Election Commission

Informally interacting with the mediapersons outside the court where he was brought for his bail case plea, Raut was asked for his reaction to the Election Commission of India (ECI) freezing the Sena's iconic 'bow and arrow' symbol and its name (Shiv Sena) last week.

"Election Commission Behind the scenes is the Government's submission Upfront they call it the Election Commission ! Shame on Institutions who do the Government's bidding ! said. "Election Commission Freezes Sena Election symbol Amounts to "freezing" Democracy The "bow and arrow" belongs to the real Shiv Sena led by Udhav The "Defectors Platter" for serving the BJP belongs to Shinde's faction," said Sibal in his tweets on Sunday.

Although it is one of those electoral reforms which had also been proposed in the past, but, the sources said that the proposal gained momentum after Rajiv Kumar was appointed as the Chief Election Commissioner. Sources said that the proposal was sent to the Ministry, and the government is in discussion with the Commission regarding the proposed electoral reforms. Meeting in this regard is likely soon, said sources.

In the letter issued on Friday, the Commission said that it received an application from the (incumbent Maharashtra Chief Minister) Eknath Shinde faction on October 4 to allot the symbol of the party 'Bow and Arrow' to the group led by Shinde in view of ongoing bye-election from 166-Andheri East Assembly Constituency.

The Commission said that polling will be held on November 3 and counting of votes will take place on November 6.Bypolls will be held in Andheri East in Maharashtra; Mokama and Gopalganj in Bihar; Adampur in Haryana; Munogode in Telangana; Gola Gokrannath in Uttar Pradesh and Dhamnagar in Odisha.

Recently, the Election Commission told the Supreme Court that due to the lack of a specific law against hate speech and rumour mongering during polls, it has to resort to the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and the Representation of People (RP) Act to ensure that members of political parties do not make statements which can create disharmony among sections of the society.

Sources said that the poll panel wrote a letter to the Union Law Ministry recommending various amendments in the Representation of the People Act. Recently, the Commission delisted 284 non-compliant registered unrecognised political parties (RUPPs), declaring more than 253 of them inactive. Earlier, the Income Tax Department raided a number of such entities across the country on charges of tax evasion.

Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Central government, said the populist announcements distort the informed decision making of the voter and a voter would know what's going to fall on him. Mehta said, "This is the way, we are heading towards economic disaster". Mehta suggested that the Election Commission of India (ECI) should apply its mind on the matter, and they can have a relook.

Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar along with EC Anup Chandra Pandey supervised the distribution and dispatch of ballot box and other poll related materials for the Presidential Election 2022 to Assistant Returning Officress from states /UTs at Nirvachan Sadan here. In a two-day exercise, the poll materials will sent to the state Assemblies where polling will be held.

Incumbent Vice President M. Venkaiah Naidu could be given a second term while West Bengal Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, Minority Affairs Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and Jammu Kashmir LG Manoj Sinha are said to be front runners from the ruling camp. But as of now there has been no official deliberations for the post, sources said.