The Election Commission of India announced that by-elections to fill up six Assembly seats in five States will be held. In Kharsawan, by-elections will be held on on February 10, the notification being issues on January 17th and counting of votes on February 17th. In Chhattisgarh , Gujarat , Manipur and Madhya Pradesh, the election is scheduled for February 14 and the notification will be issued on January 21, reports The Hindu.
NEW DELHI: The Election Commission on Wednesday announced by-elections to fill up six Assembly seats in five States.
In the Kharsawan (ST) constituency in Jharkhand, the poll will be held on February 10 and the notification will be issued on January 17. The counting of votes will be on February 17.
In Chhattisgarh (Sanjari Balod constituency), Gujarat (Khadia), Manipur (Konthoujam) and Madhya Pradesh (Kukshi-ST and Sonkatch-SC), the election is scheduled for February 14 and the notification will be issued on January 21. The counting of votes will take place on February 17.
Regarding Jharkhand, the EC said the State government conveyed to the Commission that Chief Minister Arjun Munda, who assumed office on September 11, 2010, due to constitutional requirement had to become a member of the Legislative Assembly on or before March 10, 2011.
Showing posts with label Election commission. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Election commission. Show all posts
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Election commission can't control paid news during elections: SY Qureshi
Chief election commissioner of India SY Quraishi said that the commission cannot control paid news during the elections."Our role comes in picture only when the candidate exceeds the expenditure ceiling. We cannot question the media, our powers extend only to candidates," he said. He added that a special body should be formed covering all media, reports Daily News And Analysis.
Read the whole article here:
Chief election commissioner of India SY Quraishi today said the commission cannot control media players indulging in paid news practices during the elections.
"Our role comes in picture only when the candidate exceeds the expenditure ceiling. We cannot question the media, our powers extend only to candidates," Quraishi told reporters here.
He said it is for the Press Council of India (PCI) to set guidelines for the media.
When pointed out that the electronic media is out of PCI's ambit, Quraishi said there is a lacunae and a special body needs to be formed covering all the media.
The chief election commissioner said the paid news issue extends beyond the election period.
"Paid news and money power are a big concern for the commission. We are trying to address these issues through proper ways," he said.
"Money power and paid news have attained serious proportion. In some states, it's widespread," the chief election commissioner said.
He said a special expenditure monitoring cell has been formed and detailed guidelines are prepared to control the money power.
Responding to a question, Quraishi said the commission is also probing the issue of names of foreigners being included in the voters' list. Goa is among the states which faces this problem, he added.
Besides Goa, a few other states have also pointed out similar instances of foreigners getting enrolled as voters, he said.
"Each and every complaint received by the commission is investigated. We see that each and every person is attended to," he added.
Read the article on Miracle of Democracy.
Read the whole article here:
Chief election commissioner of India SY Quraishi today said the commission cannot control media players indulging in paid news practices during the elections.
"Our role comes in picture only when the candidate exceeds the expenditure ceiling. We cannot question the media, our powers extend only to candidates," Quraishi told reporters here.
He said it is for the Press Council of India (PCI) to set guidelines for the media.
When pointed out that the electronic media is out of PCI's ambit, Quraishi said there is a lacunae and a special body needs to be formed covering all the media.
The chief election commissioner said the paid news issue extends beyond the election period.
"Paid news and money power are a big concern for the commission. We are trying to address these issues through proper ways," he said.
"Money power and paid news have attained serious proportion. In some states, it's widespread," the chief election commissioner said.
He said a special expenditure monitoring cell has been formed and detailed guidelines are prepared to control the money power.
Responding to a question, Quraishi said the commission is also probing the issue of names of foreigners being included in the voters' list. Goa is among the states which faces this problem, he added.
Besides Goa, a few other states have also pointed out similar instances of foreigners getting enrolled as voters, he said.
"Each and every complaint received by the commission is investigated. We see that each and every person is attended to," he added.
Read the article on Miracle of Democracy.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Goa: Promise of online voter registration from November
On-line voter registration will become a reality from November onwards in Goa, says the state electoral authority.A nationwide project to network offices of the various state electoral authorities and the Election Commission of India is on the way, said the assistant chief electoral officer Arvind Bugde, reports The Times of India.
Read the article on Miracle Of Democracy.
Although its promise didn't materialise earlier, the state electoral authority has assured that on-line voter registration will become a reality from November onwards.
Speaking to TOI, assistant chief electoral officerArvind Bugde said that its implementation would be part of a nationwide project to network offices of the various state electoral authorities and the Election Commission of India.
