal, and now Kamal Nath ji brought the road of Bangladesh to Madhya Pradesh.

    This is not the first sentence, even before this, the Congress party and its leaders have been spreading lies and confusion in this way. Put a look-
    Last week, there was a sudden flood of ‘Fake News’. Concerned over the cleanliness of Ganga, the Congress party tweeted some pictures of the UPA regime as the latest to defame the Modi government, but people opened the Congress poll.
    Social media head of Congress caught in spreading news
    Last month, Congress Social Media Head Divya Vandana ‘Ramya’ was caught red handed spreading news about Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Divya Spandana wrote a tweet saying, “It is difficult to find a video, it is an interview of 1998 in which the sahib is saying himself, I am studying till high school, but today Sahib has a graduation degree which he did in 1979 !! ”
    Congress Social Media Head edited the interview and tried to mislead the people by misrepresenting them. Divya claimed that Prime Minister Modi’s only high school is in his tweet, but if you see the whole conversation of Prime Minister Modi with Congress leader Rajiv Shukla, you will know the truth. In the original video, the Prime Minister says that BA and MA have completed the External Exams (Correspondence Course).

    Conspiracy to defame Election Commission through fake voter list
    In Madhya Pradesh, the BJP government attacked and attacked the Congress party also target the Election Commission. On the instructions of party president Rahul Gandhi, Congress leader Kamal Nath filed a petition against the Election Commission in the Supreme Court on the basis of fake voter list in Madhya Pradesh. During the hearing in the Supreme Court, the Election Commission objected to the list of voters list submitted by Congress leader Kamal Nath. The Election Commission has said that Congress has made a conspiracy to defame the Election Commission by presenting fake voter lists on behalf of the leader. The Election Commission has demanded action under Kamal Nath 193 (punishment for wrongful evidence) for defamation by false documents.

    Wrote false news spread by Congress!
    Big newspapers and websites are also publishing these reports without scrutinizing the facts. Surprisingly, Rahul Gandhi’s Congress party is also engaged in spreading news of loudly. Congress is fighting with facts for attacking the Modi government. Trying to spread confusion among the people through Congress’s Twitter handle and Navjivan website is being tried.
    When the Central Government accepted in the Rajya Sabha that the public sector banks from the financial year 2014-15 to September 2017, 2.41