Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar addresses the media along with Election Commissioners at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on August 17, 2025. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday (August 17, 2025) said the list of around 65 lakh names deleted from the draft electoral rolls … Read more
Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar addressing the media at National Media Centre in New Delhi on August 17, 2025. | Photo Credit: Sushil Kumar Verma The Opposition INDIA bloc is considering to move an impeachment motion against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar, sources told The Hindu. The decision was taken at the meeting of … Read more
In the first part of this report, published in The Hindu on Saturday (August 16, 2025), we highlighted the substantial limitations on citizen access to documents asked for by the Election Commission (EC). In this second part, we seek answers to two questions: who stands to lose in the special intensive revision (SIR) process, and what it … Read more
The Election Commission of India said it continues to welcome a scrutiny of the electoral rolls by political parties and any elector. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Election Commission (EC) has said in a statement in New Delhi on Saturday (August 16, 2025) that utmost transparency is the hallmark of electoral roll preparation … Read more
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi. File | Photo Credit: The Hindu Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will on Sunday (August 17, 2025) launch a yatra to highlight the alleged assault on the people’s right to vote through the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar, a senior party leader said on Saturday (August 16, 2025). … Read more
Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist) Liberation General Secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya. File | Photo Credit: PTI Communist Party of India (Marxist–Leninist) general secretary Dipankar Bhattacharya has welcomed the interim order of the Supreme Court on the special intensive revision (SIR) of the voters list in Bihar. He said the Election Commission of India (ECI) is forced … Read more
Pawan Khera addressing a press conference at AICC HQ in New Delhi on Thursday, August 14, 2025. | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar The 2024 General Election should be nullified since the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Anurag Thakur had also claimed there was fraudulent voting in six Lok Sabha constituencies, the Congress demanded on … Read more
At the heart of the legal dispute over the Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR) is a basic principle of natural justice – hear out a person before deciding to cause harm. Here, the ‘person’ concerned are the 65 lakh voters ‘deleted’ from the draft electoral roll published by the Election Commission of India (ECI) on … Read more
Vote for Democracy (VFD), a civic action group led by distinguished experts, has released a constituency-level analysis of Maharashtra’s 288 Assembly seats, highlighting serious anomalies in the November 2024 election. The report, titled “Dysfunctional ECI and Weaponisation of India’s Election System”, draws on official Election Commission of India (ECI) and Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) data as … Read more
Leader of Opposition in Bihar Assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav. File | Photo Credit: ANI On the second consecutive day, Leader of Opposition Tejashwi Yadav on Thursday (August 14, 2025) claimed that Vaishali MP Veena Devi’s husband and Janata Dal-(United) MLC Dinesh Singh also has two voter I-cards. In a post on ‘X’ Mr. … Read more
More booths: The number of polling stations in Bihar has now gone up from 77,895 to 90,712. File | Photo Credit: PTI Amid the ongoing Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has carried out rationalisation and reorganisation of polling stations in the entire State, a move which … Read more
LJP(RV) MP Veena Devi. | Photo Credit: FACEBOOK The Election Commission (EC) on Thursday (August 14, 2025) issued notice to Vaishali MP Veena Devi of the LJP(RV) and her husband Dinesh Prasad Singh, a JD(U) MLC, and sought their reply regarding their possession of dual EPIC numbers by August 16. The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) … Read more
BJP president and Union Health Minister J.P. Nadda. | Photo Credit: ANI The BJP on Thursday (August 14, 2025) said the Supreme Court’s order on the special intensive revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Bihar was a procedural clarification and not a victory for the Congress as claimed by that party. In a post on … Read more
Even as the Election Commission maintains that no claims and objections have been filed by political parties over names wrongfully included or excluded in the draft electoral list in Bihar, political workers — including Booth Level Agents (BLA) on the ground — claim that they have filed many such complaints. In fact, party workers say … Read more
The Office of the Deputy Speaker of the Lok Sabha is not merely a ceremonial seat but also a constitutional imperative. Mandated under Article 93 of the Constitution of India, this role is not just supplementary to the Speaker’s. It is vital for the uninterrupted functioning of the lower House of Parliament. However, in recent … Read more