"We have to demonstrate the software to the ECI. The next summary revision of the electoral roll will be sometime in November, Therefore we plan to go online before that," Bugde said. The qualifying date for new voters for the next summary revision will be - the person has to be 18 years of age as on January 1, 2011. "Implementing this software will give us the facility of an online national database and related intelligence will be made available to us," he added.
Bugde also informed that electoral reforms have been undertaken. "Now, transposition of your name within the assembly segment will require you to fill up Form 6 with details of your part number and serial number. Also, in the case of new voters, it will be easier for you to register if any of your family member has voting rights," he said.
"You have to mention the name and EPIC details of the concerned family member while filling up the application and that will be verified by us. However, if none of your family members are on the voter rolls, verification of your details as mentioned in your application will be undertaken by us. If we find the details suspect, the application will be rejected," the assistant chief electoral officer said.
At present, the state electoral authority has achieved network connectivity across all talukas by availing the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) facility. "Any correction to the voter roll is being done internally by us through the network. The data is routed through the central NIC server in Porvorim and a login name and password has been given to the different Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in Goa. It has saved us a lot of paperwork. Now, data entry operators enter the voter's details, and once verified by the ERO, it is added to the electoral roll. With this software and the hardware already in place, it has helped us in seamless communication and we are currently ahead of other states in the process to implement the online voter registration facility," Bugde said.
"Those applying for voter registration online will be given a unique application number. This number will help them track the progress of their request; for example: if one changes residence and has applied for transposition of name to another constituency," he explained.
Read the article on Miracle Of Democracy.
Although its promise didn't materialise earlier, the state electoral authority has assured that on-line voter registration will become a reality from November onwards.
Speaking to TOI, assistant chief electoral officerArvind Bugde said that its implementation would be part of a nationwide project to network offices of the various state electoral authorities and the Election Commission of India.
"We have to demonstrate the software to the ECI. The next summary revision of the electoral roll will be sometime in November, Therefore we plan to go online before that," Bugde said. The qualifying date for new voters for the next summary revision will be - the person has to be 18 years of age as on January 1, 2011. "Implementing this software will give us the facility of an online national database and related intelligence will be made available to us," he added.
Bugde also informed that electoral reforms have been undertaken. "Now, transposition of your name within the assembly segment will require you to fill up Form 6 with details of your part number and serial number. Also, in the case of new voters, it will be easier for you to register if any of your family member has voting rights," he said.
"You have to mention the name and EPIC details of the concerned family member while filling up the application and that will be verified by us. However, if none of your family members are on the voter rolls, verification of your details as mentioned in your application will be undertaken by us. If we find the details suspect, the application will be rejected," the assistant chief electoral officer said.
At present, the state electoral authority has achieved network connectivity across all talukas by availing the Goa Broadband Network (GBBN) facility. "Any correction to the voter roll is being done internally by us through the network. The data is routed through the central NIC server in Porvorim and a login name and password has been given to the different Electoral Registration Officers (EROs) in Goa. It has saved us a lot of paperwork. Now, data entry operators enter the voter's details, and once verified by the ERO, it is added to the electoral roll. With this software and the hardware already in place, it has helped us in seamless communication and we are currently ahead of other states in the process to implement the online voter registration facility," Bugde said.
"Those applying for voter registration online will be given a unique application number. This number will help them track the progress of their request; for example: if one changes residence and has applied for transposition of name to another constituency," he explained.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
The back story of the gigantic election operation: The role of election observers
This story is an attempt to bring forth one aspect of the Election Commission’s back-office work in an incredible effort through an individual story of an election observer to ensure free and fair voting. It underlines the gargantuan effort that goes into conducting a general election in India with all its problems of limited or sometimes no infrastructure, violent caste and communal divides, topographical extremities, and so on, writes Anil Padmanabhan in The Mint.
Not sure how many of you will agree, but I definitely feel a sense of pride when I hear references to India, despite the warts and all, being the world’s largest democracy, with a voter base that’s at least twice the size of the entire population of the US, the world’s oldest democracy. But that is the big story—what about the backstory on how this gigantic operation works? Like all back-office stories, it remains largely untold.
This is an attempt to bring forth one aspect of this incredible effort through an individual story of an election observer appointed by the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair voting. It was built around a conversation I had with Ashok Lavasa, then director in the department of economic affairs in the ministry of finance, immediately after the general election of 1998, and picked up when I re-established contact with him earlier this year. Lavasa is presently serving as principal secretary (power) in the state government of Haryana.
