Latest news with #ConductofElectionRules
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
Patole & Patel slug it out as sparks fly over graft
Nagpur: The ongoing slugfest between former Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole and former Union civil aviation minister Praful Patel reached a flashpoint on Friday after the former accused Patel of being responsible for irregularities during his 2011–12 tenure in the UPA govt. Patole's reply came days after Patel termed him as "chillar (petty)" leader, claiming he was being sidelined in Congress after stepping down as MPCC president. Their rivalry began after Patole caused a major upset by defeating Patel, a heavyweight candidate in 2014 Lok Sabha polls. Interestingly, Patole was a Congress MLA from Sakoli when Patel was aviation minister and both were in the same govt. Citing objections raised by the Accountant General at the time, Patole claimed Patel cleared questionable civil aviation deals without consequence. "Despite audit red flags, no action was taken. Now, those individuals enjoy protection under the BJP-led Centre. Why was Air India sold off and what's the job of the civil aviation ministry now," he asked at a packed press conference here on Friday, demanding a fresh audit and parliamentary probe into the disinvestment. He further accused the BJP-led Centre of shielding Patel in return for his political allegiance. Patel dismissed the charges as "baseless" and politically motivated, pointing out Patole's silence when both leaders were in Congress. "He's raising these decade-old issues after nearly losing his assembly seat last year when he scraped through by mere 208 votes. He has no role in the party, so he's attacking others for relevance. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like [Click Here] - 2025 Top Trending Search - Local network access Esseps Learn More Undo He doesn't have any evidence to substantiate his claims," Patel told TOI. Talking to reporters, Patole also accused Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the Centre to erase electoral accountability. He condemned a May 30 circular by the ECI instructing state CEOs to destroy all polling-related CCTV footage and documents within 45 days of polling. "This is the first time in independent India that critical poll evidence is being legally destroyed. Citizens would access these materials to challenge outcomes. That right is gone now," he said. He cited a December 2024 ruling by the Punjab and Haryana High Court that mandated preserving such records and accused the Centre of acting in haste. "Within 48 hours of the ECI's letter to the govt, Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules was amended. This cannot be coincidental, it proves collusion," Patole said. Calling the change "a murder of democracy in broad daylight," Patole questioned the surge in vote count on counting day. "At 5 pm there were 40 lakh votes. By evening, it was 76 lakh. When I asked the ECI to explain, they remained silent." The Sakoli MLA further demanded accountability from the Centre following a recent Air India crash in Ahmedabad that claimed over 270 lives. "When 26/11 happened, Congress took moral responsibility by taking resignation from then chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and deputy CM RR Patil. Today's rulers must do the same."
Scroll.in
21 hours ago
- Politics
- Scroll.in
Citing ‘misuse', EC cuts storage time of polling videos, photos to 45 days
The Election Commission has reduced the retention period of video footage and photographs of the polling process to 45 days, citing 'recent misuse' of such material, The Indian Express reported on Friday. In a notice to state chief electoral officers on May 30, the commission stated that videography and photography of polling were not mandated by law but were used as an 'internal management tool', the newspaper reported. The panel said that the data can be deleted after the 45-day period if no election petition is filed for it, The Indian Express reported. It was referring to petitions filed in courts to challenge the election of a candidate in a poll. In 2024, the Election Commission had issued instructions laying out timelines, ranging from three months to a year, for storing video footage from stages of the election process, the newspaper reported. The guidelines mandated that the footage from the pre-nomination period must be retained for three months. Recordings from the nomination stage, campaign period, polling and counting were to be preserved for periods between six months and one year, it had stated. In its May 30 notice, the poll panel said that the 'recent misuse of this content by non-contestants for spreading misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome, has prompted a review', The Indian Express reported. It added: 'If no election petition is filed in respect of a particular constituency, then the said data may be destroyed'. With the new instructions, the time for storing the footage aligns with the 45-day period for filing an election petition, The Indian Express quoted unidentified polling officials as saying. As first reported by Scroll, the Union government in December amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the rules, which stated that 'all other papers relating to the election shall be open to public inspection'. The amended rule says: 'All other papers as specified in these rules relating to the election shall be open to public inspection.' With this change – notified by the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, in consultation with the Election Commission – not all poll-related papers can be inspected by the public. Only those papers specified in the Conduct of Election Rules can be scrutinised. Courts, too, would also not be able to direct the poll panel to provide all election-related papers for public scrutiny. The Congress has challenged the change of rules in the Supreme Court. The December amendment, unidentified Election Commission officials had told The Indian Express, would clarify that electronic footage of the polling process is not covered within the definition of election papers and hence not open to public scrutiny. Providing security camera footage would amount to the violation of the secrecy of the vote and open it up to potential misuse through the use of artificial intelligence, they were quoted as having argued.
