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The Hindu
an hour ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
ECI has taken 23 initiatives to strengthen electoral system, says its Deputy Director
Election Commission of India (ECI) Deputy Director (Media Division) P. Pavan said the ECI took 23 initiatives aimed at strengthening the electoral system, with a focus on improving facilities to voters, political parties, and election staff, between February 19 and June 10, 2025. They also included some procedural reforms, legal measures and innovations, he said, while stressing the significant role played by the media in increasing voter turnout in elections. Interacting with media persons at the Secretariat on Friday (June 20, 2025), Mr. Pavan said voter information slips were being made more useful now by prominently displaying voter serial numbers and part numbers, and data related to deaths was being collected from the Registrar General of India database, and necessary changes were being done in the electoral rolls after due verification. The ECI mandated that each polling station should have a maximum of 1,200 voters, and facilities like additional polling booths in apartments/colonies were being provided. Regarding political parties, Mr. Pavan said the campaign boundary had been reduced to 100 metres from the entrances of polling stations, and noted that 4,719 meetings were held across the country at the CEO/DEO/ERO levels with various political parties involving over 28,000 party representatives. Training programmes for booth-level agents were being conducted at the India International Institute of Democracy and Election Management (IIIDEM). The procedural reforms included digitisation of Voter Trend Reports, index cards and statistical reports to ensure faster dissemination of election data. A new integrated dashboard called ECINET had been launched replacing more than 40 apps / websites with a single platform for all services. The introduction of a unique EPIC number had resolved the issue of duplicate voter IDs. Standard photo ID cards were being issued to booth-level officers. Through the offices of Chief Electoral Officers of States, special training programmes were being conducted at the IIIDEM for media / communication officers from 36 States / UTs, Mr. Pavan added.
Time of India
3 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."
Time of India
7 hours ago
- Politics
- Time of India
ECI orders repolling on two booths of Visavadar seat
Gandhinagar: The Election Commission of India (ECI) has cancelled the voting at two polling stations of the Visavadar constituency, which was held on Thursday under section 58(2) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. Repolling will take place at the Malida and Vaghaniya polling booths on Saturday from 7 am to 6 pm. Counting of votes for the byelection at Kadi and Visavadar assembly constituencies will be done on June 23.
Hindustan Times
20 hours 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.
India Gazette
a day ago
- Politics
- India Gazette
ECI marks several firsts in Bye-polls: Mobile Deposit Facility; Upgraded VTR sharing process; 100% Webcasting of Polling Stations
New Delhi [India], June 19 (ANI): The bye-polls to five Assembly Constituencies (ACs) held by the Election Commission of India (ECI) today witnessed successful implementation of several major new initiatives launched by the ECI in the past four months, as envisaged by the Chief Election Commissioner, Gyanesh Kumar along with Election Commissioners Dr. Sukhbir Singh Sandhu and Dr. Vivek Joshi. According to release from the Election Commission, Bye-polls were held at the ACs of 24-Kadi (SC) and 87-Visavadar in Gujarat, 35-Nilambur in Kerala, 64-Ludhiana West in Punjab and 80-Kaliganj in West Bengal. During these bye-polls, polling was held at 1354 Polling Stations (PS) in the five ACs. The new initiatives include the provision of mobile deposit facility for the electors at all polling stations, upgraded Voter Turnout sharing process resulting in faster updation of the approximate polling trends by ensuring that the Presiding Officer updates the VTR data at the close of poll before leaving the polling station, webcasting at 100 per cent of polling stations ensuring constant vigil of the entire polling process and individual mock poll training of all Presiding Officers. Also, Special Summary Revision (SSR) of the Electoral Rolls was conducted before the bye-polls for the first time in nearly two decades. 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. For the first time, voters were able to avail the mobile deposit facility provided by the ECI at the entrance of all polling stations. The measure is in recognition of the ubiquity of mobile phones in both urban and rural areas and the challenges faced by the voters particularly the senior citizens, women, and PwD electors as to where to leave their mobile phones before entering the polling station. Simple pigeonhole boxes or jute bags were provided at the entrance door of the polling stations where the voters deposited their mobile phones. Volunteers were deployed at the polling stations to facilitate the process. The upgraded VTR sharing process was also successfully implemented where the Presiding Officer of each polling station was able to directly enter voter turnout on the new ECINET App every two hours on polling day in order to reduce the time lag in the updation of the approximate polling trends. This was automatically aggregated at the constituency level. The approximate voting percentage trends were published every two hours as before. Also, voter turnout data was entered into the ECINET by Presiding Officers immediately after the close of poll, before they left the polling station to ensure that the approximate percentage of votes polled would be available on the updated VTR App constituency-wise after the close of polls subject to network connectivity. Where mobile networks are unavailable, entries can be made offline and synced once connectivity is restored. Previously, voter turnout data was collected manually by Sector Officers and relayed to Returning Officers (ROs) via phone calls, SMS, or messaging apps. This information was aggregated every two hours and uploaded to the Voter Turnout (VTR) App. At the close of poll, the Presiding Officer used to update the final VTR data after completing all other statutory responsibilities like filling up of various forms including 17C where he would take the signatures of the polling agents of political parties/candidates and hand over a copy to them, sealing and safe depositing of the EVMs in the strong room as per laid down procedures etc. Thus, the polling percentage trends were often updated hours later, i.e., around 10-11 PM, based on physical records arriving late in the night or even the next day. The upgraded system of VTR updation would cut down this delay, as now the Presiding Officer would be updating the data in ECINET before leaving the polling station. The Commission has ensured 100% webcasting of poll-day activities at all polling stations, except one, in the five bye-poll ACs. The webcasting was monitored to ensure that critical activities were taking place smoothly and there was no violation of the poll process. Dedicated monitoring teams at RO, DEO and CEO levels kept a strict vigil on the poll proceedings. (ANI)
