Islamabad: Pakistan Attorney General Irfan Qadir created a ruckus in the courtroom Thursday by using "abusive remarks" against the Supreme Court judges and some "vulgar gesture", Geo News reported. The incident occurred when the apex court was hearing identical petitions challenging National Assembly Speaker Fehmida Mirza's ruling not to pass on the disqualification reference against Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to the Election Commission. On June 6, the court had...
02:00 PM, Jun 15, 2012
New Delhi: The Presidential election will be held on July 19, the Election Commission announced on Tuesday, setting the ball rolling for the process to decide on who would be the next occupant of the Rashtrapati Bhavan. All eyes are now on Congress chief Sonia Gandhi who will take the final call on the ruling UPA's candidate. While Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has emerged as front-runner, there is no clarity...
02:17 PM, Jun 13, 2012
New Delhi: Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath has taken over as the new Chief Election Commissioner, succeeding SY Quraishi. Sampath was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner last week, and will preside over the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. VS Sampath is the 18th CEC of India. A low-profile bureaucrat, who has had stints in various capacities in Andhra Pradesh and Delhi, Sampath was Power Secretary at the Centre before he was appointed...
12:03 PM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath on Monday will take over as the 18th Chief Election Commissioner of India at the EC headquarters in the Capital. A 1973 batch IAS officer, 62-year-old Sampath will take over from SY Quraishi whose term came to an end on Sunday. Sampath, who was appointed as the CEC last week, will preside over the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014. A low-profile bureaucrat, who has...
01:19 AM, Jun 11, 2012
New Delhi: Veeravalli Sundaram Sampath will take over on Monday as the 18th Chief Election Commissioner of India at the Election Commission headquarters in the Capital. A 1973 batch IAS officer, 62-year-old Sampath will take over from SY Quraishi whose term came to an end on Sunday. Sampath, who was appointed as the CEC last week, will preside over the next Lok Sabha elections in 2014. A low-profile bureaucrat, who...
10:42 PM, Jun 10, 2012
On his last day in office as Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) SY Qureshi rejected senior BJP leader LK Advani's demand for a collegium to choose the Election Commissioner and also Team Anna's demand for a Right to Recall MPs. Qureshi said that his greatest regret was he was unable to stop money power in elections. Qureshi spoke to CNN-IBN's Deputy Chief of Bureau Pallavi Ghosh. Here is an excerpt of...
08:38 AM, Jun 10, 2012
Hyderabad: The Andhra Pradesh government on Wednesday decided to reduce value-added tax by 2 per cent on petrol, bringing its price down by Rs 1.19 per litre, a move which has been approved by the Election Commission (EC). The state government sought the EC permission to reduce petrol price as model code of conduct is in force for the June 12 bypolls for 18 Assembly seats and one Lok Sabha...
11:10 PM, Jun 06, 2012
Hyderabad: The Election Commission officials in AP have seized a record Rs 32 crore in cash just days ahead of the Andhra Pradesh bypolls. Valuables worth Rs 9 crore have also been recovered. The amount is even higher than the cash seized during the election campaigns in the 2009 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. Andhra Pradesh is set to go for bypolls on June 12. ...
09:49 AM, Jun 06, 2012
New Delhi: The results of the West Bengal civic polls will be declared on Tuesday. An 86 per cent voter turnout was recorded in the crucial election to six municipalities across the state on Monday, the first major test for the Trinamool-Congress alliance after its landslide victory in the 2011 Assembly polls on the back of a huge anti-incumbency wave. All 129 seats in the six civic bodies - Durgapur,...
08:58 AM, Jun 05, 2012
New Delhi: Congress leader Harish Rawat on Sunday said that Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) senior leader LK Advani is talking about the country's electoral system just to divert media's attention from his party's internal fighting issue. Noting that the present selection process is vulnerable to "manipulation and partisanship," Advani had earlier in the day asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to introduce a broad-based collegium system to appoint Election Commissioners and...