The Wire
a day ago
- Politics
- The Wire
The EC Has Cited 'Malicious Narratives' to Ask Officers to Destroy CCTV, Other Footage in 45 Days
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed state election officers to destroy CCTV, webcasting and video footage of the election process after 45 days, if the verdict is not challenged in courts within that period, in a bid to curb what it says are 'malicious narratives' using its electronic data. The poll body issued the instructions in a letter to state chief electoral officers on May 30, reported Press Trust of India. In the letter, the EC said it has issued instructions for recording various stages of the election process through multiple recording devices – photography, videography, CCTV, and webcasting during the election process. But added that such footage will only be preserved for 45 days, which is the duration within which an election petition (challenging a poll verdict) can be filed in court. "However, the recent misuse of this content by non-contestants for spreading misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome, has prompted a review," the letter said. "If no election petition is filed in respect of a particular constituency, then the said data may be destroyed," the letter added. the Union government had amended Rule 93(2)(a) of the 1961 Conduct of Election Rules. As per the new rules, not all election-related documents would be available for inspection by the public. In February, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Union government and the ECI in response to a plea filed against the changes made to the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961. The plea filed by transparency activist Anjali Bhardwaj, said that the amendments place unreasonable restrictions on the fundamental right to information of voters. The matter now remains in the Supreme Court. In January 2024, the Chandigarh mayoral polls saw the presiding officer caught on CCTV cameras rigging the elections. The Supreme Court in February last year overturned the results of the mayoral polls – which had been fraudulently decided in favour of the BJP candidate – and declared the AAP-Congress joint candidate Kuldeep Kumar the validly elected city mayor. Later three Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillors who had jumped ship helped the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) win elections to posts of senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor in March. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
NDTV
a day ago
- Politics
- NDTV
Destroy CCTV Footage Of Process After 45 Days: Election Body To Poll Officers
New Delhi: Fearing use of its electronic data to create "malicious narratives", the Election Commission has instructed its state poll officers to destroy CCTV camera, webcasting and video footage of the election process after 45 days, if the verdict is not challenged in courts within that period. In a letter to state chief electoral officers on May 30, the Election Commission said it has issued instructions for recording various stages of the election process through multiple recording devices -- photography, videography, CCTV, and webcasting during the election process. While electoral laws do not mandate such recordings, the commission uses them as an internal management tool during various stages of the electoral process. "However, the recent misuse of this content by non-contestants for spreading misinformation and malicious narratives on social media by selective and out-of-context use of such content, which will not lead to any legal outcome, has prompted a review," it said. It has now told its state poll chiefs that the CCTV data, webcasting data and photography of election processes at various stages will be preserved for 45 days. "If no election petition is filed in respect of a particular constituency, then the said data may be destroyed," it instructed. Any person can file an "election petition" challenging the poll verdict in the concerned high court within 45 days. In December last year, the government tweaked an election rule to prevent public inspection of certain electronic documents, such as CCTV camera and webcasting footage, as well as video recordings of candidates, to prevent their misuse. Based on the recommendation of the EC, the Union law ministry amended Rule 93 of the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, to restrict the type of papers or documents open to public inspection.
Hindustan Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Hindustan Times
ECI starts probe into violation of polling rules
The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Thursday initiated an inquiry into a purported video circulating on social media, which shows two individuals at an Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) at the same time inside a polling booth during the Visavadar assembly bypoll in Gujarat. The video was also flagged by Aam Aadmi Party's (AAP) Gujarat legal cell in an email to the state's Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), seeking 'urgent action' and claiming there are 'many more' such videos. In the purported video, an official in the polling booth is seen engaged in his work while two individuals appear to be instructing each other at the EVM. More people are also seen standing nearby, talking to another official. AAP's national media in-charge Anurag Dhandha told HT that the Gujarat legal cell filed a complaint on the issue via email to both the ECI and the state CEO. The complaint copy–seen by HT–stated: 'Received this video [attached in the email] from our party members of booth number 40 of Patapur of Visavadar Assembly bypoll election and someone is doing unlawful activities in [the] booth. This is just one video, but we have many more as per information. Look into it on [an] urgent basis.' Gujarat CEO Hareet Shukla told HT that he has directed Junagadh's District Magistrate and Collector–under whose jurisdiction Visavadar falls–to investigate. Shukla said: 'The videos will be in our records also because we are doing 100 percent monitoring through CCTV in all the booths. I can't comment more until the video is verified. So let the investigation be completed.' The AAP's allegations come days after Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi wrote an op-ed accusing the ECI of 'industrial scale rigging' of Maharashtra's assembly election. While the Commission had refuted Gandhi's claims, the video–if verified–would then attract violation of Conduct of Election Rules and raise serious questions about the robustness of the electoral process, at a time when public access to such footage has been restricted. Following last year's amendment to the Conduct of Election Rules, public access was withdrawn by the ECI of such data claiming to prevent misuse. The video surfaced shortly after the ECI mandated 100 percent webcasting at all polling stations to enhance oversight. In a press release issued Thursday after the bypolls, the ECI said: 'The Commission has ensured 100 percent webcasting of poll-day activities at all polling stations, except one, in the five bye-poll ACs (assembly constituencies). The webcasting was monitored to ensure that critical activities were taking place smoothly and there was no violation of the poll process.' The ECI had earlier stated that webcasting footage would be for internal use only, with videography used in areas without internet. People aware of the matter said that live videos were tracked from control rooms set up at the state, district, and constituency levels–each overseen by a nodal officer. Besides Visavadar, bye-elections were also held in Kadi (Gujarat), Nilambur (Kerala), Ludhiana West (Punjab), and Kaliganj (West Bengal), covering a total of 1,354 polling booths. The ECI on Thursday also claimed to have 'successfully implemented' several new initiatives introduced over the past four months, such as mobile deposit facilities for voters, an upgraded voter turnout sharing system for faster updates, Special Summary Revision of electoral rolls before bypolls after two decades, and also the 100 percent webcasting to ensure close monitoring of the polling process. 'The successful implementation of these measures in the bye-polls paves the way for full introduction of all these measures in the forthcoming Bihar assembly elections,' the Commission stated in a press release.