Ahead of the 1998 Lok Sabha election, Lavasa, the election observer for the Bayana Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan, discovered while perusing the data for the previous elections that one of the villages actually showed no polled vote despite having around 100 voting adults.
Curious, Lavasa decided to journey to the village. Easier said than done, since the village only had a pathway connecting to the road head. He managed to procure a tractor and complete the 3-4km journey from the road head and reached the village by dusk. By then, as is typical of rural India, word had already spread and the village was awaiting the visit of an “official”. In the light provided by a clutch of kerosene lanterns, Lavasa identified himself as an election observer and made it clear that he was not a government representative there to address grievances. He then went on to ask the villagers why they had not voted.
Lavasa recalls that he did not anticipate their response: The villagers had chosen to boycott the poll as a protest against the authorities for repeatedly ignoring their requests for a proper road. According to them, the problem became most acute during the monsoon, when the village was completely cut off, making it impossible to access even medical help or to cremate a body. Hence, the village collectively decided to boycott the poll—or cast a negative vote—and hoped the protest would draw a response.
Technically, they had cast a negative vote, which never got recorded as such. Under the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, a voter who wants to cast a negative vote must inform the returning officer, who will register his/her name and address in an election book, though it will no longer be a secret ballot.
(Ironically, 13 years after the village cast its negative vote, the Supreme Court has taken up public interest litigation which demands that the ballot paper should include an option that rejects all candidates, thereby ensuring the choice remains a secret; the matter was referred to a constitutional bench, as reported in Mint on 23 February.)
This compelling story about the role of the election observer—appointed by the EC to ensure free and fair conduct of the poll—underlines the gargantuan effort that goes into conducting a general election in India with all its problems of limited or sometimes no infrastructure, violent caste and communal divides, topographical extremities, and so on.
Read more here.
Not sure how many of you will agree, but I definitely feel a sense of pride when I hear references to India, despite the warts and all, being the world’s largest democracy, with a voter base that’s at least twice the size of the entire population of the US, the world’s oldest democracy. But that is the big story—what about the backstory on how this gigantic operation works? Like all back-office stories, it remains largely untold.
This is an attempt to bring forth one aspect of this incredible effort through an individual story of an election observer appointed by the Election Commission (EC) to ensure free and fair voting. It was built around a conversation I had with Ashok Lavasa, then director in the department of economic affairs in the ministry of finance, immediately after the general election of 1998, and picked up when I re-established contact with him earlier this year. Lavasa is presently serving as principal secretary (power) in the state government of Haryana.
Ahead of the 1998 Lok Sabha election, Lavasa, the election observer for the Bayana Lok Sabha constituency in Rajasthan, discovered while perusing the data for the previous elections that one of the villages actually showed no polled vote despite having around 100 voting adults.
Curious, Lavasa decided to journey to the village. Easier said than done, since the village only had a pathway connecting to the road head. He managed to procure a tractor and complete the 3-4km journey from the road head and reached the village by dusk. By then, as is typical of rural India, word had already spread and the village was awaiting the visit of an “official”. In the light provided by a clutch of kerosene lanterns, Lavasa identified himself as an election observer and made it clear that he was not a government representative there to address grievances. He then went on to ask the villagers why they had not voted.
Lavasa recalls that he did not anticipate their response: The villagers had chosen to boycott the poll as a protest against the authorities for repeatedly ignoring their requests for a proper road. According to them, the problem became most acute during the monsoon, when the village was completely cut off, making it impossible to access even medical help or to cremate a body. Hence, the village collectively decided to boycott the poll—or cast a negative vote—and hoped the protest would draw a response.
Technically, they had cast a negative vote, which never got recorded as such. Under the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, a voter who wants to cast a negative vote must inform the returning officer, who will register his/her name and address in an election book, though it will no longer be a secret ballot.
(Ironically, 13 years after the village cast its negative vote, the Supreme Court has taken up public interest litigation which demands that the ballot paper should include an option that rejects all candidates, thereby ensuring the choice remains a secret; the matter was referred to a constitutional bench, as reported in Mint on 23 February.)
This compelling story about the role of the election observer—appointed by the EC to ensure free and fair conduct of the poll—underlines the gargantuan effort that goes into conducting a general election in India with all its problems of limited or sometimes no infrastructure, violent caste and communal divides, topographical extremities, and so on.
Read more here.
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