06:10 PM, Jun 03, 2012
New Delhi: The Election Commission is understood to have decided not to intervene in the matter concerning the arrest of YSR Congress chief Jagan Mohan Reddy, whose mother has sought his release in view of the coming by-polls in Andhra Pradesh. The three-member Election Commission met on Tuesday under the chairmanship of Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi and discussed the letter from YS Vijayalakshmi, YSR Congress honorary president, seeking a...
03:44 PM, May 29, 2012
New Delhi: The Election Commission is likely to issue its notification for the Presidential election by mid-June, setting in motion the process of election to the country's top post. President Pratibha Patil's term ends on July 24 and the EC notification in this regard will be issued sometime in mid-June. "The notification for the last Presidential election was issued on June 13. The EC will be issuing a notification around...
03:22 PM, May 29, 2012
Hyderabad: Kadapa MP YS Jaganmohan Reddy's mother and the party honorary chief YS Vijaya on Monday requested Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi to direct CBI to release her son in larger interest of democracy and sought holding of free and fair elections in Andhra Pradesh. In a letter addressed to Quraishi, Vijaya alleged her son was arrested just days before the June 12 bypolls as part of a larger conspiracy...
12:37 AM, May 29, 2012
New Delhi: Terming as a closed chapter the issue of Law Minister Salman Khurshid's remarks during UP polls "challenging" the Election Commission, CEC S Y Quraishi on Monday justified taking up the issue with the President saying the "unprecedented" situation warranted such a step. "Here was a Law Minister who was challenging the authority of a constitutional body, whose powers have also been upheld by the Supreme Court. That amounted...
10:34 PM, May 07, 2012
New Delhi: Elections to the Rajya Sabha will be held in Jharkhand on Thursday. The elections will decide the fate of three candidates including the BJP's SS Ahluwalia. The BJP and JMM are still at odds over his nomination. The Election Commission (EC) had countermanded the elections following allegations of horse trading. The Supreme Court on Wednesday had refused to interfere in the Rajya Sabha election in Jharkhand. The apex...
08:48 AM, May 03, 2012
New Delhi: India's tech-savvy election management system has caught the fancy of SAARC nations, which have expressed the desire to emulate it in their respective areas. As heads of poll management bodies of SAARC countries got together to evolve solutions to common problems at the ongoing 3rd conference of heads of election management bodies of SAARC nations in New Delhi, India showcased its use of modern technology for strengthening democracy...
06:26 PM, May 01, 2012
New Delhi: Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on Friday said there is no scientific basis for exit and opinion polls and sought a ban on both saying these could be sponsored. Speaking at a panel discussion on "Is India's media becoming increasing unethical", he said the poll body wanted a ban on not only exit polls but also opinion polls. "We wanted a ban on opinion and exit polls. If...
01:07 AM, Apr 28, 2012
Mumbai: The institution of Lokayukta in Maharashtra should be an autonomous body like the Election Commission and free from government interference, Anna Hazare said in Mumbai. Anna, who is in Mumbai to meet political leaders to muster support for a strong Lokayukta legislation in the state, was speaking to reporters after meeting Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray in Dadar. Raj has expressed his willingness to support a strong and...
04:25 PM, Apr 26, 2012
CHENNAI: DMK chief M Karunanidhi on Monday said that the Election Commission would announce the date for Pudukottai by-election soon after various benefits reach all the households there.In a statement, he charged that the State government had allocated Rs 50 crore specifically for various development works to be undertaken in Pudukottai constituency. This fund was reportedly being spent without calling for tenders, he claimed.Karunanidhi also charged that the AIADMK ministers...
10:50 AM, Apr 24, 2012
New Delhi: In a majority verdict, the Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld the criteria of the Election Commission (EC) for granting symbols to unrecognized registered political parties. A three-judge bench comprising justices Altamas Kabir, SS Nijjar and Jasti Chelameswar upheld the panel's symbol order by a two to one majority. Justice Chelameswar wrote the dissenting order against the EC's symbol order. The court passed the order on a batch of...
12:23 PM, Apr 18, 2012