Election Commission of India asked Leader of Opposition in Bihar assembly and RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to hand over the ‘fake’ EPIC card by 5 p.m. on August6 16, 2025 | Photo Credit: ANI The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday (August 8,. 2025) said the EPIC card that Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader … Read more
Representative image | Photo Credit: The Hindu The Election Commission of India on Saturday (August 9, 2025) said it has delisted 334 Registered Unrecognized Political Parties (RUPPs) after an inquiry. If a party does not contest elections continuously for six years, it will be taken off the list of registered parties, the guidelines for the … Read more
Election Commission of India (ECI) again asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to submit under oath the allegations made by him on voter roll manipulation in a Karnataka Assembly Constituency. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Saturday (August 9, 2025) again asked Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to submit under oath the allegations made by him … Read more
Election Commission of India (ECI) assured the Supreme Court that deletion of voters’ names in the Bihar draft electoral roll, published on August 1 as part of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise, would be done only after issuing prior notice indicating the grounds for the action. The Election Commission of India (ECI) assured the … Read more
Opposition parties in Bihar on Monday, August 4, 2025, accused the ECI of “deliberately” making it “difficult” for them to compare the electoral rolls issued ahead of the Lok Sabha election in January 2024 with the draft rolls published on August 1. Photo credit: X/ AICC Opposition parties in Bihar on Monday (August 4, 2025) … Read more
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi is set to commence a yatra in Bihar to draw attention to voter rights | Photo Credit: Shiv Kumar Pushpakar The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi will set out on the ‘Matdata Adhikar (voters’ rights) Yatra’ … Read more
AIADMK general secretary and former Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami’s assertion that Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while in Chennai last week, did not talk of power sharing in the event of the victory of the newly stitched AIADMK-BJP alliance in the 2026 Assembly election, is not surprising given the State’s contemporary political history. Tamil … Read more
BJP national spokesperson Ajay Alok with JD(U) spokesperson Neeraj Kumar addresses a joint press conference of the NDA spokespersons, at Atal Sabhagar, BJP Headquarters, in Patna on August 3, 2025. | Photo Credit: ANI The ruling National Democratic Alliance (NDA) on Sunday (August 3, 2025) urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take cognisance … Read more
Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra. File | Photo Credit: PTI Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday (August 4, 2025) said the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls in Bihar is a “very big” issue, and the government should agree to a discussion on it and move forward. She asked why the opposition should not … Read more
West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. File | Photo Credit: PTI The BJP criticised West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, accusing her of indulging in politics of religion over her announcement of a Rs 1.1 lakh government grant for community Durga Pujas. BJP’s state general secretary Agnimitra Paul on Saturday (August 2, 2025) alleged that … Read more
Ashok Kumar joins JD(U) in the presence of party leaders, including Sanjay Jha. Videograb: X/@Jduonline In Bihar, where State Assembly elections are just months away, senior State Congress Party leader Ashok Kumar (Ram) on Sunday (August 3, 2025) joined the ruling party Janata Dal (United), alleging that the party has no “respect for Dalit”. Mr. … Read more
The Election Commission of India has written a letter to RJD leader Tejashwi Yadav to provide details of EPIC number, a day after he raked up controversy that his name is missing from the draft electoral rolls published on August 1, 2025. The Election Commission of India (ECI) wrote to Tejashwi Yadav, Leader of Opposition … Read more
The number of voters in Bihar has dropped by 65 lakh, according to Bihar’s draft electoral roll, which was published by the Election Commission on Friday after the completion of the first phase of its Special Intensive Revision exercise. More than 7.24 crore electors in the State filled up enumeration forms and have been included … Read more
A view of the Election Commission of India. The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Friday (August 1, 2025) published the draft electoral rolls for Bihar, following the completion of the month-long Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise ahead of the upcoming Assembly polls. No compiled list was made available, but voters can check their names … Read more
File photo of Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar. | Photo Credit: ANI The Nitish Kumar government in Bihar on Friday (August 1, 2025) doubled the honorarium for cooks, night watchmen, and physical education and health instructors working in government schools. The announcement was made with months left for the Assembly elections in the State. “Cooks, … Read more